Transformation

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 24 x 18 inch canvas

 I decided to give an old painting a makeover.  Just finished this afternoon.

Below is a snapshot of the old painting.

Recycled flowers

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

I decided to recycle an old boring painting and this is the result. The underlying layers are collaged painted deli wrap, heavy body and fluid acrylics applied with a palette knife and some stenciled areas. I like the texture left by the deli paper and heavy body paint. I used a silicone wedge to scrape back some of the upper layer of paint to let the underlying colors and texture show through. The detail work was done with high flow acrylics and a dipping pen.

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:

It's been awhile

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

This one started out with collaged painted deli wrap. After stenciling and stamping with bubble wrap I started glazing. I am calling this Ripe Grapes.

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.

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.

Changes for the better

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

This is another old painting that I decided to give new life. So I pulled out the paint and glazing liquid and went to work.

Here's what it looked like before:

Neighborhood walking path

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

My inspiration for today's painting is a walking path within a mile from my house. I exercised a little artistic license, but I assure you the real thing is quite pretty and peaceful.

Here's the underpainting:

The collaged paper added some color and texture. The finished painting was supposed to be more expressionistic but I couldn't resist my ingrained tendency to add detail. Maybe next time.

Orbs and ovals

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 24 x 18 inch canvas 

This painting started with some painted deli wrap that I collaged onto the canvas. I followed up with a layer of light molding paste for texture, let it dry, then followed with drips, drops, sprays of water, glazes and so on. I couldn't resist lightly sponging a tint of my favorite Golden color, manganese blue hue, to finish off the painting.

A Rose by Another Name

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

I've changed my name. Well, not my name, I'm still Vicky. But I have changed the name of my blog. Goodbye 'Learning to Paint', hello 'Staying Young at Art'.

I have wanted to change my blog's name for a while. Don't get me wrong, I am still learning something new with every painting and I know there will always be so many skills to work on. So I am forever learning to paint.

About today's painting: It started with a canvas on which I applied some torn painted deli wrap. Then, every time I finished another painting I took the leftover paint and applied it to this canvas. Some abstract shapes and color harmonies began to appear. In the meantime I had a photo that I have always wanted to paint, a rose from my old flower garden, and a few days ago it struck me that this canvas would be the perfect backdrop. So I slipped the photo into a plastic sheet protector and used quinacridone magenta high flow paint and a Fineline applicator to trace the flower. Add more paint and a couple layers of gloss medium and, voila, the result is a painted skin that I peeled off the plastic and collaged to the canvas.

Waiting for paint (and gel) to dry

Work in progress 

It's 95 degrees Fahrenheit here in Minnesota today, a good day to be in an air conditioned room doing a little painting. So I did a little more work on this little painting. After the gel I used to collage the skin to the canvas dries I just have a little finishing work to do.

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.

Starting new paintings

I went shopping today, took advantage of a couple coupons and bought some canvases. I've been away from the paints for a while and decided I needed to get my creative juices flowing again. So tonight I started a couple new paintings while I'm watching the Super Bowl.

My sister and niece want paintings of Charlotte, my sister's doggie companion. For the first painting my plan is to paint her on an acrylic skin then collage it on a mixed media background, a technique I saw in Amy Shawley's blog. Below is a photo of the first layer of the background. It's pretty colorful now but the plan is to tone it down with future layers. This layer was done by dropping Golden high flow acrylics on a canvas prepped with Golden acrylic grounds for pastels.

I decided to use up some deli sheets I had painted with leftover paint as the first layer of the next painting. I have no idea where this one is going, but I like the colors.

Here's another canvas waiting for me. I prepped this with diluted orange and magenta fluid acrylics before I left for vacation. The plan is to paint a landscape, probably a waterfall, when the spirit moves me. I used a similar underpainting in my last painting and liked the result, so why not do it again.

Below zero bouquet

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

 We're going through a cold spell here in Minnesota. Here's a bouquet to bring back a little bit of summer. This one had a prior life as an abstract mixed media collage  (see below).

Original painting 

Update: after I posted to the blog last night I decided to put a top coat on the painting. I poured some 'faux encaustic' on it and started to brush. Unfortunately I noticed a little too late that my Posca pen lines were being dissolved by the medium (a combination of matte medium and self leveling clear gel). It was a total mess! I ultimately used a lot of wet paper towels to remove the medium. Unfortunately it also removed a lot of the Posca pen ink. I was really disheartened and almost gave up. I collected myself and redid the Posca. I let it dry overnight then very carefully applied a layer of acrylic gloss medium to seal the painting. Note to self: be careful when putting an isolation coat on a painting that makes use of Posca pens!

Painting before I messed it up with faux encaustic layer 

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.

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.

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