Midwest Gardens. 2025...Just watching it grow!

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Just a delicious hazy photo of vines and Sunflowers out my window...almost like a painting. Our Sunflowers have been plentiful and spectacular this year. And the goldfinches (middle of this shot) have been insatiable and almost violent while stripping the juicy heads of the flowers.

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See his little black wings and daunting stare..."MY SUNFLOWERS"

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Our fence is six-feet high on the East side, and that's the neighbor's house. This is about half of what was there earlier as so many were torn down with storms...Such a glorious way to celebrate summer with Yellow smiling faces in the morning sun.

Quick post...the garden is alive, we are only half alive and caught a bug this week but are recovering.  Anything at our age can be serious...but we are on the mend.

Hope to get some produce photos tomorrow! 

Midwest Gardening has been interesting this year, 

More to come soon!

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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Text Collage Explorations with Mather for Seniors

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Text Collage Explorations with Mather for Seniors

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The prompt for my Mather Paper Explorations class was to use Text as the theme for your Collage. I frantically ripped papers...far faster than cutting. I had chosen a bunch of pages to use, almost the only thing I cut was the focal point boat "Blue Bayou" from keyboard tinted music sheet.

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 Starting with black cardstock paper...for a background...moody and a great base for collage. Again we were working so fast, I just have photos of the finished product. I love the time limit... which makes me flow with gut instincts instead of over-thinking everything.

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Here is the entire piece after completing. I tinted blued music with a tan alcohol, and also used some tan on white music sheet ripped for tree trunks and roots. 

Accents were added with blue metallic pens...and gold/copper pens. Also using bits and pieces of foliage from oodles of garden pages.

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A log cabin porch inserted as a houseboat in the bayou, with a dock. adding all the bits of leaves and folliage was fun and interesting. I would have loved more hanging moss, but used blurred photos of greens for that.

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I did color many of the torn edges with pens to let the foliages blend..and accented others for shadows. Water shows here and there.

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The left side of the page has some added streaks of light creeping through the trees.

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In another class we worked with printed TEXT torn into shapes and doodled on. Again, dark paper was suggested for the background. 

 I had an old craft magazine from the 60's that I tore the advertising pages out from....classifieds...this was craft shopping in the 60s-70s...no online businesses at all. Craft stores were few and far between except in larger cities.

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Some of the classifieds, had photos or accent stripes/frames or photos of products. Photos, which I used very few. I tore shapes mostly diagonally across the classified pages. Fitting the shapes on the black page, and gluind down, but leaving lots of black card-stock base showing as was suggested.

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Composition was basically to fill the paper. The marking and doodles were all done with alcohol markers on the text. The markers have varying strengths and opacities. I liked how the text still showed through and the ad dividers became part of the designs.

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I sort of like this alignment...giving this a landscape feel.

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Fun play exercise. I also used some colored pencils subtly on the black areas. Colored pencils didn't work very well on the vintage glossy classifieds,  but the markers were splendid in color and intensity.

Fun class with Mather Paper Explorations on Zoom.

More Mather free online classes for seniors can be found HERE

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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Collage: Through the Window with Paper Explorations Composition

I'm way behind on posting these. This was a class two weeks ago...only prompt was to use cut papers with a Through the Window theme in my Mather for seniors class.

Honestly 40 or so minutes isn't enough to do a work start to finish. I did go through my magazine page ahead of time and pulled what I thought would be a lovely vacation villa with a view...but also to concentrate on the inside instead of outside the window.

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The angle of the camera made this forced perspective. Nice outside view somewhere with lovely water in the window.

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While I had a stack of pages selected, I didn't have a cohesive idea. But, class started and so I began

with the window on the peach paper and then added a darker blue floor. One of the scraps I had was an advertisement for a busy rug, which I cut all apart and reassembled on the floor. 

We were encouraged to add a three-dimensional element. I planned a window/mirror made from a circle.

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I used an image and reinforced the little doors with card stock. The round element helped to add some softness the angular elements in the page so far.

