Luminous Liquid Layers

Yesterday I filmed a glimpse into the process behind my paintings with Golden High Flow Acrylic. It only shows three techniques, and is only the beginning of a more complex painting. I plan to continue with other techniques, and I'll have share more later.

I share these techniques and more in my Luminous Liquid Layers workshop. I taught it first last month in Galax at the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts, and I'll be teaching it again next Saturday, April 22 at Larkin Arts in Harrisonburg, VA. I'll also be teaching a more in depth workshop at 310 Art in Asheville, NC next month.

Check out the Events page to see a listing of all workshops. In the meantime, check out some of the student works from the Galax workshop below.

I'm on a Mission!

I have always loved making art and sharing it with people. Growing up in Washington, PA, I couldn't wait to share my latest drawings with family and friends, and I always lugged a sketchbook or drawing pad nearly everywhere that I went. That hasn't changed much over the years, but now with computers, the Internet, and social media it's easy to share not just with friends and family, but with the world.

Though I may no longer be a public school teacher, I will always be a teacher, and I will always look for ways to share my art, my techniques, my thoughts, and myself. To that end, I have rededicated myself to making videos and helping people tap into their creativity. I threw together a short video announcing my mission. Check it out below, and look for more videos to come soon.

New Work and a Short Video

A change of plans yesterday meant that I was able to spend some time in the studio working on a 24"x24" painting. I had started the background a while ago, and I had planned to create one of my radiating line designs on it. Yesterday was a perfect time to dive in.

It was daunting to draw on such a big surface. All of my previous radiating designs were on much smaller paper, but once I got into it, things began to roll. I didn't finish it, but I got a good start on it. I was even able to take some video of myself working.

A Couple of Videos

I've recently been honored with a couple of videos posted by others that I wanted to share. If you follow the Journal Fodder Junkies on Facebook, you may have already seen these, but I wanted to share here on the blog.

The first video (above) is a conversation that I had with Connie Solera of Dirty Footprints Studio. Connie is creator of 21 SECRETS - a mega-online journal workshop that features 21 different artists presenting 21 different workshops. David and I were fortunate to be part of the Spring 2015 21 SECRETS.

Our conversation covered my art making, my journaling, and my motivations. It was a joy to talk with Connie, and I hope you enjoy the video.

The second video is from Dan Fisk. Dan is a Virginia singer and songwriter, and he invited me to be part of a recent Painting the Music event in Leesburg, VA. I had to paint Dan's song "Little Things" as he and other performers did their thing for two hours. It was a fun challenge to marry my style with Dan's song. It was also a fun challenge to try to complete a painting in just two hours, but I have a feeling that I'll work on this painting a little more before calling it complete.

I hope you enjoy the time lapse video of the painting process. It's interesting to see the painting evolve.

I want to thank to Connie and Dan for including me in their endeavors.

Journals

What kind of journals do you use?

This is a question that we get a lot, so I have posted a video about the two brands of hardbound journals/sketchbooks that we use. Check it out for more info and a peek into a couple of my journals.

Connection and Collaboration: A Call for Participation

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been exploring a web image that represents my connection to others, and in the vein of connection, I am looking to undertake a project that calls for Creative Collaborators. As I have explored this idea, I've been feeling the need to involve others, and this is where you come in.

I've had a few people ask how I make this imagery, and that has trigger an inkling of an idea. I want to include others into my process and have this idea evolve into a true community collaboration. I am picturing a simple process - have others create their own web imagery, share it with me, and I'll create a work of art that responds to and incorporates their imagery.

If you are interested in collaborating with me, it's quite simple, so follow these steps.

1. Email me saying that you're interested, and I'll email you back with an agreement for collaboration and other pertinent info.

2. Watch the how-to video that I posted on YouTube.

3. Make your own web image. Be as elaborate as you wish.

4. Photograph or scan it, and email it to me. Make certain that it's a good quality image. I find my iPad takes great photos for this purpose.

And that's it. The rest is up to me. I'll make a piece of artwork incorporating your image. What that exactly will be? I'm not certain, but I won't make an exact copy because it is important to me that you retain all the rights to your original work. I'll probably do some layering or such by projecting your image onto a large piece of paper. I just don't know. I'm looking forward to seeing just where this collaboration will take me. I'm looking forward to the discovery.

I hope that some of you will want to be Creative Collaborators. Thanks in advance.

Solvent Image Transfer Video

It's been a while since I created a video tutorial (like a year), so I finally got around to making a tutorial about xylene image transfers. For a written step-by-step, check out this post from 2007.

I'm hoping to create more videos in the near future, so stay tuned.

Paper Sculpture - Part 1

I have just uploaded two videos about paper sculpture.

Part 1 demonstrates rolling, folding, and curling.



Part 2 demostrates scoring and tabbing.

Watercolor Salt and Free Downloads

This is the latest video tutorial that I have uploaded to YouTube. It demonstrates how to use salt and rubbing alcohol to create textures in watercolor paint.

Also, our publisher F+W Media has created a new mixed-media website called Create Mixed Media the have posted many free PDF downloads from some of their books including ours. Check it out. I'm sure you will find a lot of goodies to inspire your creative endeavors. Specially check out the two free downloads from our book. The first download is all about page alteration, and second is all about writing.

Watercolor Bleed

This is the second of the video tutorials that I have posted on YouTube. As with the book, the demonstrations are very basic, but deciding when and where to use them is completely up to the individual. We don't want to can creativity. We want to share some basics and allow you to decide how to use them. To see more videos visit my channel on YouTube.

Watercolor Wash

I have just begun uploading technique demonstrations to YouTube. More will follow once I get them edited. I'm going to stick with the techniques described in the book at first and expand upon it and get into some new and experimental things.