Abstract Compositions

Tags

abstract, digital art, floral bead, painting

I’ve been having fun doing some abstract sketches trying out different compositional plans and practicing getting interesting marks using digital brushes. I chose red and green because they are complementary colours and I wouldn’t ordinary choose to put them together. The first picture ended up looking like an underwater scene with its blue background, and I couldn’t decide which way was up.

The next drawing started off with a spiral and ended up with more petal-like shapes. I made a short video showing all the layers of drawing that I used to make the my final image.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Mmvwy48nGRA?feature=share

For the third composition I tried to keep to horizontal and vertical lines since the other two were primarily made up of curves. This time I actually recorded a time-lapse video of the process.

https://youtube.com/shorts/CNKHbZlK5oo?feature=share

These have been really fun to do, and hopefully they are also interesting to look at. I’ve got a couple of floral pieces that I’ve finally finished but not shared yet so they will probably feature in my next blog. See you then.

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Mortality Motivation

Tags

art, drawing, painting, polymer clay

Mortality motivation is a thing. Since my mother died earlier this month, I have decided to work on improving my drawing and painting skills. I’ve been inspired by Tim Packer and I’ve been enjoying this series of short videos by Marco Bucci . So far I’ve done some little digital sketches practicing compositional techniques and exploring marks made using a tablet (I’ll share those in another post).

Co-incidentally our roof is being replaced so we’ve had to get stuff out of the attic including my old paintings and drawings from earlier this millennium. Since there’s been several years since I did them, I was able to bin quite a few of them and file them under experience, but a few showed some drawing ability. I have to trust that some of that will come back to me when I get my paints out again.

I have been wondering whether or not to start a new blog to feature my drawing and painting journey, but I’ve always wanted to find ways of incorporating polymer clay into pieces of art so the two techniques may come full circle and meet somewhere in the middle eventually. Having learned more about painting composition there are already some decisions I would now make differently in my polymer clay designs.

Remember I’ve got a mailing list which you can sign up to if you’d like future updates (or unsubscribe from if my tangents go in the wrong direction for you 😉).

Virtually Amsterdam

Tags

amsterdam, painting, quirky, travel, Virtual Paintout

I decided to make time to take part in the Virtual Paintout again. This is a fun project by Bill Guffey where he chooses a destination and then we use google maps to find views to paint. This month it’s Amsterdam.

“It’s Amsterdam, only bonkers” by Cate van Alphen

It was quite near the end of the month when I started, so I decided to focus on something fun rather than strictly accurate. I’ve done some messy gesso in the background on a piece of blue paper. I used paint pens and only slightly exaggerated the tilt of the buildings.

https://goo.gl/maps/tHW4mbwvsg62

I wanted something a little bonkers to reflect the feeling of Amsterdam which is full of fun surprises. For example a museum of Fluorescent Art or tiny houses in a crack between two buildings.

Hello world

Tags

abstract, colour mixing, genesis heat set paint, painting, spectrum, sunshine

Last night I finally got to try out my new Genesis heat set paints. I haven’t dared try to paint recently, since with little children I know as soon as I’ve mixed up some colours I’ll get called away and they will be left to dry out on my palette. Because the Genesis paints remain usable until heat set, I thought they’d be a safer option. I decided to buy them with my birthday money, but I wanted to wait until after we’d moved. My birthday is in February so there has been some antici… … pation!

Hello World by Cate van Alphen

So here’s my first little painting. It’s really just a little doodle for me to test out the spectrum of colours. I think I need to get a magenta to pep up the purple since the one I mixed from red and blue was not bright enough for me (I think the red is too warm). The yellow is pretty warm too so I couldn’t get a cool green. I think I’ve gotten used to mixing with 5 primary colours (from using the Fimo Professional True Colours range).

Old is the new new

Tags

Art Deco, bead, bead embroidery, christmas gifts, flower, Jamie Cloud Eakin, kaleidoscope, mandala, new year, painting, plans, polymer clay, print, UTEE

I have been reflecting on what I liked about last year, and thinking about what I would like to achieve in 2014…

I’ve had a pretty good run with the Art Bead Scene challenges; I think they really helped me to focus on a project (and the deadlines made me finish). So I’d like to carry that on in the new year.

I have been playing with one of my new Christmas gifts, a melting pot, to make the earrings above (here’s a tutorial for the UTEE headpins). I’d like to experiment some more with that.

