Where to now?

I’m having a bit of a directional crisis at the moment and would appreciate some feedback. I recently approached a local gallery for representation and whilst they absolutely love my soft pastel work, they are reticent to take my work on – basically because they battle to actually sell soft pastel landscapes. Whilst the bulk of their comments were really inspirational, I was left wondering whether I’m going in completely the wrong direction.  

I also know, from experience, that pastel works do not sell – no matter how much everyone raves about them, that applause doesn’t often translate into hard cash. So, should I stop working with this medium and concentrate on developing my style with acrylics or oils? 

Anyone who knows me, understands that I do not enjoy working with oils but I decided to have a go with a scene from outside my window yesterday.    This is the source image (quite heavily pixelated):

I toned the paper with an acrylic wash first – I used Arches for Oil paper, which is just about the best you can get and cracked on. 

I use water-soluble oils – mainly Cobra. After waiting for it to dry up a bit overnight, I fiddled about with it some more today and this is where I am now:

Looking out across the winter fields

I frigging hate it! It needs so much more ‘honey’ – it’s not glowing.    I know that if I did this in soft pastels, it would definitely glow and have a bit of spark.  The way it looks now (to me) seems dull and lifeless.   I will probably fiddle about with it more, perhaps with a honey glaze, not sure yet.

I then decided to re-do a soft pastel work that I did last week – this one:

And for this attempt, I used acrylics. This is the result:

‘Sunlit autumn stream – acrylics’

How I test myself with this is to try and take almost the same amount of time that I would have done when making the soft pastel painting. So I forced myself not to fiddle about too much (with the acrylic). I did not use the best quality acrylics, they are student grade. I toned the paper a burnt ochre but now when I remember, I actually used a green toned paper for the pastel one, so maybe that’s why the acrylic version isn’t sparking as much.

Here they are side by side:

Aargh! Come on, give it to me on the nose (I can take it) – should I pack it in with the soft pastels or what?   

Monotype landscapes

these were all made using a gel plate, many layers of acrylic paint, plants .. on Japanese paper. Each is about A4

The Creek

A walk on the wild side

A bright day

Monotype

I am becoming obsessed with monotype processes! I have done a lot of work with gel press plates but last week I obtained a sheet of plexiglass (about A2 in size) and have been doing some experiments towards coursework (portraits mainly). I have also been using it to develop some layered landscapes. I am using acrylics at the moment, although my Caligo printing ink should be delivered today and I can start messing about with that. I am fascinated with the process of creating monotypes and how different each one can be. I had a kinda of plan for this one but the trees took over. It’s inspired by all the woodland I visit on my wanderings around these parts.

‘Trees’ monotype acrylics on paper 23½x 16½”

Detail

New mixed media abstract work

“Reef”

14″ x 10″ (A3) unframed 297mm x 420mm

Liquid acrylics (inks), Rembrandt soft pastels, Pebeo gold effect foil on 140lb acrylic paper (Daler Rowney system 3)

Another one bites the dust …

Surprisingly (for me … well, it always is) … I had a lot of interest in my Poppy painting and potentially it is now sold – pending collection.   Woop woop … crack open the bubbly 🙂

“Poppies”

20″ x 16″ x 1/2″

Acrylics on stretched canvas.

Some new thingies

“New beginning”

Acrylic, inks, gels and pastes on stretched canvas.

17½” x 23½” x ½”

Close up of texture.

 

“Going for a walk”

Acrylics on stretched canvas

20″ x 16″ x ½”

Close up of texture:

New painting

“Blue shift”

50cm x 40cm x 1.5cm

Acrylics, inks, pens on stretched canvas.

 

Below to show room view (for scale)

 

Collage on panel

“Big sky and windmill”

10″ x 8″

Acrylics, Inks, found collage materials (for the foreground) on acrylic canvas board.

Close up:

This is very much a bit of whimsy.  I will not be posting on here for a few weeks, as I’m going to be in South Africa soon for a short holiday, visiting friends and family.

Abstract on Canvas

“Vibrant field”

20″ x 16″

Acrylics, inks, gels on heavy textured and sculpted surface (my own texture paste), displacement chemical (Surgical Spirits), Montana copper metallic spray paint on stretched canvas.

Again, I haven’t sealed this yet with a binder or clear gel. My daughter likes this one so much, I don’t think I will be allowed to do anymore work on it 🙂

Close ups of texture:

Abstract on canvas

“Warmscape”

22″ x 18″

Acrylics, texture paste and gels, inks, spray paint on stretched canvas

I haven’t sealed this one yet with an acrylic binder or gel, waiting for it to cure.

Close ups of texture

Abstract on paper – A3

“Somewhere, a place”

Acrylics, inks, glues, gels on A3 (297 x 420mm or 111.7 x 16.5″) acid free acrylic paper using various techniques.

Close ups of colour and texture detail

Abstract on paper – small

“Sparklers with a fire stick”

Acrylics, inks, gel, metallic effect medium on mixed-media paper.

