Serendipity

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 20 x 16 inch canvas 

I'm calling this painting Serendipity. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, serendipity is "luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for."

I took an old mixed media collage that was really colorful and had a lot of glass bead gel. I wanted to rein in some of the bright colors. After glazing over most of the painting that wasn't layered with glass beads, it left a few unconnected blobs of color plus a few butterflies I had stamped on the original painting. But then I identified some leaf shapes, started outlining them, did some colored glazes, found more leaf shapes. I kept painting and outlining leaves and collaged some painted paper to add three abstract flowers. And voila, the serendipity of finding a painting full of colorful leaves and flowers.

Tipsy Bouquet

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic paint and mediums on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel

Today's painting is an old painting I covered with light molding paste then went to work transforming into something completely different. Lots of layers of paint applied to the textured surface with a Gelli plate, sponge, Fineline applicator and brushes.

I'm calling it a tipsy bouquet because the vase is leaning, but maybe there's a double meaning ;)

Printing and Painting

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 20 x 16 inch canvas 

This painting started with a few Gelli prints that I cut up and glued to the canvas. Then I added a lot of stencils and glazes. The original Gelli prints were mostly red, teal and dark blue, but I altered the colors with transparent and translucent glazes.

Mixing more media

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 20 inch canvas 

Here's a painting I just finished. I started this one a few weeks ago, when I collaged several Gelli prints on a canvas. Then I was stuck and didn't know how to finish it.

A week ago I had some red-tinted molding paste left from another painting and decided to stencil it on this painting. It still needed something else, so I stenciled some violet-tinted glass bead gel yesterday, and stamped a few butterflies and flowers last night. Then I added some glazes and got a little carried away.

Today I added a few more touches. I think I'm finally done. I had no idea where this was going when I started, but that's part of the fun.

The gelli print collage, before adding stencils and glazes

Reusing Paint Skins

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 20 inch canvas 

When paint dries on my palette, I wait until some accumulates,  then peal it off and save it. I finally decided to use some of it in a painting. This is the result. I combined the skins with some Gelli-printed deli paper and embellished it with some glazes and some glass bead gel.

Playing with Gelli Prints

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 12 x 16 inch hard-board 

I bought a Gelli Arts gel printing plate and went to town printing random designs on deli paper. I ripped some of the prints into strips and collaged the strips on a piece of Blick hard-board  (see below, in portrait orientation). Then I hit a brick wall - I couldn't decide what to do with it. Today I finally got back to the painting and decided to paint flowers. I glazed on some transparent color to define the petals and followed with translucent glazes in the background. I used Posca paint pens to outline the flowers and add details.

Board after collage, before painting