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Inside the round shutters is a fisted woman from an art magazine, a reflection perhaps or a painting. A surprise for a peaceful setting.

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The table and chairs came from a decor magazine. I actually used an exacto-knife to cut in between the legs, etc.

I built a little briefcase box that opens and closes to sit on the floor. 

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Surprise element: smiling lips under the lid.

I added a few plants and a pot with flowers...all from magazine cuttings, bits and pieces.

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I found the tiger which I imagined to be a stuffed toy, playing with a ball. When you are working so fast, you are actually unaware of composition details. 

But let's look at my overall composition.

Notice the triangular balances of colors: Red on the vase base on the left, the flower pot on the right, and the red in the window on the upper right.

Same with the Yellow ball/tiger on the lower left, the flowers on the right, and the yellow elements on the doors of the circle image.

The stronger balance of heavy blue on the bottom, medium blue of the window scene, capped with the lighter border on the ceiling. Not triangular, but a grounding of sorts for the whole composition. The viewer knows where he/she is standing on a solid floor.

None of this was conscious...but actually a good way to design an artwork.

Even the little dashes of white are balanced, the rug fringe, the shutters, and the white around the table area.

All these composition elements keep your eyes moving around but staying on the page in the room.

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I used little bits of green here and there...the leaves on this potted palm are also three-dimensional, giving the page three-three dimensional elements, also forming a triangle.

Whether you are working with pieced elements in a collage, color elements in a painting, or the weight/shades of different lines in a drawing, it is the composition that determines if a work is interesting, exciting, or peaceful.

Comparing Composition Elements

Triangular elements keep your eyes on the page, drawing you in. Often called the Golden Triangle of composition. This can be done with color, line, or shapes.

Horizontal linear elements can give the feeling of stability or solidarity such as a road anchoring the subject on the work, or can also be peaceful and calm such as water or a soft horizon. 

Vertical linear elements suggest growth, strength, and stability; plants, forests, walls, or  buildings

Diagonal linear elements are energetic, but an excess of criss-crossed angular elements will insert chaos.

Here's a powerful example of all the above.

wikipedia/Guernica by Picasso



Without color...Picasso managed to use all the different types of composition in this huge anti-war oil painting titled, Guernica depicting the bombing of a Spanish town in Basque in 1937.

Notice the large Triangular composition that keeps you in the center of the work. Then the other triangles are broken up into individual subjects: the Mother on the left with baby, the man on the lower left arms spread out and body forming a triangle, the horse head with leg, the wind head to the right center, the running figure across the lower right, another figure reaching up and ending in a triangle point below.

What does this do?

The entire composition is triangular and chaotic, violent, expressed by the many overlapping triangles. The only element that isn't in a triangle is the all-seeing eye/lightbulb, Picasso's eye of the world watching.

The Verticals such as the fists and arms raised represent the strength of the people. 

The Horizontal lines of arms/legs the surrender or still finality of death. 

 In black and white, Picasso still expressed the horrors and deaths of war. 
Wow, sorry this just got dark.

How about a lovely example of triangular composition?

Wikipedia

Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, her entire figure is a tight triangle, the other linear elements are all horizontal: water, horizon, the table her hands are resting on. The whole composition is peaceful.

Why the Mona Lisa is considered such a great work? Perhaps because of the small triangular smile/secret which you can't help but focus on, and her peaceful hands. The only diagonal lines are in her harmless clothing.

Composition should always interesting. 

I hope this helps a bit when you are doing your projects.

What is your favorite type of Composition

 to use in your artwork?

(Apparently mine

 is triangular

?)

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Love Your Creativity

Happiness is Homemade

Handmade Monday

Sundays on Silverado

Busy Monday

You are the Star

Craftastic Monday

Senior Salon Pit Stop

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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Color Washed Shapes and Designs

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This was fun...simple washed watercolor blobs/circles. (I can't make a circle, well rarely) and then do scribbles on them. It was fun trying to do something different in each one. First one ended up being the new planet? they think they have found with multiple rings, the third one a jellyfish or a cabbage? 

