What to do with all these gelli prints?

Today I decided it was time to do something with the great painted papers I created with the Gelli Plate. I have a bunch of different kind papers (deli paper, regular copy paper, rice paper, etc.), in all colors, with all kind of motives. It is really addictive this Gelli Plate. I was thinking about creating some birthday cards, but started with a collage instead.

I took two similar colored papers for the background and braided them. I put some gel medium on the back to stick them together. The collage is actually created in a Visual Journal 9" x 11". I am going to dedicate this journal only for Gelli Plate prints, collages and journal pages with Gelli prints.
Looking for a table I found this lovely purple Gelli print on delipaper. The vase is delipaper as well, and you still can see thru it.
I cut the petals from the tulips from 2 different kind of red prints.

I love it, and it does feel good to create something with all these lovely prints!

More sunflowers

This week I have been working on another sunflower collage. The collage is created with handpainted papers. The size of this collage (and the previous one) is 24 x 30 cms, 9 1/2" x 12". Both collages are for sale in my Etsy shop. Please let me know if you are interested.

Sunflower 2

Sunflower 1

Getting back into the rhythm

I cannot believe I came home only 2 weeks ago. I have been so absorbed in the daily rhythm, that I almost forgot how it was in California. Well... I know it was warmer there, as I am constantly feeling cold. And I miss the sunshine and the care-free lifestyle. But it is great to meet up with family and friends again. And I just need to make sure I have enough time to create.

Last weekend I met up with the Urban Sketchers Amsterdam, and we went to Artis, the zoo in Amsterdam for a day of animal sketching. I had a great time, and met some really nice people. I sketched in my Stillman and Birn sketchbook, with pencil and later added ink (with my Pitt pens and with the Tombow, my new best friend) and a little watercolor.

And the last 2 weeks I have been working on two collage paintings. I started with the blue apple in Elizabeth St. Hillaire Nelson's workshop and finished it at home. The collage of the sunflower was created last weekend. 

I have registered myself for the local yearly art exhibition at the end of the year. Hopefully I will be able to show some of my new work. I have been in the last 2 exhibitions and there are always lots of people coming to check out the local artwork during the holiday season. Last year I sold 6 paintings (a few monoprints, a pastel painting, 2 alcohol ink paintings and a mixed media collage. Fingers crossed.

Home again

This will be the last blog post from my trip to the US. My normal life has started again, and I am even back at work.

Last weekend I attended a 2-day workshop with Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson called Paper painting. As I do have a soft spot for collage, this looked liked the perfect workshop for me. And it was! Elizabeth is not only a great collage artist, but also a great teacher and a lovely person. Make sure to check out her blog or take a class with her when you get the chance.

The first day we painted all kind of papers, rice papers, mulberry papers, book pages etc. Elizabeth demostrated all kind of techniques and then it was playtime! The second day we focussed on our collage with our own handpainted papers. We all had to do some homework before the workshop, we needed to bring a 12" x 12" painting of an apple, to be used as underpainting for the collage.

Here is my collaged apple, I am very happy with the end result and will sure use the new techniques in my future work.

And then to say goodbye to California, to summer and to say hello to the Fall/Autumn I will share a last image of the view from the back porch of the cottage in Penngrove.

Lavender

I am trying to paint in the same loose style as Jean Haines. Very difficult. I started with a wash in blues and greens as background for the lavender. Then added the flowers, but was missing something... The composition was not good, this painting is on a full sheet, but I cropped it to this size. And I finished it with a little bit of ink rubbed thru a stencil and added some text with a rubber stamp. Much better.

Yippie I won!

My colorful alcohol ink rooster won in the category Prettiest Texture in the Big Bold Beautiful Birds contest in the Alcohol Ink Artists group on Facebook. I am so happy :-). If you are not yet a member; please consider joining, we are a group of Alcohol Ink Artists sharing lovely images and techniques!

New video on Youtube - how to paint with alcohol inks

I just uploaded a new video on YouTube on how to create a lovely painting with alcohol inks. I used the painting of the magnolia in bloom (the one I showed you a few blog posts ago) in the video.

Please check it out and like, love and share!

Selling prints

I am selling prints of my artwork on Fine Art America. I have started to upload some pastel paintings. Please check it out on FineArtAmerica

Ready for opening night!

