9×12 in. mixed media. Sometimes I try to keep it simple, especially when I am recharging the creative juices. Tape, brush, markers, and white pen an exercise in using the tools at hand without getting too involved. A nice piece that will show well when matted and framed very simple…not sure it will match much, but it will be hard not to notice.
Tag Archives: whites
The Primrose Path Ahead
9×12 in. mixed media. The tissue paper is almost not existent in this piece, but believe me the bold pink paper is there under several layers of work. Did quite a bit of sanding and carving through the surface of this piece. I let the finial few layers fill the gouges with their color as the under layers didn’t pop as much as I would like. Might not show very well in the pic but I have a fair amount of fine white and black lines near the surface. The theme in this carries forward my use of circles and angles quite well and with the mix of mat board pieces the texturing is very nice. The title? It is leading towards something and red might be warning as well as orange, where green is off the path…so use caution when stepping down the yellow path laid out…works for me…what do you think?
The Badlands
12×25 in. mixed media. In my younger days I tried my hand at commercial art working for the city of Topeka Parks and Recreation part-time, while working full-time at a Pet Food plant. The assignments were fun and I got a taste of working with a client and what they wanted and what you could deliver at minimum wages. The real nice thing was after doing this for about 2 years I realized if i was doing art like this for 40+ hours a week I would have gotten to a point of losing the zest of creativity. A great job and I met some very interesting people but my dream of being a commercial artist took a big hit plus I was good at making dog food 😉
At any rate this piece was an idea I had for a science fiction book cover long ago and finally did it recently. Markers, colored pencils, graphite lead, and acrylic created the effect…if you see a reflection in the picture I was too lazy to remove the piece from the frame before shooting, what else can I say.
Lost Finding Olympic Hop-Scotch
9×12 in. mixed media. Been working on and off on this one since the last very days of the London Olympics. Should have taking pictures of this as I was going along, I believe it changed at least a dozen times before I could keep my hands off it. Biggest issue was putting names of rail stations in, or not. It is what I envisioned in my head, names and letters, but I never could make it look the way I wanted. So then the challenge became making it work for my eye without. This is another piece that is better appreciated in person, for the coloring and details and texture. By the way Rio has some large shoes to fill, really enjoyed the opening and closing ceremories…plus track and field felt importance again…Mr. Bond and Mr. Bolt, thank you.
What’s On Your Desk?
9×12 in. mixed media. The closest thing to a still life I have done since Shawnee Heights H.S. days and Mr. Miller. This is one of those pieces I do from time to time to recharge my creative juices, plus it keeps me productive. Fun to do the different shapes that adorn my desktop…note the pencil scribbles i put on the blotter, too much white had to do something. My current blotter is covered with ideas for names, web sites, spellings, simple sketches, and blots of color…maybe when i get ready to change it out i should frame it, might be interesting years from now.
Cornsilk and Jasper Johns
9×12 in. mixed media. American flags by Jasper Johns are so iconic in modern art and I felt like doing something in that light, but different. Look close enough and you can see actual cornsilk in the piece, thought the name was just a bit of humor only…huh! Love the colors in this and besides using the cornsilk i had, i finally found a good use of my polka-dotted tissue paper. Mixed media artists can be such hoarders, for stuff they think they might need in the future…worked for me this time.
Art by Ken 