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Blobs are so organic... I think I see some shells, eggs, or/and rocks/geodes.

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Experimentation is always good for stretching your skills and your imagination.

Play is good for your soul!

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The black and gray one used Pebeo resist pen...great way to test new art supplies.

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The shimmer looking lines are from metallic pens..with brush or line tip...I like that they are basically subtle in color and sheen.

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My poor old watercolor palette. I'm too cheap to wash it off, and just keep reusing colors over and over...altered or pure.

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Simple materials, paper, water colors, two brushes, two markers and the metallic pens for the jewelry. I may do this again with different shapes. 

WHAT Do YOU make of your BLOBS! ???

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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Free Online Class with Instructor Joy Ting.

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I'm wishing to loosen up a bit in my approach to Water Colors or mixed media. 

 I did a class with Joy Ting. Seems she runs a freebie class every month or so. I was interested in the floral prompt photo, not able to share which was just a huge smattering of flowers, layers and layers of fresh flowers. So many, you couldn't possibly paint them all on a small 11 x 14.  I used a heavy multi-media paper, because I knew we were going to be doing a lot of different things.

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Stage 1

I should have taken photos as we went along, but working live so fast it is impossible...basically I got the floral shapes done in class and no background or leaves. 

The flower shapes were very loose with sloppy wet water colors. Then we scribbled/marked up the flower shapes (I used some water-based Gelato sticks in bright colors.) You can see the blotchy colors on the rough texture of the paper. 

It was so loose, it literally looked like blotches. 

After class I added watercolor greens in the background. I personally am not fond of white paper, unless the subject matter (snow, clouds, houses, flowers, etc.) are white. This was the first day.

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Stage 2

Okay, I wasn't happy with the definition of Day 1. So I dragged out my colored pencils, alcohol markers and went to work. 

First thing I did was take the Gelato marks with water, and then alcohol to marry the markers and the Gelato marks. I tried to blend them into their surroundings, and then I began darkening the background and shadows with markers and ordinary colored pencils.

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Stage 2

I just didn't want blotch flowers, but blotches then began to be Marigolds, Zinnia Stock, Canterbury Bells, leaves of Coleus, Bachelor buttons, Morning Glories, and a few I'm not sure what they are. 

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Stage 3

Slowly the jumble of shapes began to blossom and the background retreated back. I softened lots of edges with alcohol on a brush, but still leaving some grainy bits of the Gelato sticks (the flowers on the bottom) for texture.

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Stage 3

I chose to not have access to the prompt photo after class, so I let the shapes take me to flowers I knew. 

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Stage 3

Even a stem of Lupine grew from some blue blotches.  The pink/blue flower to the right was layered with mauve marker over the scattering of blue water color and Turquoise Gelato stick-nummy subdued lavenders.

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Stage 3

Morning Glories are beautiful and easy to spot, but the gold cluster on the left which was in the photo, I can't seem to identify the flower (with tube bells with speckles.)  

Backgrounds: I didn't use any black, it just seems so. Layers of green water colors with added dark browns and dark green markers deepened the background.

Light and dark shadings on flowers/foliage were usually done with colored pencils or thin marker tips. 

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I'm not totally pleased with the result, but I learned so much from this process.

Conclusion: Try as I might, I'm not a super free painter...I like some reality added to blotches. I will try to  continue and loosen up. I'm also thinking I'm trending toward multi-media. And, really liking the alcohol markers for their control and intensity. I really enjoy the transparent layering of the markers over the water colors or other media...intensifying here and there, subduing and defining elsewhere.

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PS my Faber Castell Water-based Gelatos sticks  also break down with alcohol on a brush, making them very versatile. I had picked up this set on deep discount. And I'm considering watching for a deal on another set. I had considered oil pastels, but now I think the water/alcohol dissolvable will be better for me.

Any questions, I will try and answer!

What's on your Art Desk 

or in your Sketchbook, 

this week?

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Tuesday Turn About

Vintage Charm

Farmhouse Friday

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

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