Expressionist bouquet

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 x 12 inch canvas

This started out as several layers of stencils and random marks then sat for a while waiting for an inspiration. Today it magically became a vase of flowers in a sort of expressionist style. Look closely and you'll see the underlying stenciled layers.

Fun flowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 14 x 18 inch canvas 

Just finished this one. It started with blobs of paint that I manipulated with deli paper, then layers of stencils, high flow acrylic drips, collage of painted deli paper and high flow acrylic applied through a Fineline applicator. I finished it off with translucent and transparent glazes.

Here's how it progressed:

Another makeover

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

I decided to make changes to another painting. The original was a collage of painted papers that had some areas I really liked but it was too dark and too green for my tastes. So I decided to used translucent and transparent glazes to cut around the leaf shapes and add more light and color contrast.

Here is the original painting before I did the makeover.

Convention bounce

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

I tried something new this time. I collaged newspaper clippings to a canvas and followed with layers of high flow drips, stencils and fluid acrylic glazes. I kind of wish I hadn't done the white outlines but maybe they will grow on me. Or maybe I will use glaze to tone them down.

Edit: I decided to glaze the white outlines. So I updated the photo. I took this one in daylight so the colors look different from the other photo.

Charlotte in the window

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 x 12 inch canvas 

I finished Charlotte's portrait. I just need to give it a day or two before I give it a clear acrylic isolation coat.

To summarize the process, this painting started with random splashes of color on a canvas prepped with Golden acrylic grounds for pastels. In parallel I drew Charlotte on a skin of acrylic grounds for pastels using Cretacolor Aquamonolith watercolor pencils. Since the acrylic grounds are translucent, I was able to place the skin over a photo of Charlotte and trace to get a more accurate drawing.

 I glazed the canvas with Golden Titan Buff then added gauzy fabric for the curtains.

Before gluing Charlotte to the canvas I used molding paste to create the surface where she would lie (impressed with a paper towel to give it texture). I also painted her silhouette in Titan Buff. Since the acrylic grounds are translucent I needed an opaque background for the collage element.

After gluing Charlotte to the canvas with gloss gel, I embellished her and the background with more paint and glazes.

Finished abstract

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

This painting started from some deli sheets that I had painted with leftover paint. Today I used a painting knife to add more color splashes, some stencils and some glazes. Here is the final result.

More recycling

Recycled painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

I'm in the recycling mood. This painting was a quick experiment: start with a very colorful old painting and turn it into a floral still life.

This is the old painting (imagine it rotated 180 degrees):

Original painting

I glazed a coat of Golden Titan Buff over the painting, placing a stencil in some places and wiping away some of the glaze for additional subtle texture. Then I quickly painted the outlines of the flowers, stems, leaves and vase. Then I followed up with some glazes of color to fill in the still life.

The style is pretty loose and primitive but I like the results. This was fun!

Abstract collage

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

It seems lately that no matter what I plan to paint I end up going off on a wild tangent. I started this painting with fluid acrylics that I moved around on the canvas with a deli sheet. It was getting so messy I switched to a palette knife. The next day I got distracted by the dried paint on my palette and decided to collage it to the canvas. That led to more collage with paint skins and scraps of painted deli sheets.

By this time I had a really colorful composition. I didn't want to get rid of all the rich color but I did want to rein some of it in. So I muted some of the color with a glaze of Golden Titan Buff.

Recycling a painting

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas 

This painting has been recycled more than once. In fact I can't recall its first iteration. In any case, a few months ago, after buying stencils and watching a Chris Cozen video I made my first stab at mixed media. I gessoed over an old painting and gave it a little texture by pressing some stencils into the gesso. Then I slapped on some color, added a few stencils and called it a day. It has been sitting around since. Finally this week I decided to add some more layers and I give it a new life.

In case you are wondering, this is what it used to look like:

Imagine it rotated a quarter turn followed by layers of stencils and glazes.

