Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Technology Challenges

Illustrator Geisha, Adobe Illustrator 2011
It is really emotionally and physically healthy to learn new things.  Change, though it may be difficult is good for us.  One of the ways that we grow as artists is to learn to improve, step out of our comfort zone and learn, or at least try new things.  This year I learned to use a number of software programs that I had not used before.  As they say in TechEd.  Learn it this morning, teach it this afternoon, which I did. 

The problem is, that as soon as you learn something new in technology, it has changed and moved on.  It is obsolete as soon as it is out of the box.  This goes with art software as well.  Looking back, I am satisfied that I added new software to my bag of tricks, and looking forward need to continue to do the same next year!  This Geisha was one of a number of Geisha that I made in Illustrator and created a line of Geisha Greeting Cards on the computer.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mixed Media Experiments with Oil


Deep Purple Serenade, Oil - Mixed Media
If you look at a lot of works by artists, the majority of people using mix media paint in acrylic.  There are so many interesting effects that can be achieved using acrylic mediums and through collage materials with acrylic paint.  Oil can be mixed with sand and other things. But as a rule most of the oils I find are oil, period.

 "Still Life with Chair Caning" Pablo Picasso
Don't forget,  it was Picasso, who first combined oil which opened the doors to all the twentieth century experimentation.
"1954" Robert Raushenberg
I also have to mention Robert Rauschenberg, who combines painting: oil, paper, fabric, newspaper, printed reproductions, wood, metal, and mirror on three canvas panels.

However, when you look for examples of people working with mixed media and oil, they are few and far between.  The painting above is one of my examples of mixed media collage with oil.  A lot of my mixed media with oil work does include the use of acrylic, before the painting is started, then gessoed and painted with oil.  The Deep Purple Serenade began with this technique but then includes lacquers and beeswax as well as oil paint.