A 40 Year Project

This painting was started in about 1986 and finished today in 2015. It's in colored pencil, prismacolor and Polychromos brands. It's on paper and is 18" x 24", quite large for a colored pencil piece. I found it, half finished, buried in a stack of older works, while I was looking for something else, which I have yet to find. I've always said I've been doing colored pencil since the 1980s and this proves it. You can check out newer pieces on my facebook page C S originals. 

Test Run, Fluid Acrylic Paints

I'd read about fluid acrylic paints in several sources so I decided to try them. I also had this book called Brave Intuitive Painting by Flora Bowley ( don't have a picture of the book). I decided to combine the two into a short series of paintings on paper.

The fluid acrrylics, Golden brand is what I found although there are several brands, combined them with fluid craft acrylic paints to produce these paintings. The golden brand fluid acrylics are intensely pigmented and pourable. The craft acrylics work well although they are not the quality of the artist fluid acrylics, although both are pourable. So other than pigmentation and price, the fluid acrylic paints are similar to craft acrylics in consistency and either can be used together. According to what I read in the book,I should paint in layers with no pre-made plan or sketch, letting the painting suggest where to go next. So I did just that.I painted warm colors on paper first, letting that layer dry completely, then added washes of cool colors in a random fashion. I continued in this mannet I r, allowing the colors to build. I even closed my eyes, directed the brush to the paper & painted some strokes. Suprisingly, I actually hit the paper! Anyway these are the results of that trial. These 3 paintings on paper are the result. There are also close up views of a painting so you can see the layer

s.

A Recent Interview

A recent interview I did a few months ago was published online at http://creativeroom4talk.com/cathy-sparks/. It's a real honor to think someone thought my work was worthy of actual publication, check it out. They have lots of other interesting pieces as well.

The Judicious Use of Black in Painting

Black is not actually a color, but it the absence of any color. However "black" is color used in painting as a dark tone. It can indicate darkened

or shaded areas of the painting. It can be the actual color of an object, for example a black cat or a black umbrella. Black can be cool, warm or neutral

in tone. Many artists prefer to mix their own black from a dark blue  plus dark brown, Prussian blue and burnt umber are popular colors used to make black.

the most common black paint in the art world is lamp black which comes in a tube, jar or pan, depending on the medium the artist is using.

There are several ways to successfully add black to a painting. Layering is one of the best ways to "build" a black or dark area of a

painting. Paint in washes or glazes first, then add glazes of color, alternating with the black for the first few layers, finishing with the

color of the object.  Another method of adding black to shaded areas is to add thin lines of black against the edge of the underlying object,

then dilute the lines to gradually fade it out to nothing. This is shown in the photo below, on the left with the leaves.

Keep in mind that there is a thing such as too much black. It can turn a painting into a disaster. Less is more  when using black. Black is a staining color

which cannot be completely lifted to reveal the original color. Many times it must painted over, with many coats, to return the original color.

The best way to determine the placement of black tones in a painting is to really study the subject for light and dark areas and plan

 the painting around that. Many artists make sketches showing light and dark areas before beginning to paint. Planning a painting this

way will help adding the dark and light areas to appear naturally in the finished painting.

First Solo Show

So I had my first ever solo art quilt show last night. It was part of the art walk sponsored by the local art league. Over all, it went well. I was set up in the office of a local lawyer who lets them use his space on a regular basis . I had a total of 22 quilts, raining from 8x11 journal quilts to a 72" square quilt. I borrowed some racks from my quilt guild to hang the larger pieces and pinned the smaller ones to a hinged display/layout foam core board I use. There were about 50 or so people that came by to see the show, some were fellow quikters, some fellow art league members and the general public. You must understand I live in a small town where, up until last sipummer when the art league began the art walks, downtown was dead, there was traffic moving thought but there was nothing to bring a person to downtown, it is primarily lawyers offices and banks along with the courthouse and an antique mall. 

Anyway, I received many positive comments on the art, one young guy said I'd taken art to a new level. I consider that a real compliment. The comments I got served as validation that my art is acceptable to the public. That may me feel pretty good, even though the show was only 3 hours long and I didn't sell anything, it turned out to be a good show overall. Will I do another? Probably not, at least I don't plan to. It's a lot of work for such a short time. My husband helped set it up & take it down.  Otherwise I'd never have gotten it hung on my own.  Here are some of the pieces I had in the show. I've decided from now on I'll only show them online, here or on my facebook page, CSOriginals. At least it's easier to post on line than hang a physical show. Enjoy.

Art Quilts in Display

I'm finally having a public exhibit if my art quilts! Friday, April 17,2015 from 5-8 pm, I'm the last on the list. I took a few art quilts to my art league meeting just to provide I did indeed make them, I'd kept saying I did so I thought I'd prove it. Anyway, the president of the art league said I needed to do a show, so here it is, next Friday. It was originally slated for February but that art walk got canceled because of bad weather. Let's hope the weather cooperates this time. It is storm season in central KY.

This should be fun anyway. I'll have about 22 quilts of various sizes displayed. All are for sale. There are some hand painted silk quilts included along with the appliquéd & pieced ones. If you're in the lexington area, come down to nicholasville, one county south & join the fun.

Reviving Dried out Alcohol based Markers

I learned a trick to revive markers that are dried out, especially those expensive ones. This works on alcohol based markers, haven't tried watercolor markers yet. Anyway, pull out the nib of the marker with tweezers, take rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol or maybe even vodka might work, using an eye dropper, syringe or pipette, drop a few drops of alcohol into the hole of the marker where the nib goes. Replace the nib, and shake. You may have to wait a little while for the alcohol to soak in. I let mine sit overnight. When I tired it the next day I had a marker that worked again. Can't say this works for all kinds, I have Copic and Prismacolor markers, but it works for these. It beats buying another $8.00 marker. Some of these higher end markers also have ink refills available. This is just a short cut to refresh a dried out marker. Eventually you will have to refill it with ink. :)

A New Quilt

Okay, the test post went through successfully. So here goes one with a photo to test that feature.  This is a hand painted silk quilt called The Elements of Nature. I will have this and about 20 others displayed in my first solo quilt show! it will be Friday evening, 5 pm - 8 pm on April 17, 2015 in Nicholasville, just a short drive south from Lexington,  the show is part of the April Art Walk sponsored by the local art league every other month. I will be set up in Adam Zerooigians law office across the street from the courthouse. If you happen to be in the Lexington Ky area that evening, for the Keeneland races maybe, stop by & see the whole show, 

I've also got an article coming up on a new art website called Creativeroom4talk.com. I'll let you know when it's up. 

A New App

Had to use a new app for the IPad blogger. The old one threw an error and refused to allow me to post anything. So here goes. This is only a test post to see if it works. Please understand that I have to learn how to use this app yet, so if the post looks strange, you know I'm still learning it. 

Options for Silk Painting

Theoretically, when painting on silk, the stretched silk should lay flat to prevent the paints or dyes from running down the silk. Most of the time the frame is suspended between 2 saw horses or laid on a table. There is another way to do this. I use a watercolor easel which tilts to lay flat. The advantage of this is that, once the painting is finished, simply fold up the easel & put it away till next time. This is a real plus if you are cramped for painting space. The easel has brackets to hold the frame, whether it be wooden canvas stretchers or PVC pipe. The tilt will adjust from flat to upright for in between painting times, then back to flat to paint. On many models the height also adjusts. I have also found these easels are less expensive than regular studio easels & take up less space in general. Here are some examples.

Another view. Notice the long arm to place the frame on,it's horizontal.

And here's the painting,still in progress.