Watery Sunset

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

This painting is another experiment with lots of layers. I wish I had taken a photo at each phase. Suffice it to say that the finished piece looks nothing like the beginnings.

I topped this one off with a layer of 'faux encaustic' that was made from a recipe in Sandra Duran Wilson's Acrylic Painting for Encaustic Effects. I didn't go very thick with the layer.

Painted Deli Wrap Collage

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

I bought Sandra Duran Wilson's Acrylic Painting for Encaustic Effects because I love her artwork and wanted to learn some of her techniques. One of her examples begins with spreading globs of fluid acrylics on a substrate using deli sheets, then using the resulting deli sheets for collage elements. I borrowed that idea for this painting. I should note that Sandra's faux encaustic paintings also include a final layer of a mixture of gloss and matte gel to give the appearance of the wax surface of an encaustic painting, but I chose to omit that step on this painting.

Change of Season

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

Since the leaves are starting to change colors here in Minnesota, I thought that was a good excuse to paint colored leaves. This painting was done with a little molding paste, lots of stencils, and finished with translucent and transparent glazes. Can you tell I like lots of color?

Low Hanging Fruit

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

Today's painting is one I've been adding layers of stencils and splashes of high flow acrylics to over the course of several days. Tonight I added a few more touches of paint with a painting knife followed by some glazes of white, titan buff and blue. I'm calling it Low Hanging Fruit.

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

Recycling old art

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

This painting started as an experiment with acrylic and alcohol. I have seen examples of using alcohol to create 'blooms' in acrylic paint and wanted to try it. I also wanted to try my new Posca paint markers. But then I was stuck until I remembered an old watercolor painting that I had abandoned. So I used pieces of that old painting as collage elements. Add more paint and marker highlights and you have today's painting.

Floating leaves

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

 This is another experiment with fiber paste and raised stencils. I wanted to see if I could get some watery effects. I didn't get all the effects I wanted, but picked up some ideas for future paintings.

Update:
The color in the upper part of the painting was bugging me, so I decided to glaze it with phthalo blue. Here is the updated version:

Same painting after glaze

Here is the painting in earlier stages. When I was at this stage I thought it was too light. Now I wish I would have kept the lighter hue.

Experimenting with texture

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch 140 lb cold press watercolor paper 

This painting is on un-gessoed watercolor paper. I wanted to see the behavior of the fluid and high flow acrylics on the un-gessoed surface. I started wet into wet, and let the paint flow. After layers of stencils I decided to experiment with glass bead gel and fiber paste. I also used stencils to apply gel medium,  which served as a resist for a glaze layer of phthalo blue. You can still see a hint of this layer in the corners.

Floral Collage

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on Canson art board 

 This is my first time painting on Canson Arches art board. I gessoed it before stenciling then dripping high flow paint. Then I collaged some flowers I printed on my ink jet printer. I considered adding some glass bead gel but decided against it. I'm not sure if I like the glazes I used to tone down the background.  Below are some photos of the painting in earlier stages.

See the birdie

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

Here's a whimsical painting I finished last night. This one started with drips and blooms of Golden high-flow acrylic paint. I started to see birds in the resulting underpainting, so I took it in that direction with pastel pencils,  collage and paint.

Here are a couple of photos of the painting in earlier stages:

Experimenting with mixed media on watercolor paper

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch 140 lb cold press watercolor paper 

I'm trying other surfaces. I just bought some Canson Art Board, which is Arches watercolor paper mounted to what appears to be mat board,  but I didn't want to use it until I experimented first. So I did this one on a similar unmounted watercolor paper. This painting started with gesso followed by drips of high flow acrylics and stencils. I also wanted to try using clear gesso as a ground for pastels.  It worked Ok but my attempt to 'fix' the pastels with matte medium wasn't to my liking. As I suspected might happen,  the pastel pigment was darkened by the medium.  I ended up augmenting the pastels and medium with fluid acrylics. The pastel definitely added to the intensity of the colors.