Acrylic grounds for mixed media

It's really easy for me to fall in love with materials. These past few years I've been dating acrylics. First, it was Tri-Art's gorgeous Artist Acrylic colours that won me over, then their innovative recycled paint Sludge...then I fell madly in love with Dry Media Ground, and now I just can't get enough of Nepheline Gels (the following artwork is graphite, charcoal and pastel on Nepheline Gel Coarse, and it's published in the New Acrylics Essential Sourcebook: Materials, Techniques, and Contemporary Applications for Today's Artist mixed media chapter). Just as I'm known for charcoal, acrylics have now become synonymous with my mixed media works, blurring the line between drawing and painting. Acrylic grounds allow me to create a textured surface that is very exciting and different than just working on common surfaces. And just like paper, I can soften dry media (graphite, charcoal, pastel) to a velvet finish with a brush, and also leave crisp edges, intense with colour or value.

Dry Media Ground is simply perfect, and will always be my true love! When you apply it to a surface, the result is like a very fine sandpaper. If you have ever used a pastel paper or board, that's what I'm talking about - it's the same thing, only it's much more cost effective to buy the Dry Media Ground in a jar and then you can create your own surfaces the way you want them. You can add colour to it or even apply it on top of layers of acrylic paint, creating a new surface of possibilities! On the other hand, Nepheline Gels have a unique granular texture and appearance. It's available in a fine (which is not as fine as dry media ground), a coarse and extra coarse. Just like Dry Media Ground, Nepheline Gel can be mixed with colour or used on it's own, glazed over top of and anything else you can think of....and it's a brilliant surface for graphite, charcoal, pastel and other drawing materials.

Gesso is a common ground for sealing surfaces for painting preparation. I love drawing on Gesso with graphite or charcoal. Gesso is a very dense White, but it is also avail in Black, Burnt Umber or Canvas colours, and even better, Tri-Art recently came out with a Clear Gesso and it's absolutely fabulous for tinting.  I also find it particularly useful when I have a beautiful piece of birch that I want to prepare and yet incorporate the natural wood surface into the art itself. I use to draw right onto wood and yet have found that over time the wood gets oily and stained and dirty, and I can already see that my newer pieces will last longer simply because the wood is primed. On that note, though I am an experimental art materials pixie, I've learned that there are some rules you should follow...there will always be plenty of rules you can still break! A few rules I recommend for all artists: always use good quality materials, take the time to experiment and get to know your materials, and prepare, finish and safely store your art. 

A few secrets to relieve any fear of acrylics and mixed media:

• all acrylics and mediums are ok to mix. it's recommended to mix artist quality with artist quality/student quality with student quality and so on, but that aside don't hesitate to try new brands. Company's often has a signature colour or product, such as Tri-Art's new Artist Acrylic colour 'Golden Orange' and it's good to step out of your comfort zone even in regards to your favorite brand of paint!
• acrylics are the most versatile medium out there, and can be used on a variety of surfaces and combined with any dry or water-soluble medium....and you can really open up new worlds by exploring collage and sculptural materials. 
• Rheni Tauchid's book New Acrylics Essential Sourcebook: Materials, Techniques, and Contemporary Applications for Today's Artist will inspire and is a handy reference with detailed charts on how to prepare your surfaces, using acrylics with other mediums, media and materials.
• it's ok to fall in love with your materials ...the paint, the canvas, the brushes, the tools... and the play, the journey, the creative process ♥
  
   

 MY FAVORITE QUOTE TODAY!

Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play. ~Henri Matisse

Duho Panels

Recently I had the awesome experience of joining Tri-Art in Pasedena, CA for the Learning & Product Expo:ART! and meeting the people who own Duho panels. As you know, I love materials, and it's what primarily inspires my own artwork. WELL, everything Duho makes is perfection - beautiful and stunning exotic woods like bamboo and zebrawood to metal copper panels and more. You might want to check them out for yourself: www.fineartpanels.com. Honestly, I have to remember to breath when I put down my first stroke on these gorgeous panels, but after that it's an absolute pleasure to be an artist.

Here are two mixed media works on Duho panels...

Zebrawood panel 12"x12"

Walnut panel 12"x12"

I am very excited with the result of staining the walnut with Tri-Art's liquid Golden Orange...currently my favorite colour! Both of these panels are part of my ongoing BURNT TREES series....which I should probably blog about soon :)

Tri-Art and the Environment

Tri-Art's Green Initiatives in production and product development:

• Water Filtration System - reuse & recycle
  
• Sludge - recycled paint
  
• Tri-Art Palette - The last palette you will ever need
• Solucryl - Green paint for the classroom
  
• New Product Packaging - "Our quality is clear"
  
• Raw Materials - support local & Canadian
  

Zero-waste is just good business. Tri-Art = honest, good people ❤
for more information visit http://www.tri-art.ca/en/whatsnew/environment/

Too many notes

There are just so many awesome things happening, I think I'm going to have to break out the bullets!

