BATIK CLASS AT MIAMI U

Here are some more of the exquisite batiks created last week in my workshop. When they were completed, some were adhered to white watercolor paper while some were mounted onto a wrapped canvas. All are originals, designed by each artist. More to come in the next post, too. ENJOY!

Sondra Karipides 12" square design



















Kathy Storrie - Hands

Andrea Stewart - Fluid design with border

Amber Michael - Drink of water

Sarajane Steinecker - 12" square on Itchimatsu rice paper

Linda Lyons - Non-representational batik mounted on canvas, with embellishments

Irene Friedman - 12" square on Itchimatsu rice paper

Jenny Koch - Lily pads

Emily Hostetter - 12" square on Itchimatsu rice paper

DeeAnne Helm - 12" squares

Anne Bongiovanni - floral batik

That's all until the next post.

BIRTHDAY BOY

Our first grandchild is NINE YEARS old today! So hard to believe. The joy he brings to our lives is awesome. He's such a blessing.

Here are some of the paintings I've painted over the years of him, several of which have been posted before. All are watercolor on Arches or Fabriano, 140#CP. My favorite's of him and his dog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRANT!!!

NO SLIDE SHOW

After spending lots of hours trying to post a great slide show of last week's Batik Workshop, using Flickr, Picasa, and slide.com, I give up. Nothing worked. Help???!!!???

Nevertheless, here are a few of the fabulous pieces our class painted, using watercolor, sumi ink, and hot wax. More to come.....

First three batiks by - Anne Bongiovanni, (man to right,) Jenny Koch, (nets to left,) Sondra Karipides (landscape with sun)

Fish batik by Andrea Stewart

Circular designs by Emily Hostetter

Porch by DeeAnne Helm

Abstract design by Amber Michael

Abstracted design with border by Sarajane Steinecker

Fruit by Kathy Storrie

Color design by Linda Lyons

Waterfalls batik by Irene Friedman

FIREWORKS

All day long, actually for the past week, we've been hearing the sounds of firecrackers and other fireworks being shot off to help celebrate our nation's 233rd birthday. Fireworks are really tricky to paint with watercolor, so here's my effort for celebrating - a rendition of a gentle evening at the lake with a beautiful red, white, and blue sunset, without fireworks.

This is a very small (for me) watercolor done as a demo many years ago in one of my intermediate classes. With the exception of painting the little duck in after it dried, this landscape took about ten minutes to create.

The focus was to let the water and paint do as much of the work as possible. Using the paint brush to deliver the paint to the paper, then getting out of the way, was the hardest part.

It used to be so like me to want to mess and play and touch up, and it was way too easy to overdo a good thing. But it's so true that watercolor does its best when it's allowed to flow and mingle on its own.

Happy Fourth of July, America!

"CELEBRATION" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 11 x 7" COLLECTED

FIVE PAINTINGS

The five paintings above, along with the reference photo, show my slightly different takes from one inspiration. I know that I've completed several more paintings of the same subject - one very dark and somber - one very, very colorful and patchwork quilt looking - and the rest I can't remember. For several years, I didn't take photos of my work, and now I regret that lapse.

All of these have watercolor in them and are more or less in chronological order, with the first one being painted about 15 years ago. It was done using masking tape to protect previously painted areas as I darkened more shapes to build up the painting. The tape's all removed now. It's a technique I continue to use today because I like the batik looking effect it lends to the painting where the paint leaks under the pieces of tape.

The second one is a collage with watercolor, using rice papers to build up texture on the paper. It was easy to create the delicious textures of those old walls with the layers of various rice papers.

The third painting was done on watercolor paper that had a layer of white gesso painted over it first. The paint 'floated' on the gesso-ed surface, drying in irregular ways that helped establish the textures of the walls and street.

The fourth painting began with one good white shape and three 'cool temperature' shapes touching it. The white shape went off the page on three sides, originally, but now is hard to find. The process of using a good white shape initially in the painting was a springboard to help establish a sense of unity and focus in the painting.

The fifth painting is the batik with hot wax that was just posted last week on this blog. Check out that post for more info about how it was done. When I see these five together, I think I really prefer the first one the most. Do you have a favorite? (I still regret having sold that first one.)

