Merry Christmas!

Painting Bold Black & Retro Red

A bold black wood block print over white gesso on an old book page.
Cute polka dot shoes, & a vibrant little red dress.
(raylee).

Decorative Art Change

Change is what this old washstand needed......from Brown to White with a coat of paint.

 Silver stencil ( bought at the Dollar shop), then a gold layer....

 Next an image transfer on the top left side....

Another stencil, some gold text this time on the right hand side from Seth Apter from thealteredpage.blogspot.com

A bit of distressing & a watery layer of gesso over the transfer....part of a poem about stars (author unknown) hand written over the transfer......

 Dry brushed silver & gold on the legs......some more distressing with sandpaper on the edges of the washstand.....

 & what a difference this easy makeover  made to a tired old washstand!

(raylee).

Birds & Bees

 Spring is here!
Time to give this old stool a new coat of paint.

 All white with a black pattern on the top. I just used painter's masking tape to make the design.

Hand painted a leopard print with some coloured spots onto the legs.

 Found a tutorial for the leopard print at Tracey's Fancy.

Tracey has lots of really great furniture painting tutorials.  

 Used the same colours for the trims on the legs.
 Stenciled little spots around the edge of the top.

Pretty little bird stickers complete this makeover. 

The stool will be used as a bedside table.

(raylee).

'Little Bird' - Gel Skin Medium Transfer/Mixed Media

(raylee)

Most of the time I like to experiment just to see where it takes me.....After reading about Image Transfers thought I would have a try with a black & white photo.

After all the backing paper was removed it was a little bland & ghost like.

 Which I liked but  decided a darker background was needed to bring the image more into focus. Black gesso over used watercolour paper & a bird stencil over the black with white gesso made a much more interesting background.

 When the image was placed over the black & white it  created more depth, pushing  the old   building back & making it more ghost like, and this brought the girl riding her bike forward. 

 Once on the canvas it still needed something else.

 A colourful frame..... acrylic painted over old used watercolour paper, collage frame image & a border stenciled with markers. Two subtle bird image transfers, some branches with buds & text transfer & a spotty transfer on the top at the sides to finish.

The marker line border was made with this stencil from Stencil Girl Products designed by Seth Apter.

Stencil Art

(raylee)

Just completed this stencil exercise which I started at Art is You, in Dimensional Stencilling Workshop tutored by Seth Apter.

Australian Mixed Media Roadshow - Art is You.

(raylee)

 Two collages exercises from the workshop with Seth Apter (click the link to see his blog for up coming tutorials/workshops ).
These were fairly quick exercises as we worked almost non stop except for a lunch break & morning & afternoon tea, most of our class skipped the afternoon cuppa.....trying to get our stencils & collages completed.

 A couple of the stencil exercises using different mediums & techniques.

Do you read art magazines?
Do you  look at all the tutorials & think there is one little piece of the puzzle missing?
You do everything step by step but it doesn't quite look like you think it should.
Me too!
So when I heard the Art is You Mixed Media Roadshow was coming to Australia.......to Queensland.....to Tewantin !! I booked two workshops with Seth Apter, mixed media artist......
Seth is a very generous tutor, he was more than happy to fill in all the missing gaps & show the class how he makes art step by step to the very end.
If you are interested in any of his up coming workshops go have a look where he will be teaching.
Lots of information on his blog www.thealteredpage.blogspot.com
(raylee).

Making Art Personal Through Images

 Just four weeks ago this was a blank canvas (48" x 36").
When someone asks me to " paint something for them", the question starts racing through my head: WHAT??.....Paint what?.....Not such a dilemma when you know the person well, as I did in this case.
Once the size & colours were agreed on I was pretty much left to make the subject decision myself.
I knew roads were a favourite with this person. My interpretation of this road is located very close to her birthplace of Cooma NSW. (Australia).
 First thing to do was cover the canvas with yellow acrylic, draw a basic composition for the road & the Poplar trees. Sort through the paper stash to find images of her hobbies, likes, memories & start tearing the suitable images to make a start.

 These papers become part of the grass, the colour of the knitted bits are the colour of the dry grasses around the Monaro.

 Sheep & wool were a part of her childhood living in the country.

 Filling in spaces with paint & torn paper collage. Trying to find suitable colours & textures for the composition.

 A visitor taking refuge from the rain.
The sky is becoming a mixture of blue sky images, fabric, feathers & knitting...... my favourite part so far. The yellow Poplars are standing tall reaching for the light.

 "We are all mad here"......not just the sheep!!

 The butterfly represents her new venture into sewing & creating her own business.

 "Blood Lines"= Family.

 All the images blend & complement each other to tell her story.

 Towards the end some of the images have been cut to give them more definition.
Layers of paper & paint all come together to create  this painting of happy memories, & maybe some
fun discovering the relevance of some images.
(raylee).

Intention...becoming a reality

Collage & acrylic on canvas. (raylee).

Intention

Change Can Be Good

 Layers of paint & texture in the beginning.....

 the morning sunlight shows all the texture on the canvas....but what I thought was a landscape just wasn't happening the way I thought it should......so I painted over the whole thing!

A few squirts with the spray bottle to get some runs.....

 The landscape is now in portrait mode......a very different picture emerging now....

a new subject, retaining all of the paint layers & textures.
'Orange Cardi' - not quiet discarded....yet.
( raylee ).

Image transfer/mixed media

"This is what she wrote......"

 Image transfer on old book page with gesso undercoat & cobalt blue acrylic around the edge of the pages.
I found this image a long time ago in a National Geographic magazine.
When I paint I brush excess paint onto old book pages etc. As I did this I noticed the words " this is what she wrote" at the top of the right hand page....this page just so happened to be the one I had chosen for this image transfer........so this was my inspiration for this artwork.

Drawing over a dry watery coat of burnt sienna with pen, added some colour to the drawing with watercolour pencils.

 Collaged a paper border with printed handwriting on it onto the canvas board.

 Then added the book page with gel medium. When it was dry I added the corner collage pieces.

  Last of all crayon which I smudged with my fingers to soften the overall appearance of this picture.

(raylee).

Art today....texture & layers of paint

On my work table......mark making, paint layers, creating texture with palette knife, stencils, stamps (from recycled found bits & pieces) & impasto gel with acrylic on canvas.
(raylee).

Suitcase Art

 1. Gesso

 2. Naples Yellow Acrylic

 3. Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna

4. Trial & error with the composition

5. Add the Blues - Ultramarine & Cobalt with White

(raylee). www.facebook.com/RayleeSyrchArt