a hello from Cornwall

Just popping by to say hello.  I'll be catching up here in a couple of days.  A family visit followed by a mild recurrence of my illness (not connected lol) have had a slight impact on what I've been able to achieve in the last couple of weeks.  I've finished my samples for week 20 (glazes) and week 21 (embedding) for the Surface Treatment Workshop and have also started on week 22 (pours).  I just need to have a little photo session but here is an "in progress" shot from my phone ...

Meanwhile, talking of "pours" ... I found my neighbours' decorators' paint can rather interesting ...

and this lovely view started my day off beautifully this morning ... love that sky!

See you soon ... x

Surface Treatment Workshop - week 5

it's been a busy week and I'm few days late posting this week's samples

but I've had a lot of fun with the crackle medium and crackle paste

and it was a real learning curve with mixed results and pleasant surprises

after clearing up in my studio last week ...

I came across a bottle of DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackling Medium

so, with no idea how many years I've had it or if it has a shelf life
I began sampling with that ...

I followed instructions to paint first then apply the crackle medium

a few minor bubbly textures appeared but on the whole nothing much

still, I discovered that the medium is great for creating a shiny glaze

which reflects the light and therefore adds a watery effect to my "beach streams" painting

next up ... another abstract painting with the crackle medium applied on top

for this one I waited till it was dry then zapped it with my heat gun to create some texture

areas of my painting bubbled up with the heat ... so I applied silver foil to the raised areas

overall I'm pleased with the finished effect even if it was not intended

still with the DecoArt crackle medium ...

for the next sample I applied the crackle medium first and painted into it while still wet

using a brush I mixed the colours directly on my base

then heated the sample with a heat gun and ironed on more silver foil

I was pleased with the effect of the paint in the medium

which runs together in a similar manner to when you paint into pva glue

and does vaguely resemble a "weathered wood" texture with a bit of imagination

the original sample is much more interesting than my photos do justice

the sample below is more DecoArt Crackle Medium

heated with a heat gun before painting which created this texture below

(showing it coloured after I had painted it)

and this is the sample after I had applied silver foil

(I do like a bit of bling on an otherwise matt surface)

it was useful to try DecoArt Crackle Medium applied very thinly on a pastel seascape

the effects were quite faint which is great if a more subtle result is sought

below is the last of my samples with the DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackling Medium

I painted this seascape with sunrise with acrylics on mount board

then applied the crackle medium really thickly on top and left for 24 hours

this does appear to have a more weathered wood look

so I guess this is how the medium should be applied

the instructions on the bottle were not that clear

as to how much to apply ... hence the experiments

it worked well on the waves which look choppy with small  "white horses"

and on the white/blue sky too (below)

the following samples below are with Golden Gel Mediums Crackle Paste

experimenting with different thicknesses of paste and applying with a brush and palette knife

the first thing I discovered was how patient you have to be waiting for the stuff to crack up

these samples were left drying out several days

the second thing I discovered was that the size and depth of the cracks

depend very much on how thickly the paste is applied

I felt I got much better results when the paste was applied with a palette knife versus a brush

perhaps because I favour a knife over a brush for acrylics anyway

and because I don't really like seeing brush strokes in the paste

the third thing I discovered is that paint just sinks into the cracks to the base layer

and therefore any depth of colour needs to be built up in several layers / applications

below ... adding another layer of watery acrylics

this is how it looks when dry (below) ...

you can see the depth of colour pales as it dries

overall I'm pleased with the crackle textures

but didn't really like the chalky feel of the surface

so I also experimented with different clear glazes on my sketchbook samples

trying Golden fluid matte medium, pva glue and the DecoArt Crackle Medium

I ran out of time for any more samples this week

as I've had to get some collages ready for faux encaustic (week 6)

but I may work some more crackle samples later with more intense colour and glazes

and it's good to try every angle of a material

my sister had some great results with the crackle paste this week

also this week I've been working some more on my St. Ives stitched collage

securing the fabrics with stab stitches and playing with the composition

since I took these photos I've stitched down the cottages

secured the rusted fabrics (which I found on the harbour beach)

and attached the shells, seaweed and vintage button

I was pleased with how the rusted orange lifted the neutral colours

it's coming along ...

