Tag Archives: mixed media

Jun26

Working With Cold Wax

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Last year I bought some cold wax to play with.  A friend of mine uses it on her oil paintings, and being a rebel, I decided to try it on watercolor and acrylic.  I had no idea what i was doing, and couldn’t find any instructions for using it.  Maybe I just didn’t try hard enough, or….maybe the timing was off, and i really wasn’t ready for cold wax.  Either way, it sit on my shelf with all the other products that I had to have proudly waving at me from time to time, making sure I don’t forget the possibilities it holds.

This morning I was looking for something else on YouTube when I ran across this video.  After watching it, I now have a better idea of the possibilities, and I do love possibilities.  You know I will be experimenting with cold wax very soon, and maybe one of you will want try it, experiment with it, or even decide it is the perfect effect for what you are creating.

Either way,  I hope you enjoy the information, maybe try it out, and let me know how it goes.

Thanks for taking time to check out Karen’s Stone Soup.  See you soon…

Jun22

How I Get My Ideas…

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Most of the time our creative juices flow easily. However every once in a while we all come to a screeching halt, and we haven’t any ideas. There isn’t anything worse than being stuck without a clue as to how to get creative again.

Sometimes I paint rocks as houses, flowers, faces, or even bugs. My favorite is a ladybug. Our garden is filled with ladybugs, flowers, faces, even one curled up milk snake. I know it sounds crazy, but it usually helps to open up the bottle neck, and let the creativity flow once again.

Since I get emails from Bob Burridge frequently, I thought I’d post one. This particular video started me thinking about my childhood, and how far back I could go. What part of my childhood would I want to bring forward onto a canvas. As I thought about it, I started remembering holding class and teaching all my stuffed animals math, and reading. Or dressing up in my mother’s shoes, and hats with gloves. Maybe even birthday parties, or my “16” birthday party.

What ever I choose, there are always options to make a series from them. Even if you have to pull out your creative license. After all, this is the same as writing a story, just with paint!

When I watched the latest video Bob Burridge posted It got me thinking about all this, and I thought maybe it would help all of you as well.  I hope I’m right.

Thank you for taking time to read Stone Soup,  see you next time….

Apr14

Nothing Is Off The Table…

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I Love Hats!

Experimentation is the way we grow.  For me, if I’m not trying new things, I’m stagnant.  Many times I’ve been bottled up, afraid of I’m not sure what.  Or maybe not afraid, but rather uninspired.  That is a terrible place for anyone to be in.

We cannot have a lack of inspiration  in our enviroment if we want to survive!

Lately I’ve been experimenting constantly.  Each day I spend time either sketching, or painting.  I’m having so much fun with color, line, crayons, pens, and just about anything I can think of to play with.

 

When my grandson, Connor was about three, He would come over and pick out the longest paintbrush, and sit down to paint.  Later I’d find blue (his favorite color at the time) watercolor paint all over everything.  He had so much fun, and I’d have fun watching him let loose and paint big puddles of blue on the paper.  I always work at emulating his little three-year old person letting go.  Now when I experiment, I pretend I’m three-year old Karen just letting go and having fun.  It’s amazing how free that lets you feel.

These are all paintings I did while experimenting.  It hasn’t stopped and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Thank you for being here to check out Stone Soup.  See you soon!

Oct17

What Color are you today?

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Today I’m sitting here, feeling very mellow, and it occurred to me that if I had to paint how I feel, I’m not sure I could figure out what color I’d be.  Mellow being a good mellow!   I’m definitely not Blue…

Santa Fe skies

For sure I’m not feeling green…

I definitely don’t feel dirty, or brown…

Or even in the shadows….

So how do we paint our feelings?   I’m happy, well fed, relaxed, safe, loved, and……mellow.  How do I paint all that and clean too?

Have you ever tried to paint how you feel in a color?  If you were to do that, what color would you use, would it change daily, weekly, or at all?

This is what I feel like today..mellow, and happy!

Thanks for stopping by to check on Stone Soup.  See you next time..

Oct10

Easy, and Fun

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I posted this video of Tag Art because sometimes we need to create on a smaller scale.  That’s me!  While on vacation, I journaled, and I love doing that.  I have many journals, some finished, some almost empty.  Yet when Aron Bros. has a sale on journals, or sketch books, I must rush out and take advantage of the Sale!  

When I get bottled up, or stuck and can’t imagine anything to paint I paint rocks.  Now I’ve found tags.,…..shipping tags,  sale tags, and anything I can collage, or glue something onto.  They start out looking plain, unimpressive, and grow into themselves.

While I just had carpel tunnel surgery, I’ll be having a knee replacement in a couple of weeks, and will be glad I have something small to play with during recuperation.  The something small being tags.  I hope this little video gives you some ideas to use with not only tag art, but larger mixed midea pieces as well.

Thank you for stopping by to check on Stone Soup, see you soon…

Sep9

Heat Lazy Part 2

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This week is considerably cooler, even the humidity isn’t so bad. The air is still on, and we are still glued to the TV, and reports of the horrendous hurricanes that are happening in the Southeast. Les and I haven’t stopped worrying about everyone since before Harvey hit Houston. Other than donating money, clothes, etc, Les and I can’t participate, or help in other ways. So we watch and listen.
Meanwhile, I need to stay busy, and my busy is usually my art. This week I’ve been working on my third Prayer Flag, and more tags.

Being a Mixed Media artist gives me an excuse to save all kinds of little things.  Bags of things know one else wants or needs, pieces of fabric, anything you can imagine somewhere in my stash of goodies….I have it.   Putting it to work is key in this process.