10 ¾ “ x 7 ½ “

Close ups of texture:

About the title:

I was going through old dvd’s I have of stored family photos and came across a picture I’d taken when on holiday in the Southern Drakensberg with my family for a long weekend over Easter back in 2008.  We made a fire outside whilst we were braaing (you guys in the UK call it a barbeque).  My son placed a few twigs in the red embers, waited until they were glowing and then began making circular patterns, zigzags and drawing words in the darkness (as we would do with sparklers on Guy Fawkes night back in the day when people were responsible and there was no need for stupid draconian health & safety regulations for everything).   I digress.  Anyway, that moment inspired this painting.  (even though I promised I’d lay off the gilt paper for a bit, couldn’t help myself) 🙂

Abstract on paper – A3

“Abstracted Pebbles”

Acrylics, inks, gels on 140lb A3 size acid free Acrylic paper

Actual size of painting:  14½” x 9¾”

Close ups of texture detail:

This started out a bit of a mess …

but I think I saved it okay. 🙂

Abstract on paper – small

“Autumn with rocks”

About 10½” x 7½”

Acrylic, gels, paste, caulk, gilt metallic paper (Pebeo), inks on acrylic paper.

I bought me some Pebeo metallic effect papers yesterday ‘cos they were on sale at Hobbycraft!  Of course I didn’t get the gilding paste to go with (duh) … so it’s a bit futile trying to do anything with the metallic paper without the paste.  Necessity being the mother … and all that … I used other sticky stuffs that I have laying around and used that to get the metallic paper to bond to the surface of this little piece.  It still didn’t work out the way I wanted it to … so looks like I’ll have to go and get me some gilding paste (dammit).

I didn’t gesso the acrylic paper before I applied the textural pastes (I used household grout/filler and glue), so the paper buckled somewhat – I did use a lot of paste though to be fair.   I weighted the paper down after a few coats of bonder but it’s still a bit bumpy, which I like.  It was supposed to have texture after all! Otherwise why bother hey?

I like the colours on this one, there is just the tiniest smidgeon of metallic powder blue (ink) splattered here and there. I would like to make this one into a much bigger piece with a more rigid substrate.

Thanks for looking at my work and commenting, I really appreciate it! 🙂 Have a lovely weekend.

Texture detail:

Abstract on paper – small

“Orange hills and grasses”

10½” x 7½”

Acrylic, gels, paste, grit, sand, inks on mixed-media paper.

I tried a few larger pieces this week on the A3 acrylic paper but I wasn’t happy with them, so then I fiddled about with this small piece. Also not really happy with it but thought I’d stick it up here for reference purposes.

 

Abstract on paper series – larger A3 size – 1

“Dune”

Fine sand/grit, bonding agent, acrylics, irridescent medium, gloss medium, various metallics on 140lb A3 size acid free Acrylic paper

Actual size of painting:   14½” x 9¾”

Close ups of texture detail.

There is a slight buckling of the finished work, mainly because it was not completely dry when I took the photos.  I am weighting it under pressure at the moment, so that it cures completely flat.  This is the first time I’ve worked on acrylic paper, I’m not sure about it yet – although I can already tell that it is much stronger than the multi-media paper and I like the fact that it has a linen type grain, which is enjoyable to work on.  I used gesso as primer before starting the work and many layers, using gloss medium and irridescent medium in between to set the layers properly.  I’m not 100% happy with the composition but I didn’t want to overwork it so that the colours remained fresh. I tried to evoke a feeling of lazy, hot sunny days near the sea in summer.

Abstract on paper series – 3

“A little bit of sea”

Fine sand/grit, bonding agent, acrylics, irridescent medium, metallics on watercolour paper 300grams Grain Fin Cold Pressed NOT Acid Free

9¾” x 6¼” (Actual paper size is 11.7″ x 8.3″)

Close up of texture detail.

Abstract on paper series – 1

Untitled – study.

Acrylics, gel medium, metallics on mixed-media paper (250gm/169lb)

Approximately 12″ x 8″

Close up of texture detail.

I have been watching a lot of videos by the German artist, Gerda Lipski and was inspired by her to try layering with acrylics on paper today.   This is not something I normally do – because I don’t trust the nature of paper to stay strong during the layering process!  Anyway, thanks to some of the tips that Gerda gives on her YouTube channel, I figured it out and now I’m having fun layering on paper for a change!  Need to get some more acrylic medium though, as I’ve run out – so had to use heavy gel medium on this piece, which explains why I ended up with a bit more texture in the middle than I thought I would. 🙂

Again, thanks for stopping by.

New small abstract painting

“Little bit of blue”

12″ x 12″ x 3/4″ deep stretched canvas

Acrylics – no texture medium, just varying thicknesses of paint, including metallic (gold).

Close up of texture of paint below.

 

Available for sale – please email: janiceheatherscott@gmail.comm

 

this painting is now sold!

Thanks for stopping by.

Driftwood

Abstract acrylic multi-media painting

“Driftwood”

51cm x 41cm x 2cm

20″ x 16″ x 3/4″  (approx)

This is a heavily textured piece and a lot of reworking went into its creation.  There are many layers of material that I have sculpted.  The layers were made from caulk, modelling paste, fabric, threads (metallic and cotton), sand and paint.   I used acrylics, as well as metal effect paints and the base is a stretched canvas.

This image taken in reflected natural daylight with tripod.

Anyway, hope you like.
Textural detail: