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My last painting of 2016 was another mixed media piece. Increasingly, I'm enjoying experimenting with new materials to achieve the look I'm after. Here I wanted to juxtapose the realistic, detailed figure with an abstracted background.

To read the story behind this painting, please click here.

 

#1:

I mounted UArt 320 grit sanded pastel paper onto gatorboard and did a drawing in charcoal which I then sprayed with fixative.

I underpainted the figure and lettering in ink and watercolor. For the background I randomly applied three different blue pastels, washing them with Turpenoid but leaving areas of untouched paper. Then I started applying white gesso with a palette knife working left to right.

#2:

First and second layers of more gesso applied with differently shaped palette knives, making sure I'd leave some blue and blank paper peeking through. This step is a lot of fun!!

#3:

In step 3 I added more gesso to cover up a bit more of the colors in the background. After it dried I dragged black pastel sticks over it, which created interested variations in tone and value because of the heavy texture of the gesso. I played around adding more pastel to some areas while leaving others untouched, blending the pigment into the surface in areas where I wanted more coverage. I then added the "text" (which does not consist of real words) with a soft charcoal pencil. Making random marks look like writing without using real letters is not as easy as it looks! Try it for yourself and you'll see. I have to get into a certain zone (music helps!) to "let it flow" effortlessly. If I force it you can tell!!

#4:

Here I added some greys and blues to the background, colors I would be using in the figure to create more overall harmony (yes, even on a piece dealing with chaos there needs to be harmony!). I then splattered gesso all over it (but very carefully thought out), protecting the figure as best as I could. Spritzing some of the gesso drips with a spray bottle of water and holding the painting at different angles created lovely runs and drips as well as a bit of a "starburst" effect in some spots.

#5:

Once I was happy with the background it was finally time to work on the figure! I knew the background would take me longer than the figure and if I couldn't achieve the look I was after I didn't want to have wasted my time  on the figure. Here I was working from the top down, face first, then shirt and hands.

#6:

Finished with the pants and boots.

#7:

A close up so you can see the scale better.

#8:

Yes, it IS possible to create detail even in small areas with big sticks of pastel! It's all in the touch and the edges of the sticks. I only used pastel pencils VERY sparingly on this (only on the first layers of the pupils and the final strokes of SOME of the creases of the eye lids)!

Finished:

Chaos, 20"x30"

You can see that I added more darks under the figure so he wouldn't be "floating".

 

I hope this post inspires you to experiment and try mixing different materials. I sometimes get frustrated with the time the learning curve eats up but it's so worth it to grow as an artist and break up the routine. I'm looking forward to more mixed media work in 2017!