You'd think I'd be so tired of this painting by now, but I have plans for another approach --- or two or three dozen. Mike Bailey (click to check it out) has painted one still life over 90 times - so look out. I'm not anywhere close to that yet.

There are so many ways to approach this painting, and the only approach I've used so far is to try different techniques and design processes. I have yet to focus on an element of design as being more important that anything else --- and certainly texture would be the first element I would emphasize. And I haven't yet pushed the picture beyond the confines of realism. That's an aspect begging to be explored. And I don't remember ever painting the scene on YUPO, either. The things that await me in the studio....

But this next week I'll be away from the computer to challenge 15 other artists at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. We'll be using hot wax, four different rice papers, watercolor paints, fluid acrylics, canvas, and various inks as we explore other ways to create gorgeous batik artwork. It'll be fun to share some of their finished batiks here on my blog when I get back. See ya then.

NOT AGAIN!?!?!?!

One of my favorite subjects is an ancient street in Valetta, Malta, and I've taken lots of artistic license to change it to work for me. I've previously posted several renditions of this same ancient street, painted with various watercolor and collage techniques. This is the first time it's been created with the batik process.

This painting is a wax batik, painted with watercolor on Kinwashi rice paper with sumi ink added for the cracked batik look.

First photo = the painting in progress, along with my wax skillet and old brushes. It's tough to find these little skillets with temperature control, but often, right before school starts, Walgreens, etc, have them in stock for the college kids.

Second photo - all of the painting and waxing process is finished on the kinwashi rice paper. The paper, which is now completely covered with wax, is then heated with a hair dryer to totally soak the wax into the fibers of the paper. Next, it's rolled up and popped into the freezer for a few seconds to make it easy to 'crack.'

After cracking the wax over a trash can, pinching some of the areas to create deeper cracks, it looks like a disaster, as shown here. Lots of chunks of wax fall off during the cracking process. Most of the dark shapes at the corners of this photo are shadows on the crinkled paper, not dark paint. Since the paper tears easily, this step was done very carefully.

Third photo = diluted sumi ink has been applied by pouring it over the cracked, waxed paper and jostling it into the cracks.

After blotting off the excess ink, making sure to not rub it into the wax, I gently sprayed water onto the inked painting (while it was hanging over the sink) to help remove more of the ink. This results in a softer, 'grayed tone' to the inked cracks, rather than such a strong, black effect.

Fourth photo = all wax has been ironed off, and the rice paper is smooth and flat again. Overall, I like the painting, but it's so, so, so warm. A bit of cool color relief would be nice somewhere in all those oranges and reds.

It's ready to glue down - to be done before I add any cooler colors to the painting, although the corrective painting could have been done before gluing it down as long as enough of the wax had been removed with the hot iron. Adding paint without compromising the integrity of the batik effect is a major key to keeping this a successful painting.

Methyl cellulose wallpaper paste, applied liberally to really white watercolor paper, works well to secure the painting permanently. However, I was so intent on pasting this really large batik down without messing it up ..... and ended up pasting it down wrong side up! (The wrong side of the batik is similar but the other side was better with more clarity to the shapes and colors.) Rats! Now there will be even more corrections to make, since once it was embedded in the paste, it would have undoubtedly torn too much if I had tried to remove it.

Fifth photo = The finished, corrected painting, backwards, of course. Cool colors of blues, teals, and purples have been added, using both a Pat Dews' atomizer as well as a one inch flat brush, to adjust the outer edges of the painting. I like the warm focus now on the street and the center of the walls, enhanced by the cooler temperatures at the edges.

Last photo = original reference photo/inspiration with many artistic liberties taken.

"ANCIENT WALLS - MORNING LIGHT" Transparent Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Kinwashi Rice Paper, adhered to 140#CP Arches, 25 x 35"

PARKING THE BIKES

After a couple of months of contemplation and experimentation, I'm hoping that this painting can be parked for good. It's been posted before when it was in Stage One and Stage Two - see last two paintings below.

Once it got to Stage Three - next pix below - I felt it was ok, but when I added the lavender to one of the bikes - top painting shown here to the right - I thought it could be done. I really liked it at Stage One, but not at all at Stage Two - too dark and dreary for happy bikes.

"BIKE RIDE HOME" Transparent Watercolor on Yupo 26 x 18" COLLECTED

Comments? Critique? Ideas? It's watercolor on YUPO so adjustments are totally easy.

