Studio News, Latest Works & Musings On A Coastal Life

I've been expanding my experiments with mixed media and collage.  This piece titled "Tides" includes photographs of shore birds that I took on one of my recent beach walks, as well as text of several lines from one of my poems.

 

Here's the final painting:

 

 

"Tides"   8" x 10"    Mixed Media/Collage with poetry on canvas      © 2012 Barbara Blair

 

"The ocean tides both high and low

Endlessly in and out they go

Moving waters up and down

On the beaches near my town."

Poetry © 2010 Barbara Blair. 

Excerpted from my book titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart."

 

The painting also includes a shell stencil that I cut, giving a raised effect using molding paste, and I've added a rough stucco texture to indicate sand in some areas.  I really like the dimensional effects of these mediums.

 

To give you an idea of my process, here's a photo of my preliminary composition before glueing anything down, and before I began to add paint to the canvas.  The non-photographic elements are cropped designs from some of my other paintings:

 

 

I moved the elements around a bit to get a more pleasing composition, and also decided to replace the "wave" design on the left of center with another photo of the curlews on the beach.   Here's the first revision of the composition after I painted the canvas and glued down the basic elements: 

 

 

 

I then decided to eliminate the small shell border on the left, and instead make a larger version of the design as a raised stencil.  It needed to be balanced by adding more of the design at the bottom right, thus eliminating the photo of the crab which was not very visible at this point.  I then added the phases of the moon, which helped to tell the story of the tides, plus sand texture and more paint. 

 

And here again is the final painting: 

 

 

This was a very enjoyable exercise in which I learned more about the various mediums available, as well as design composition.  I found I had to set the painting aside a couple of times though, before deciding the best way  to proceed further. 

 

I really like the versatility and possibilities of mixed media and collage, and plan to do more of it.

 

For pricing and purchasing information click here.

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This week I've been painting slightly larger miniatures for holiday gift giving -  in a 4"x4" size.  Two are in my whimsical style embellished with gold paint, and two are in mixed media with paper collage, sea shells, pearls and semi-precious stones.  Each comes with a little wooden easel so that it can be displayed on a shelf, table or other surface.

 

 

"Sea Star"  4"x4"  Acrylic on canvas

© 2011 Barbara Blair

 

 

"Star Shell"  4"x4"  Acrylic on canvas

© 2011 Barbara Blair

 

For more information and pricing on these whimsical miniatures, click on the titles.

 

 

"Sea Flower, Rose"  4"x4"

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

© 2011 Barbara Blair

 

 

"Sea Flower, Aqua Blue"  4"x4"

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

© 2011 Barbara Blair

 

For more information and pricing on these mixed media miniatures, click on the titles.

 

My intention in creating this mixed media collage painting was to evoke a feeling of abundance - our true birthright.   It is very rich and shimmery with gold, pearls, semi-precious stones, sea shells and many tiny seed beads.  That's why I call it "jewelry for the walls".

 

                            "Secret Treasures"   11" x 14"        © 2011 Barbara Blair

 

 

It's easy to get caught up in the illusion of  lack, which seems to be the favorite topic of the media these days.  So it's good to remind ourselves that the true nature of the universe is total abundance, and we are also a part of that universal flow, and not separate from it.  We have only to look at a single sunflower with it's thousands of seeds, or the number of leaves on a tree.

 

Here's a close-up detail view:

 

 

To find out how to purchase "Secret Treasures"  and have a daily visual reminder of abundance in your home click here.

 

And as one more thought about the abundant nature of the universe, today I read that scientists have just discovered a planet that appears to be made out of diamond.  Hmmm, imagine walls covered in diamonds .......

This seashore painting with mixed media titled "The Sailboat" includes paper collage, seashells, beach sand and stones, and also has a few pieces of rose quartz and fancy jasper semiprecious stones in it.  The painting is very textural and has a light, happy feeling reminiscent of a sunny day at the beach.

 

"The Sailboat"   12x16"    Mixed Media

© 2011 Barbara Blair

 

When I first planned the design, it did not include a sailboat, but then I found a piece of seashell in my collection which was perfectly shaped like a sail.  It had nice smooth edges, having been tumbled by the waves and sand, and it was just the right size.  To me this was a delightful find, so I worked the composition around the sailboat, making it the focal point of the painting. 

 

 

Detail #1 of "The Sailboat"

 

Detail #2 of "The Sailboat"

 

The rocky area in the foreground has three perfect pretty little shells, which I discovered in my collection after I had applied the paint colors and semiprecious stones.  I felt that the painting needed something more, so they were also an exciting find, because they are a natural color match to what I had already done.  Serendipity!

 

If you'd like a joyful reminder of a day spent by the sea to hang in your home or office, "The Sailboat" can be purchased by clicking here. 

 

To stay current with my latest work and art activities, become a member of my email newsletter.  I send it out approximately once a month or less, and will never share your information with anyone.

 

"Tidal Treasures"  11x14"  Mixed Media

© 2011 Barbara Blair

 

Here's the first of my "jeweled" mixed media paintings.  "Tidal Treasures" features semi-precious rose quartz crystal chips, pearl seed beads, pieces of sea shells, beach stones, sand and paper.  It is also embellished with gold and irridescent paints.  The effect is organic, rich, shimmery and textural.

 

These mixed media paintings are quite a departure from my regular acrylic paintings.  As the style is more abstract, I was hoping that they would be looser in application and therefore faster to complete, but not so.  I can't seem to get away from my natural tendency to do detailed work.  The placement of the stones, sand and gems was fairly time consuming, and the tiny seed beads were especially challenging, since the glue is milky when wet (but dries clear) making it difficult to see what I'm doing. 

 

However, I am pleased with the overall effect, and it was well worth the effort.  I have several more images in my head that have yet to materialize on canvas! 

 

You can see more information about this painting here.

 

To stay current with my latest work and art activities, become a member of my email newsletter.  I send it out approximately once a month or less, and will never share your information with anyone.

I received such a positive response to my mixed media paintings at a recent show, that I was encouraged to expand on the idea.  "Amethyst Shores" is very textural, which is part of what attracted so many comments.  It was inspired by the rocky coastline of the Monterey Peninsular, where I lived for a few years. 

 

The painting includes several textured mediums, as well as sand and pieces of seashells from the Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove.  I originally wanted to include semi-precious gemstones, in this case amethyst - but was not confident about the type of glue to use so that the stones would hold fast to the canvas, and not be drowned by the glue.

 

I was glad to be able to spend most of last week experimenting in my studio, after several weeks spent ploughing through a daunting “To Do” list of show preparations and other business/marketing tasks.  I realized how important it is for me to have a balanced mix of left brain business and right brain creative activities scheduled into my calendar.  Too much of either throws me off.

 

After my experimentations, I am now satisfied with the glue issue in using semi-precious stones in future mixed media paintings.  I also played with iridescent and metallic paints, and purchased more semi-precious stones for my tool box.  It is wonderful what beautiful things nature creates for our enjoyment!

 

The overall result is that I am now in the process of producing a group of paintings with the intention of creating "jewelry for the walls", which I find quite exciting!