TRUE FREE SPIRIT: Primitive Art



"SEE THE UNIMAGINABLE" BY ALI GITT 2013



BETWEEN SPEECH AND SILENCE: Day 4 - 5

The last days of the week long class with Diane Culhane consisted of collaging, painting, and finding a conversation in your work.

I chose to use an old book cover for my design versus the wood canvas in class.  I plan to use it for my Fall fabric journal.  I failed to take a photo of the original, but the first image is of the painted background plus tree scuplture.  We used complimentary colors on each page, but contrasting in nature from each other.

The next step was to add "textured" magazine leaves to our tree.  I found so many neat patterns and lines, I had a hard to eliminated any.  I think Diane used like 5 per page...and as you can see, I used a lot more.

The next layer was to add contrasting colors on top of the first layer as well as "whiten" or "soften" elements on the page using a fan brush. 

While doing this page, I wasn't sure I liked it, but stepped away...woke up the next day...and loved how the fan brush looked.  It is my new favorite utensil to paint with.  Highly suggested.

I did end up covering some of the leaves and thinning out the tree trunk, but I was okay with that as it needed it in the small space.

The last step was to find a "conversation" between 2 or more items in the space.  I loved how Diane created mini-persons and larger figures in  her artwork, so I decided to do the same. 

My theme/topic for Fall is going to be squirrels, so I included one on the front and back cover of my "I AM CHARLOTTE" book cover.  Love the name as I am (in) Charlotte. :)

Then I added a girl holding a balloon in the first tree while the squirrel has his own hut underneat, and a boy reading a book on the back page while the squirrel harvests his acorns above.

I adjusted the landscape a little after the 5th day to make it seem a bit more natural, plus I loved how the flowers looked. 

In the end, I am super happy and looking at the pages makes me happy.  Definitely will be using this technique on future creations.  Simple and very mind relaxing.

BETWEEN SPEECH AND SILENCE:Day 2-3

The next couple of days in the class consisted of collaging "textured" magazine images and finding characters/object that spoke to us.

And then we painted around (and inside the elements) with a light coat of white paint or gesso.  You didn't want to apply it too thickly in all areas as it would cover up the texture.

And then we painted over with a light coat of acrylic paint mixed with a glaze acrylic extender/retarder.

I repeated the proces using a more defined design from the start.  Can you see it?

And then again using a collaged page in my SMASH journal.  A pregnant ethnic women....

And again using washi/decorative tape creating a kite flyer with a dog on a summer day as the windmill blows.

BETWEEN SPEECH AND SILENCE: Day 1

"Drawing is like taking a line for a walk" This well-known quote is by Paul Klee

And this was how the class began with Diane Culhane titled Between Speech and Silence as part of Carla Sonheim's Summer Workshops.  We simply took brown bag paper and drew straight line and curved elements and used our imagination to create figures.  This excercise was a great way to let go and become more abstract for me.  I needed it.

Once the lines were completed, I used colored pencils to color aspects of the design making it come to life.

Personally, I love this little seal.  simple, but speaks to me.

circusGIRL

From a sketch to reality....I used a prepped wooden board with tissue paper, watercolors, acrylic paints, and paper clay elements.  I truly love Danielle Donaldson style so used a bit of it in my design...nothing compared to her gorgeous work, but I like it. 

I started by drawing around a character of hers that I copied to get a feel for what I needed to do.  I also used Danielle's method of naming her. (hopefully she doesn't mind)  I just truly love her style and philosophy.

Then I began...trying to let go, but also trying to stick to my design.  Along the way, I hit some bumps and changed the layout...but found it worked to my advantage.

Enjoy the process!