Michelle Ward posts a fabulous creative challenge each month on her GPP Street Team blog. This month she invites us to put away our paint brushes and play with scraping paint. Synchronicity seems to strike whenever I swing by Michelle's blogs. The day before I learned of this challenge I was noticing how cool the scraped paint looked on my brayer. Even the stairs up to my breezeway had some fabulous layers of paint showing through where we have worn them down. I had been thinking about how I wanted this effect in my paintings. The day after I read about this challenge, I received a new credit card in the mail. Now how cool is that? My desire and the tools just aligned.
I started with some lighter colors and scraped on greens, blues, and purples. I liked the look of scraping on the thick heavy acrylics (Windsor Newton) and then scraping on the thinner cheaper acrylics or visa versa. The feel of the paint and watching the results was a blast. I definitely liked the look of scraping on a lighter color (gesso, or yellow) to brighten it up. Once the page was dry I experimented with adding lots of water and scraping. This helped to lift up some of the layers of paint.
I made a mask/stencil by cutting out a shape from a magazine image. I went back in with a charcoal pencil to add some depth around the edges of the figure. I collaged onto it painted papers of maps and arrows. This is the first in a series of paintings that I'm working on called, "Get Lost."
Another moment of synchronicity happened this morning after finishing my first "Get Lost." I checked my e-mail and received this quote from gratefulness.org:
Loss makes artists of us all as we weave new patterns in the fabric of our lives.
~Greta W. Crosby
I have a stack of so many wonderful new papers from playing with this technique. It was so much fun trying out different paint colors and combinations. I'll post more images when I have a moment to scan them. Until then, I invite you to visit Michelle's blog. Be sure to click through on the links found on the left to see how other participants experimented with this technique.
Thank you Michelle for a great prompt!
Kathryn, Collage Diva
Wow, I love the colors in this and thanks for the stenciling idea. I haven't tried this yet but several of the bloggers I follow have. I really should give it a try.
Posted by: Teresa aka Tess | September 23, 2010 at 10:44 PM
Beautiful and a thoughtful way of presenting the technique. Thanks for sharing this.
Posted by: Sharon Martinelli | September 23, 2010 at 11:22 PM
Kathryn, what a yummy beautiful image you've created. Love your colour choices and how well the stenciled figure is showing up! Nice! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I'm borrowing this quote for an upcoming post about weaving!
Posted by: iHanna | September 24, 2010 at 05:58 AM
I got a new card this week and I destroyed it - what on earth was I thinking :-( Love the painting - can't wait to see the rest!
Posted by: Megan Warren | September 24, 2010 at 07:04 AM
Beautiful beautiful image ! Can you believe all the different colors and textures ? Love how you finished with the mask, looking forward to your other paintings. Thanks for sharing !
Posted by: Brigitte | September 24, 2010 at 08:11 AM
Kathryn, you page is absolutely fantastic! I love the colours and you have created great texture. And, I just LOVE your finished page - it's looks brilliant!
Posted by: Jackie | September 28, 2010 at 05:02 PM
Love the silhouette effect you created with the mask, just lovely.
Posted by: Gail | September 28, 2010 at 06:32 PM
Kathryn - thanks for the nice shout out for the crusade blog. Love that sychronicity was at play, once again, between you and me. Love your page - terrific colors....and fab finishing touches! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: michelle ward | September 28, 2010 at 11:19 PM
I really love this interpretation. using the mag cutout is invaluable - I must try that. Gorgeous.
Posted by: Daphne | September 30, 2010 at 10:18 AM
Excellent scrapings Katherine! I love the colors and texture you ended up with.
Posted by: Lisa Cousineau | September 30, 2010 at 04:39 PM
Wow! great pieces. Lovely colours.
Posted by: Rosemary Griffin | September 30, 2010 at 11:42 PM
What a great page [ purple :-) ]and I love the quote from Crosby.
Posted by: Cath | October 04, 2010 at 02:48 AM
I think that one shade of purple should be your trademark color - I always think of you when I see it! If I had seen all the various GPP scrapings laid side by side, I think I would have been able to pick yours out just by the beautiful technique you have in painting.
Posted by: teri | October 07, 2010 at 11:03 PM