Stage Three - almost done - cropped a little at the top but needs an element of surprise

Stage Two - too many darks - confusing and ominous???

Stage One - Light and airy, lots of texture, weaker composition but maybe more fascinating?

REVISED PHOTO

The last post was way, way off on color and darkness. The post here shows the painting more accurately, I hope, though it's a little bit 'pinkish.' The temperature of the painting is very warm, orange-reddish...

After retaking the photo of the painting, I tried to adjust the results on my new Photoshop program to get it to match the painting as closely as possible. The last post of it (below) looks too green and light. I'm never sure how to set my camera to get the most accurate colors. Hope you don't mind seeing it AGAIN! It's also renamed - and I find that naming a painting is either really easy or else ridiculously impossible. This is one of those impossible to be original times.

"EVENING RIDE" Fluid Acrylics on YUPO 26 x 20"

TWO DAY WORKSHOP FOR ARTISTS

If you love textures and gorgeous colors..... if you want to paint without fear of failure..... even if you can't draw and want to paint...... there's a workshop coming up this August that you just might want to check out.

At this workshop, you'll learn more about how to create your own great art on YUPO. I'll be teaching a two day workshop the last weekend of August, August 29 & 30, to be held near Cincinnati, Ohio, in my Indiana teaching studio and will include a vast array of painting possibilities for the slick YUPO surface.

The sky is the limit on what subject matter to paint --- abstract, experimental, realistic, landscapes, portraits, still lifes, wildlife....... anything goes, your choice! Mistakes can easily be fixed on this wonderful painting surface, and happy accidents make the journey even more exciting.

Both Transparent Watercolor and Fluid Acrylics may be used, with techniques being presented using both of these mediums. Cost will be $140 for the two full days of instruction.

For more information, please contact me at sandymaudlin@gmail.com . Class size will be limited, and a $50 down payment will hold your place in class, with the balance due on August first. Hope to see many of you at the workshop! It WILL be fun. Be sure to sign up SOON!

The YUPO painting here was created using Fluid Acrylics, applied like watercolor and demo-ed at the Middletown Arts Center Workshop in Ohio this past April. The second picture shows how it looked when the demo was done, before I went back to my studio to add more details to the painting. I'm still thinking about whether to crop it or not.

"More than Grand" Fluid Acrylics on YUPO 26 x 18"

YUPO ARTISTS

Our YUPO workshop in Middletown involved a week of learning, exploring, and creating beautiful work on the slick YUPO surface. People from the Dayton, Ohio, area as well as artists from Indiana, Michigan and Alabama enjoyed some pretty intense and exhausting days but all thought it was well worth the effort.

I've posted only a few of the paintings from the workshop artists here for your enjoyment. In all my computer changes last month, I've misplaced all the other artists' work but still hope to find them. All are watercolor.
ABOVE - Work in Progress on YUPO by Dot Holdren
ABOVE - Completed masterpiece by Joan Givens - PEGGY'S COVE
ABOVE - Completed masterpiece by Shirlee Bauer - done with orange undercoating ABOVE - Work in progress by Sue Barnhart

Most artists in the workshop began at least three paintings during the week as they discovered many techniques in handling watercolor on YUPO. We also worked with fluid acrylics on YUPO.

I'll be posting info soon about three and four day YUPO workshops that I'll be teaching here at my studio soon. Plans are also in the works for holding a BATIK BASH Workshop to help artists explore that unusual process, too.

VENICE on YUPO

This painting was one of the demos done at a YUPO workshop I taught this past April. The challenge was to begin the painting with one good white shape that was unpredictable, irregular, and had diagonal movement, and which took up less than a third of the whole paper. Everything around that shape was painted with a combination of cool, pale colors first. Next, some small warm darks were added.

From that point on, the painting was developed by interrupting that original white shape and painting in the dark and medium valued shapes. Much of the original white shape was obscured at this point.

This approach to painting takes some advanced planning, but it continues to amaze me how easily the painting falls together when done this way. The sense of unity in the painting is greatly enhanced because of the preliminary planning with the original good white shape.

I had plans to post some of the workshoppers' paintings but have somehow misplaced my photos of several of the finished paintings. I'll post what I do have later this week, even though some are works in progress.

"GONDOLIER" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 20 x 26"