Since my playtime has been reduced/fragmented (with our new baby), I’ve mostly been making earrings, as they don’t take too long to finish. I’d like to think a bit bigger this year, and maybe spend some time exploring each idea. I’d like to work on something more substantial, something I can look back on and think “Wow, I did that!”. Another of my Christmas gifts was “Dimensional Bead Embroidery” by Jamie Cloud Eakin. That seems like a good place to start.

My sister is getting married later this year, so I have been helping her design some Art Deco invitations. I’ve been surprised at how much I actually enjoyed doing vector drawings again (it’s amazing how university can suck the fun out of things). So I have been dusting off my old print account on Deviant Art, and I’ll try to do some more paintings (digital, traditional, polymer clay or even a mix!).

I’m pleased to say I still like some of my old images. See?! I’ve been designing canes since ancient times BC (Before Clay). Now I just need to improve my cane building skills. 😉

So for 2014 there will be peacocks, Art Deco, bead embroidery, cabochons, complex canes, digital paintings, art beads, wonky UTEE AND … unexpected treasures I haven’t even thought of yet.

Happy New Year!

May every day be joyful and precious.

ABS Challenge September

Tags

art bead, Autumn, beads, doughnut pendant, necklace, painting, pendant, polymer clay, SEP ABS, silk ribbon, silk yarn

This month’s Art Bead Scene challenge painting is Autumn by Alphonse Mucha. I made a hollow doughnut pendant using colours from the painting and a floral pattern to convey the bountiful atmosphere of the painting. Here is a video demo of me making the polymer clay pendant.

Autumn from “The Seasons (series)”, 1896
Alphonse Mucha
Oil on Panel

The first thing that caught my eye in the painting was her beautiful tendrils of red hair. I used a mix of red silk yarn, ombre silk ribbon and strands of beads to represent this and the maturing foliage.

Voilà – Autumn on a string. Or should a say many strings? 🙂

January Blues

Tags

blue, cloisonne, january, liquid clay, liquid polymer, painting, polymer clay, Scottish Polymer Clay Guild, scrap clay, starry night

The Scottish Polymer Clay Guild has started a monthly themed challenge. For January the theme is “Blue”. I decided to make a mini painting – my idea was faux basse-taille meets Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.

While I am happy enough with the colours and the image, unfortunately the metallic effect has largely been lost. I used a base of scrap clay and dusted it with silver powder, then I applied liquid polymer with added alcohol inks. I think my mistake was that I didn’t bake the base before adding the liquid clay so the metallic powder lifted and got mixed in with the glaze.

“January Blue” by Cate van Alphen
Polymer Clay, 6.5cm x 5.5cm

After it was baked I tried to clarify the liquid clay glaze by using a heat gun. Sadly this did not improve it much and caused blisters to appear. I’m not sure if the heat gun was too hot, too close or used too long. Does anyone have any advice?

Featured Painting

Tags

feature, landscape, painting, polymer clay, polymer clay daily, polymer clay painting, Virtual Paintout

Yesterday I had problems with my internet so I only discovered today that my polymer clay painting of Tasmania had been featured on Polymer Clay Daily. This is only my third painting using polymer clay so I’m really pleased.

I’m still not entirely sure why I prefer using polymer clay instead of traditional paint, but it seems I do! I even started a group on Flickr for Polymer Clay Painting so if anyone else has work (or tips) they’d like to share please stop by.

“Sisters Beach, Tasmania”

“Upwards, Thailand”

“Last Light, Latvia”

Virtual Paintout August – Tasmania

Tags

beach, landscape, painting, polymer clay, river, shadow, sisters beach, Tasmania, trees, Virtual Paintout

Despite my best intentions, I have only finished my virtual paintout picture on the last day of the month (again). This month it’s Tasmania.

“Sisters Beach, Tasmania” by Cate van Alphen
Polymer clay, 10cm x 10cm

Worth the wait?

Tags

bead soup, jungle, painting, polymer clay, polymer clay painting, steps, Thailand, trees

I have finally finished my Thailand painting. I was getting really worried that the earlier parts of the painting would crack in the oven as the baked polymer clay “canvas” was arching upwards with the passing days, but there wasn’t a problem. Yay!

“Upwards, Thailand” by Cate van Alphen
Polymer clay, 10cm x 10cm

The original image is from google streetview. I have an earlier post about this painting in progress.

Other good news is that I may be one remake away from finishing an “official” Bead Soup piece. I’ve already completed some but not using the toggle or focal I was sent. So, head down till the big reveal on 11th August!