Yesterday evening my sister helped me with getting ready for the local annual art show starting tonight. We had a great evening, sorting all the paintings and hanging them on my 4 meter space. Lots of paintings, but I like how the wall turned out. I am ready for the opening, tonight at 8pm!

If you are interested (and live nearby) the art show is at the WVT in Bilthoven, from December 18, 2013 to January 2, 2014. With opening hours every day (even on Christmas). There is lots to see, paintings, sculptures, ceramic, jewellery, etc.

Getting ready for the local art show

It has been a few weeks since I posted anything on my blog. I was so busy with work, life and getting ready for the annual local art show. The show starts this Wednesday and my sister will help me on Tuesday evening with getting things ready. I have selected all the work I want to take with me, and all the art work is matted and framed and ready to be hanged.

The mixed media paintings are framed in a 40 x 50 cm frame. I love how they turned out, they look so much nicer and professional in a frame.

The pastel drawings are also done.

And this is one of the boxes I am taking with me. I have the 2 mixed media paintings, 14 30 x 40 cm frames with pastels, alcohol ink paintings and monoprints. And in the bag are 4 23 x 23 cm poppy paintings in alcohol ink. I hope the show goes well. I will post some pictures from the opening night on Wednesday!

San Francisco in Mixed Media - finish

This morning I finished my Mixed Media painting of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco holds sweet memories for me and this is actually one of the first paintings I painted just for me.

I will show you the last stages of the painting. I corrected the pillars of the bridge and the background last time and added more collage to the piece. The first thing I did this morning was to paint the left side of the pillars with yellow and glazing medium. And I painted the rocks in the background.

Then I used more orange and red with the glazing medium. I worked on the bridgde and the pillars under the bridge.

I added some more shading under the rocks in the background and to the bridge. Then I declared this painting FINISHED! I love it ;-). When the painting is completely dry I will put a layer of gel medium on top to varnish the painting.

This is a detail of the background, with the rocks made from different kind of collage and textured papers, paint and glazing medium.

And a new background is already waiting for me.... ;-)

Thanks for watching and your lovely comments along the way!

Corrections on the Golden Gate Bridge - WIP

After a busy week I found some time to work on my Mixed Media Painting of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was not happy with the of the pillars of the bridge, so I added some more paper. I also needed to fix the background thru the pillars as it did not connect.

This layer is drying and after the next layer of paint I will show you how it looks!

San Francisco in Mixed Media WIP - continued

Time for doing some work on my Mixed Media Painting of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The painting has been resting on my easel in the living room. This way I can look at it every day and can see what still needs to be done. First, the blues from the sky needed an extra layer of paint (and glazing medium). The drips from the alcohol ink were a bit too visible to my taste. And I found the bridge needed be a bit bigger on the right side of the painting.

This is after I added a layer of blue to the sky and the water. The color is now a deep blue, while the collaged papers on the background are still visible. And I added some shades to the painting to create more depth.

After the painting was dry, I added some more collage papers. First to the pier of the bridge, and to the water and the rocks in the background. The color of the painting is more intense in real life.

I still have a few layers to go. I need to work on the reflections in the water and create more depth. But I am happy with the result so far!

San Francisco in Mixed Media WIP

I have been working on the Mixed Media painting of the Golden Gate Bridge.

First I added some Azure blue ink with a little makeup sponge, I used a piece of punchinella with little squares. And then I started painting, I used orange and red acrylic paint with a glazing medium. It starts to come together.

San Francisco in Mixed Media

This week I have been busy with my 'real life' job ;-). Not much time left for creativity. But I did have a good week, I went to a concert on Tuesday evening and got a new laptop on Wednesday. And as always, it takes time to reinstall the printer, the camera, all the software and transferring all the files to the new computer. BUT, I am done, the time has come to start on a project that has been in my mind for a while.

In May/June I was in California and at the end of the trip I went 'back' to San Francisco. And I say back because years ago I came to San Francisco regularly. And I loved San Francisco. And I found out I still do....

I wanted to make a Mixed Media painting of San Francisco and today I finally started. It is not finished yet, but I will show you the progress I made today. The canvas is 40 x 50 cms. I started with collageing pieces of paper to the canvas, I used a stencil with some spray ink, dripped on alcohol ink and painted the blues with acrylics and glaze. It already makes me very happy :-).