A colorful sunset…

 

Reminded me of a feather, or wings. Which do you see?

 

Brilliant sky on a cold winter night.

 

I went to town to run errands the other day. Cold. Dark clouds in all directions.
Stopped at a light, I noticed a few tiny snowflakes falling. Hooray!

 

Barely 20 minutes later, and blue skies dominated. Here and there, patches of snow falling. Looked more like smoke rising. First time I have seen that. Very cool.

 

See the snow falling?

 

Art On 45

 

 

Fellow artist, and good friend Christiane Drieling invited me to take part in her annual Art ON 45 event. From the group page: “ART ON 45” is a juried art project – artists are asked to paint/draw/collage on a 45rpm record and donate it for a silent auction to benefit a local organization. For the upcoming fourth edition, Christiane has chosen NCLAC (North Central Louisiana Art Council) to be the beneficiary because of their commitment to establish a valuable art program at the local Boys And Girls Club.

I left this to the last-minute. Partly because I was slightly intimidated by the substrate. Mostly though, due to my still lagging energy level. But what fun it was!

The submission guidelines suggested using primer on the vinyl record. Many articles I found on the subject showed a lengthy, involved priming process. I took a chance, and skipped all that. I cleaned the record. And started by using FolkArt Multi-Surface craft paint. Made for tin, plaster, terracotta, rigid plastic, paper mache, fabric, canvas, concrete, wood, glass & ceramics. It took 5 or 6 thin coats to cover the dark record. I painted both sides and made sure to seal the edge as well.

I was stumped on what to paint. A mandala? A pour? A musical subject? Finally I just went with… what I do. I pressed a textured paper towel into wet paint, to add texture to the table. Stenciled the pattern on the vase. Used “bits” of acrylic skins to add roughness to the wall. Here the raised areas show up as white spots.

My first try at the blooms leaned towards sunflowers. At the end I noticed I had neat little rows of buds. Never good. I tried again, and am happy with the results. I used Posca pen, first time, and there are a couple of bloopers. But I left them as is. Under the vase, the pen skipped. Gave me three neat little lines. Kinda cool that accident. And mimics the table pattern. Under my signature, another splatter. Resembles a twig tip.

One more accident. I melted the vinyl while drying the paint. For the record, vinyl melts fast! I used a heat gun to dry the flowers, at a safe distance. A few seconds too long, and I had a nice little, unplanned ripple. While waiting for the paint to dry completely, I decided I liked the defect. I took the heat gun to two more areas, and let the edge warp slightly.

Fits in with the slightly rustic feel of the piece. And makes sense, in my mind. If this was hanging on the adobe wall I painted, the heat of the desert would surely do the same. In time.

Turned out the satin sealer I used is really a high gloss finish. NOT happy with that. Had to get it in the mail, so gloss it is. It does however highlight the texture of the record.

 

 

 

The 2019 auction is in downtown Ruston at Rumo’s Barbershop on March 16th, 2019.
I’ll keep you posted 😉

 

Oops! Almost forgot. I asked Leslie Saeta about the 30. She said the next one will be in September. But there is a Doodlewash watercolor event in January if you are interested.