• Shared Palette has a new artist on board! International artist Claudia Jean McCabe debuted for a Showmakers Preview at the Toronto Congress Centre on Sept 30th 2009. We are a brilliant team, and I am so happy! The theme was 'Winter in the City' and the clients loved the concept, resulting in a magnificent painting work of art. Pictures of the Shared Palette team and the finished painting can be seem on my Flickr site here.
• Claudia and I are working on her new book of MUSINGS....you can read one of them featured on her website www.cjmccabe.com. We'll be sure to announce the book publication and CD soon!
• I am in a group show, opening this Wednesday at the Steam Whistle Gallery. I'm super excited about sharing my personal artwork, especially with artists Paul Savard and Jim Lasby. I suppose it's part of who I am...I am happiest in the company of friends and artists. We are all unique from one another, so the variety of work will be interesting. Maybe I'll see you at the opening!
  
• Visual Arts Mississauga hired me to teach a Teen Portfolio Class Sept 28-Nov 23rd. I love teaching kids, and after the first class, I realized the magnitude of this opportunity and what awesome stuff I can pass on that may just be the midas touch for their own opportunities. Life, and all the little things, is really is what you make it.
• Claudia just opened an Etsy store: www.CJMCCABE.etsy.com
  Beautiful work, perfect for gifts (are you thinking about Christmas yet....)
  
• In 2 weeks, Rheni Tauchid and I fly out to Pasadena, CA for the Learning & Product Expo: ART! show representing Tri-Art Acrylic Paints and Mediums www.tri-art.ca.
  I will be assisting Rheni for her workshops and teaching one of my own, as well as giving a free demo...more info here at Rheni's Blog (which you should follow, I love her posts!)
• Oct 19th is the MARTYS. It's a celebration of arts in Mississauga, and now that I live in a quiet part of the city, I humbly share with you that I have been nominated and chosen as a finalist. So......in a few weeks I'll attend the Awards night, party, and support the local talent, and with a little luck I'll win. I already feel like a winner though ♡
  

Write your own Review: The New Acrylics Essential Sourcebook

Have you sneaked a peek at the
New Acrylics Essential Sourcebook: Materials, Techniques, and Contemporary Applications for Today's Artist

This book is awesome, I love it and want to hear what you think of it.
Do you feel up-to-date, knowledgeable, inspired? How has that encouraged you in your work ? Are you excited it's apart of your resource library?

Please submit a review on Amazon which supports our own Canadian Author Rheni Tauchid, the many Artists featured in it, and Canadian brand Tri-Art Acrylics.
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.amazon.ca

Feature Artist: Claudia Jean McCabe

I love this woman
www.cjmccabe.com




Montreal-born claudia jean mccabe is a recognized Canadian painter, graphic designer, teacher, creator of musings, storyteller....and dreamer. Over the course of her artistic career, she has participated in numerous solo, featured and group exhibitions at both provincial and national levels. This award winning artist is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists. mccabe's paintings are held in private, corporate and government collections worldwide.

DRAWING: Use Bread as an Eraser?

When I saw this article in American Artist, I instantly thought of Jim Dine. At a workshop I took early Dec ’08 we watched a video of Jim preparing an exhibit for a German gallery of large wall drawings - charcoal works drawn directly onto the walls. I just loved it, for many reasons: He uses his hands and non art material related tools such as charcoal tied to a stick/rags/bread to erase, he was intuitive in his approach (the ultimate visionary), and that the art was temporary (to be painted over at the end of the exhibit).

‘Drawers used the soft parts of bread to erase marks made by lead, graphite, chalk, and crayon. Bread was readily available (except perhaps for the most starving of artists), and when it comes to erasing marks, the only important thing is strictly physical: The eraser component must be composed of molecules that are stickier than the molecules of the drawing surface so that the marking material is pulled away from the surface and adheres to the eraser.’
excerpt from Post Feb 24 2009 by Bob Bahr - American Artist
inage: Athena's Night, Jim Dine, 1995
charcoal and isolated areas of pastel, 79 1/8" x 41"

ps. I really really want to draw on walls.

ARTIST: John Virtue

John's high contrast paintings are like large charcoal drawings. I find it most intriguing that he handles shellac and ink on raw canvas with a cloth in his hands...and I just love his ink spray bottle ♥
Image: Landscape No. 704, 2003-4 - acrylic, black ink and shellac on canvas 244 x 244 cm