Mini Abstract Painting Plaques

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OK, so I know its only August but it really will be soon for the Xmas markets, so getting ahead by creating these affordable mini abstract plaques, measuring just 10x10cm, ideal for that tiny space in the home.

Not finished yet, but thought I’d share my process and progress on the blog:

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1. I gessoed my mini wooden boards and tore up a mixture of ephemera (book pages, maps, music etc) and dress pattern paper.

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2. These were then adhered to the substrate with matt medium in a completely random fashion.

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3. I then added strips of old cropped pieces of paintings (I always save these as they are great for adding as collage elements) to produce interest and begin a composition.

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4. Once dry I then started to play with gouache colours with no particular design in mind. This was great play as I am new to gouache but its so forgiving and easy to blend. I’ll definitely be using this medium in my mixed media paintings in the future.

5. So, 20 mini paintings on the go. Next stages, mark making, composition adjustments and then a beautiful coat in encaustic wax.

Hope to share the finished pieces soon.

http://www.helenkaminsky.co.uk

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You’re allowed to change your mind…..

One of the great things about mixed media art is that you are “allowed to change your mind” if a painting is not developing in the way you expected it to. And, the process is quite simple: you take a deep breath, let go, gesso over the bits that aren’t working, keep the bits that are working, and hey you have a completely new piece of art to manipulate and start afresh with undertones of the original poking through.

Here is an example of the piece that I was just not happy with (on the left) and the new piece that is more pleasing, simplistic and atmospheric (on the right). The intention was to produce a painting depicting the sunrise over a popular local landmark.

The transformation process: After countless adjustments and frustration I decided that no matter what I did the work just didn’t seem right. I didn’t like the greens, they just didn’t say “sunrise”, also the dry stone wall and the gate were taking the focus away from the sky and the ridge. And, lastly it just wasn’t my style at all.

So, I reluctantly grabbed my brayer, coated it in white gesso and eliminated all the parts that were incohesive.

I was then able to strengthen the yellows and develop the darks, add more college and highlight the beautiful texture that emerged from the previous painting with a scumble of oil pastel. I’m still not sure if its quite finished yet but I’m so much more happier with the result.

Hope you enjoyed the blog spot, I’d love to hear your comments.

http://www.helenkaminsky.co.uk

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Creating an underpainting with Starch

A fun way to establish an outline image on which to build further layers is by manipulating paint with spray starch.

Take a look of the stages of my Finished painting “Summer Shimmer”:

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Here are the stages:

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Stage 1:

The canvas was sprayed lightly with spray starch and a variety of paint and pigment was applied (liquid acrylics, air brush colour, acrylic inks and Brusho granules. This was then sprayed with another layer of starch.

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Stage 2:

A sheet of polythene was placed over the canvas and left to dry.

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Stage 3:

When the polythene was removed, although the colours had faded slightly, the process left a beautiful underpainting with lots of different textures (caused by the reaction of the starch with the different paint mediums) on which to build a painting.

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Stage 4:

Collage elements where added to the piece and more paint was added to reveal the flower heads.

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Final stage:

More adjustments were carried out on the vase and the background to produce the finished work.

http://www.helenkaminsky.co.uk

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Cropping artwork

More old paintings found that didn’t really work for me, so using my two L-shaped pieces of mountboard I played around to crop them into pleasing compositions and hey presto I now have new artworks to mount and sell:

The chosen format:
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The chosen format:

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The chosen format:

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http://www.helenkaminsky.co.uk

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Mark-Making Nostalgia

Having a clear out today whilst the rain is battering outside (yes, its July, and its the UK). Came across some old experiments with mark-making tools, some of which I’d totally forgotten:

Using all sorts of things from lego, toy train tracks, corks, bottle tops, sequin waste, stencils, toy cog wheels and stamps to name but a few.

And, here are some of them put onto various types of paper with other random marks and formed into collages:

Then using two L-shaped pieces of mountboard, I floated them over the work to see where they could be cropped to create a pleasing piece of art:

Interesting to see how the dynamics of the pieces change, so now all I need to do is to make a decision on which version works the best, and how to crop, mmmmm……..

These are the ones I chose:

I found that I was particularly drawn to a square format with these creations, so now to get them mounted and ready for sale.

Hope you found this an interesting way to re-look at old artwork. More to come…

http://www.helenkaminsky.co.uk

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The Creation of Mac McGuiness

During a wonderful art retreat at EOM (Essence of Mulranny Studios), Co. Mayo, Ireland, we were fortunate enough to visit a thriving goat sanctuary dedicated to saving the endangered, indigenous Irish Goat.

Here are the 4 stages of the creation of Mac McGuiness, in mixed media, collage and encaustic wax.

And here is a cheeky little collaged ‘fella’ that I donated to the Sanctuary:

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And, a few shots of the real thing:

They were so adorable, so more goat paintings to come…..

http://www.helenkaminsky.co.uk

http://www.essenceofmulranny.com

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Local Scenes

Have started a series of local scenes around Congleton and Staffs for a forthcoming exhibition at The Foxlowe Gallery Café, Leek in March. Three done and more to go………………………. Its amazing once you start the options that pop into your head. These 3 below depict Bosley Cloud, a well known and well travelled landmark in Congleton, Cheshire.

 

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