I'll be back on Wednesday with The Surface Treatment Workshop

in week 6 we are exploring faux encaustic techniques which is rather exciting!

Surface Treatment Workshop - week 4

this week's samples for The Surface Treatment Workshop

are the results of experiments with masking tape

many of the suggestions included using the tape as a resist for mark making

by painting over the tape and peeling it off again, sometimes several times to create layers

however, I was not enamoured with the technique suggestions for this week's samples

and, for this, I will blame my tools ... I think!

my masking tape was so tacky that once it was adhered to my mount board bases

I just couldn't get the stuff off again ...

so my samples are mainly where I have used the tape to create texture

and I'm pleased with the results here ... but did not tick the boxes (naughty me!)

these are small seascapes on mount board

where I have used the masking tape, then painted over the top with acrylics

I used a palette knife and then heated the acrylics for extra texture

I do like the texture created here ... and will use again

above and below

this sample is masking tape with paint applied thickly all over

to show that the tape and the background take paint differently

(I used paynes grey over burnt umber)

this was where I removed some of the paint with a rag

below ... I made a mini landscape / seascape collage

with some of the bits of masking tape I managed to peel off of one of my samples

I ruined the original sample ... but at least the little peely bits were not wasted

you can see the scale of the "mini" against my palette knife

 this one was a bit more interesting

I used oil pastels which I blended with a rag

the oil pastels accentuated the edges of the tape

I was pleased with the blending ...

and the lighting achieved with the pastels

I created a sort of "horizon line" by scratching through the oil pastels

and it became an unintentional

this one is masking tape and watered down acrylics in turquoise with a little gold

again it picked up and accentuated the edges of the tape

I blamed the tape but, on reflection, it may have worked better on different surfaces

however I won't get time to play with this any more this week

instead, I will look forward to week 5 which is playing with crackle paste

(I've just ordered some new golden medium crackle paste and can't wait for it to arrive!)

Surface Treatment Workshop - week 3

a few weeks ago my sister and I decided to work our way through the prompts

covered in the book "The Surface Treatment Workshop"

and already we are on week 3 which explores using aluminium foil ...

the sort of foil most of us have in our kitchen drawer

most of the prompts include embossing patterns into the foil first

before experimenting with colouring the foil

for the embossing part of the exercise I mainly used stencils

and textured surfaces found in my studio such as corrugated card and blister packs

the samples below were embossed with a seedhead stencil

and then coloured with acrylic inks

I only bought the three mixing colours of turquoise, magenta and yellow

and blended them on the foil to create these tones

the inks were quite runny so they don't work with all stencils

but they did sit quite nicely on this one which had enclosed patterns

below is another piece of foil textured with corrugated card, blister pack and leaf stencil

I applied black shoe polish to this one which achieved a lovely "vintage" tone as it dried

I rather like these tones and mixed patterns

in the sample below I embossed the foil with circles from a stencil

added a layer of pva glue, then, after the glue had dried I painted a seascape with acrylics

to help the drying process along I heated it with a heat gun which created tiny little texture bubbles

I noticed this was the pva glue bubbling and also the white acrylic, but not the blues

you can see the embossed circles coming through the paint

the close up detail below looks like seagulls and sea foam

(you have to use your imagination a little bit ...)

this is another sample below of the same process but without using the heat gun

and painting into the pva glue while it was still wet

the paint blended with the pva to create a feeling of movement in the seascape

(I definitely prefer this version)

this is the whole scene below ... a landscape

and a detail of the seascape with white sand beach, rolling waves and wintery sky

it's all I had time for this week as I also worked on covering my sketchbook

but I do have a couple more samples in progress which I hope to finish at the weekend

these are ... drawing and mark making on the reverse of the foil instead of embossing

and a 3D piece where I stuck some limpet shells down on a base

covered with aluminium foil to get the shell textures coming through

then I painted the shells white and just need to work more colours into the shells

***

in week 4 we are exploring mark making with masking tape

week 1 - stamping/printing

week 2 - stencils

week 3 - aluminium foil

week 4 - masking tape

my sister didn't enjoy using the foil this week but she did create a lovely original sample using

foil wrappers from stock cubes which she painted with acrylics and oil pastels x