Chiaroscuro Circus Workshop

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This article is written by Jan Murphy of Wild at Heart Studios

In the Fall of 2012, Wild at Heart Studios, in the lovely town of Friday Harbor, Washington, held a workshop entitled “Chiarscurro Circus”. It was hosted by two well-known mixed-media artists, Lynne Perrella and Anne Bagby, for four days of amazing creativity and fun.

Lynne Perrella and Anne Bagby hosting the mixed media art class

Twenty four students from across the U.S. and Canada attended the workshop where they learned a wide variety of techniques to create lavish backgrounds and vibrant face focal points using oil crayons, ephemera, and hand-made stencils and stamps.  They explored images of clowns, jesters, theatrical ceremonial figures and more.

“Chiaroscuro” (key-ah-squoor-oh) is an artful term that encompasses the dramatic contrast of light and dark and everyone left with several pieces of gorgeous art!. A great time was had by all.

mixed media art class with Lynne Perrella and Anne Bagby

To find out more about Wild at Heart’s upcoming workshop, visit their website.

mixed media art classes

 

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A Canvas Journal

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This article is written by Francesca Albini

I am always exploring ways to organically blend digital with traditional media. I love the versatility and portability of digital, all its different and new brushes, the infinite palette, the possibility of integrating text and images, but often I find that digital art looks very flat and cold when printed.

On my latest trip to America, I thought it would be fun to keep a digital journal, more practical, quicker, less messy. But messy is good, it’s tactile, three dimensional, just like travelling. I felt that I had to find a way to bring to life my digital journal, so that it would be true to my travel experience, the emotions and adventures.

So here are two “pages” of my journal. Originally I drew the car with a ballpoint pen in a notebook. I photographed it and digitally coloured it in and framed it. Then I imported it into the journalling app and added text and marks. For the second journal page, I used various photos I had taken with my mobile phone.

creating journalling on canvas

I decided to use stretch canvas as support, printed the digital journal pages and other photos on printable canvas, glued them to the big canvas with pva, and then added all the paint splashes and details that I felt communicated the heat, the light, the atmosphere.

travel journalling and photos collaged onto canvas

Lastly I also painted a self portrait as a dreamy observer . I am satisfied that the digital elements in these two pictures have a warm, natural feel about them, and gel well with the acrylics and paint markers.

Perhaps keeping a journal on stretch canvas is not very practical, but one or two meaningful pages per trip could turn the walls of your home into an inspiring memory lane.

 

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Francesca is a visual artist using pretty much everything she finds around her to record and relive feelings and memories of places and emotions. She collages, paints, draws, photographs. Francesca loves mixing modern technology, such as mobile phone apps, with the simplest of tools such as glitter glue, crayons and other children’s art supplies. Read her blog at franjournal.blogspot.com

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Art Journal Tagged With: , ,

Finding Inspiration

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This article is written by Debbie Davis

When I’m at work and on the phone, I usually doodle on a sticky note pad.  Sometimes I bring home my doodles to use as ideas for artwork, or in my artwork.  Recently I was writing on a pretty blue sticky note pad using a red pen.  I realized how much I really liked the blue and red colors together and decided my next project had to be created using these colors.

Molding paste and collage in mixed media painting

Using a claybord, I glued on some pretty blue scrapbook paper along with some text out of a vintage book.  I randomly brushed on some acrylic paint in a blue color that was a little darker than the blue on the paper and also blended the book paper edges into the collage using a bit of gesso.

I love doing quick image transfers on my projects.  The music notes were added by spreading a medium layer of soft gel on the panel where I wanted the image to be.  Next I put some torn out papers with music notes (printed from my inkjet printer) face down into the medium, burnished it onto the collage and then lifted off the paper.  This technique is quick, fun and so simple.

I had never used molding paste before and was excited to try it out using a new flower stencil I just purchased.   I love the molding paste!  It added some great texture.  Once it dried, I painted the petals red and added some of the book text to the center.

I was working on the collage on my kitchen counter and spotted a red mesh bag of potatoes.  The bag was such a pretty red and just matched the red in my flower, so I cut out a few pieces and glued them onto the collage.  I think my hubby thought I was just a little weird.  Ha!

To finish it off, I randomly stamped on some white paint using a piece of cardboard and splattered on a bit of the red paint.

This piece reminded me of a hot summer day.  I decided to create another using the same color scheme with a little sailboat.

Molding paste and collage in mixed media painting

 

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My name is Debbie and I live in Morton, Illinois (USA). I’m happily married and have a wonderful family that includes a daughter, son, son-in-law and 2 of the sweetest grandchildren ever!

What I love most about mixed media art is that you don’t have to be an expert at anything to create beautiful art. It is a great way to recycle found objects. Art is such a wonderful stress reliever. I just wish I had more time to play!

I have a shop on Etsy called Artful Explorations where I place some of the art I have created for sale. I just recently started a In Art Therapy blog having been inspired by others who are willing to share their techniques and ideas.

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Mixed Media Artist – Gloria Malouf-Marsh

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We are coming to an end of this Mixed Media Artist series and today we have Gloria Malouf-Marsh sharing her gorgeous painting and collage. Over the last 5 months, our Mixed Media Art community has shared work from all around the world. Each artist has had different interests, reasons why they create and a wide range of skills.

Gloria has given us such a vibrant tale about herself and her art, so I’ll let her tell us in her own words.

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I live in Indorpoopilly, Brisbane, Australia,  with my husband, daughter and our beagle Cassie.  My daughter is finishing her law degree this year.  Cassie is a wonderful friend of mine.  We do lots together. We enjoy our walks in the sun.  I’m a Yoga Chi Gung Teacher.  I study Taoism and Ayurveda.  I work with the rhythms of nature.  I love singing and I enjoy doing the things that I’m passionate about.

I feel whatever I choose to paint always tells me a story.  I love working with vibrant colours, and colour mixes is wonderful, and symbolism is an important factor  when I paint – connecting objects to certain things of interest and presenting it with the brush. I go on a journey with my title.

The adventure – I’m also influenced by my dreams, times in my life. Cultures have influenced my life enormously. I allow the mind and the brush to paint with flow and abandon. This  allows the juices to flow.  My journey becomes exciting. This develops a passion in me I really want to pursue.  The enthusiasm it creates gives my brush a prod of confidence. This becomes my private journey.  As my flow opens new discoveries occur and I surprise myself. Acrylic painting is very forgiving. Whether you are an amateur (like myself) or a have many years of experience, it  awakens you to the dance of life.

The health benefits are enormous.  This is when I started after surgery – 5 years ago. And I continue to do so.

I work with mixed mediums.  I started with water colours. I now enjoy  acrylic and collage.

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The three acrylic paintings are an Agapanthus, Bird of Paradise and The Cameroon Lady.

Mixed Media Acrylic Painting

Acrylic painting by Gloria Malour-Marsh

Acrylic Painting

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The Collage – The Tree of Life depicts the key to open the heart and the dragonfly symbolizes transformation.

Mixed Media Collage by Gloria

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Gloria has also included this gorgeous cat painting.

Acrylic painting

Thank you for sharing your beautiful paintings with us!

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I hope you have enjoyed this series about just a few of the mixed media artists in our community, telling their stories and sharing their artwork. A HUGE thank you to all of them! If you are interested in sharing your work, then keep an eye out for the next call-out for contributors.

Happy creating!

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