Month: November 2007

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Red Pear

Shelly

Red Pear
Red Pear (detail)

I used a very similar technique as I did on yesterday’s pear. The main difference was that I buffed some of the layers of glaze, instead of just blotting them. I also wet some of the layers a bit and lifted them off, when the color got too opaque. It’s kind of tricky, timing-wise, when working with acrylic, but not impossible if you’re careful and you don’t let the paint try completely.

Reds and yellows are hard for me to work with, because I always feel like I’m mixing ketchup and mustard. Strangely enough, the thought of ketchup, mustard, and pears just isn’t as appealing as one might think.

Art, Collage, Journals, Paintings

Bartlett Pear

Shelly

Bartlett Pear
Bartlett Pear (detail)

I like the way this one turned out. I’ve never really worked like this before. What I did was start with a layer of acrylic matte medium, then worked a little bit of acrylic paint into it, then blotted it with a baby wipe. I let that dry, then started again with another layer of medium, etc. As the layers built up, they started to look sort of watercolor-y.

The process was interesting, in that it went quickly, but I was able to work methodically. I enjoyed the control I had in applying the paint, but also the almost complete lack of control in how the excess was removed.

Crankypantsing

Poaching Revisited

Shelly

I did finally respond to Madam PoachyPants. I had a hard time not being snarky about it, because I’m in a foul mood today, but I think I managed to be civil.

In other news, I mentioned that we have to do this silly Web 2.0 certification at work? Do y’all have any idea how difficult it is to fake blog? My God, it’s brutal!

In other other news, Mr. Upstairs is on my shit list again. He was up all night, stomping around and banging things. I think he might have been fighting with himself. And the night before last, I woke up at 2am to his radio blaring Hall and Oates. Hall and fucking Oates! And the play list went downhill from there!

Art, Collage, Drawings, Journals

d’Anjou Pear

Shelly

D'Anjou Pear
d’Anjou Pear (detail)

I used Faber-Castell Pitt pen (brush tip greys) to block out the values, then used Portfolio watersoluble crayons to add thin layers of color. I buffed away any excess crayon with a paper towel. This sort of sketch goes very quickly, if you do a good job of getting the initial lights and darks in the right places.

The lazy R was an accident. My alphabet stamps are square, so it’s easy to get them misaligned if you aren’t careful. I added the lazy 7 to match it, because I totally meant to do that.

The checkerboard pattern is another quick eraser stamp, and the recipe came from a fussy, fancy-schmancy cookbook that I will never get around to using.

Crankypantsing

Poaching

Shelly

I hate it when people make poachy posts to mail lists or groups. It just strikes me as rude and kind of spammy, especially when the person doesn’t even participate in the group they’re poaching from. “Hi, you don’t know me and I can’t be bothered to get to know you, but please come hang out in my group. Kthxbye!” WTF?!

So, I moderate a couple of Flickr groups. There was a post to one of them over the weekend from someone who moderates a Yahoo group on the same subject. I used to be a member of that group, until the moderator did a few things that were rude and kind of bizarre, and that led to me in effect being banned from the group (specifically, she wouldn’t moderate my posts and wouldn’t respond to my direct e-mails asking for her help in resolving the issue). Okayfine. The Interwebs are vast, and there’s plenty of room for redundancy, so I started my own group. And now this person has the nerve to poach there?

Grrr.

I am sorely tempted to respond to her post, asking her ever so politely if she’s reciprocated by posting a similar message to her own group. Surely she has?

Art, Collage, Drawings, Journals

Bosc Pear

Shelly

Bosc Pear
Bosc Pear (detail)

I like the way this one turned out, including the little stamp. It’s a little different from what I’m used to doing with watersoluble crayons, in that I used very little water (just the fading of the edges at the top). What I did was layer and blend the crayon with my fingers (I used Portfolios, which are ridiculously smushy), then wipe away as much as possible with a paper towel. That left pretty much just the stained paper.

The stamp was an afterthought, made with an eraser and an Xacto knife. I will never, ever be a printmaker, because I find the inverted backwardness of it frustrating, so eraser stamps are about as much as I can manage.