Big sunflowers

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

This is the third painting in my flowers series, employing sgraffito on black gessoed canvas.

Iris

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

Today's painting is the 2nd in my series of floral paintings done by using sgraffito to 'draw' the flower on a thick layer of paint/gloss gel applied to a black canvas, and layers of transparent glazes and tinted gel.

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.

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.

Jack's beanstalk

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on canvas

Just finished this painting. It's lots of layers, including some drips of high flow acrylics that I incorporated into the final composition. This is the biggest abstract I have ever painted.

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.

Refillable markers

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

I'm still painting whimsical flowers but mixing things up. This time I started with a base of pastel scribbles and matte medium. Following layers were a mix of heavy body, fluid and high flow acrylics and glazes. I used high flow acrylics in refillable markers for doodles, as well as a dipping pen to draw the fine lines.

Big flowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen , acrylic on 30 x 24 inch canvas

Just finished this one yesterday. I scraped paint onto a blank canvas then went hunting for shapes. Several layers of paint and transparent glazes later it's a big vase of flowers.

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:

Quaking aspen

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

I haven't done a serendipitous abstract painting for a while so I started a couple new paintings using deli wrap to spread color around. After some layers of drips and stencils, I finished this one today. I like the shape of aspen leaves, so that was my motif for this painting.

A neighborhood pond

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 20 x 16 inch canvas 

I tried something new on this painting. I started with an underpainting in colors that are more or less compliments of the 'real' color. My goal was a more loose style and I wanted to stretch the boundaries with regards to color.

The underpainting is below:

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.

Not a landscape

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 18 x 14 inch canvas

This painting started as a back lit grove of trees, but once I got into it I just wasn't feeling it. So I started blocking out shapes with a translucent glaze and followed with some glazes of color.

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.

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:

Tulips!

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 20 x 16 inch canvas 

I decided to rework another painting. The original was a canvas with a lot of colorful stencils and abstract shapes. I loved the colors but it just didn't have any composition to speak of. I have been wanting to do more floral paintings so I thought why not use this old painting as a background for a floral in a more expressionistic style. So here it is!

FYI, this is the old painting:

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.

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.

Wrapping up one painting, working on another

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic paint and mediums on 18 X 14 inch canvas 

I'm declaring this painting finished! I added some glazed shadows then painted over a lot of the texture with Liquitex iridescent medium. So along with the glass bead gel it has some cool light reflecting qualities.

In the mean time I have been working on another small canvas. Below is a peek at the skin that will be used on that painting. I'm waiting for the medium to dry before putting everything together and keeping my fingers crossed that the painting will come together without mishaps.

Acrylic skin for work in progress