Tag: orange

tales of crinkles & edges

Yesterpost I showed you the making of the {brace for alliteration} crinkly collage of crumpled tissue paper, coloured with washes of ink.

Relative to the other pieces in this color-a-month series this one’s much bigger, so today’s project is all about turning one big piece into a bunch of smaller ones.

First was the simplest – I really like how the wrinkles in the tissue form this intricate pattern like tree roots – so it was important I set one aside as finished already: don’t change this! I just neatened up a couple of edges and that was that.

Easy peasy. Onward!

I love the veiny patterns so much I started out looking for ways to dial up the contrast. I tried with pens and markers to begin, but pan pastel is reeeeally pigmented (I don’t often find use for these, so bonus points there) I used the color Red Iron Oxide with a make up sponge to swoosh over the surface. Voilà!

Mmmmm… crinkles!

Next up: folding creases in to make lines and rectangles, like a wonky checkerboard pattern. The paper is thick with layers so takes a bit of extra back-and-forth-ing to get clear good creases, once they were done I added pen and paint to color some of the sections for extra checkerboardishness.

I gave one of the pieces a quick swish over with a light layer of acrylic, and while it was drying I faced up to what had been distracting me right from the get go: Those edge bits I trimmed off the first piece.

I cut up some more strips like the two lonely edge bits. Once the paint was dry I glued on the strips. By wiggling the ends of the strips towards the middle before the glue dried I got this 3D ripple effect I really like.

Here’s what today’s process looked like

“Twelvty” 12 Colors in 12 Months

Every month this year I am making a series of mixed media pieces in just one color. At the end of the year I’ll combine them into one big multicolored work. 

I’m sharing my process throughout this adventure here in this blog. (So far this year I’ve explored Yellow, Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue, Violet-Blue, Violet,  Red-Violet,  Red & Red-Orange)

Hi – I’m Mixy!

This is Mixy 🙂

I’m a mixed media & textile artist from London, UK.

I love to share what I’m making, and I hope it brings some inspiration to your creative time.

You can see what I’m making on this blog, and in these places too

Join Me!

Get monthly-ish Studio Musings Newsletter.

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hidden inspiration

inspirations from nature, tissue paper & ink

There are some universal patterns I come back to again and again, and when I get lost for ideas, there are places I always return to that feed my muse.

Sometimes I take photos and sometimes I just wander around letting the landscape soak in through wide open eyes.

Last weekend I was scrabbling to know what to make, so I took myself out for a walk and found this beautiful tree stump. So many patterns in one tree!

I didn’t look at these photos again until today, and that’s when I noticed how these patterns had crept into my subconscious and directed some choices I made in the studio.

Now I’m looking back at what I made last week, seeing the shapes without the colors, noticing those patterns here.

Lately I’ve been distracting myself from lockdown and all the associated confusions with eBay, so I got a package in the mail this morning. Not only was there a lovely yellow dress (with pockets!) but it was wrapped in tissue paper. As any small child or cat will tell you, packaging is almost always as exciting as the thing inside, and that was the case for me today.

Today I’ve been playing with tissue paper.

Crumpled and layered on drawing paper, I sandwiched the tissue paper with watered down pva glue, the intricate crinkled make perfect channels for ink to run through. Lots of water helps it swish around the page.

The three shades of orange {Dr PH Martin’s ‘orange’ + ‘tangerine’ & Pebeo‘s ‘saffron’} look more reddish, yellowish & brownish on camera, but in real life, especially when diluted and blended together, came out a deliciously citrusy orange shade.

Wrinkled surface and rippled lines like tree bark.

Here’s what today’s process looked like

… to be continued!

“Twelvty” 12 Colors in 12 Months

Every month this year I am making a series of mixed media pieces in just one color. At the end of the year I’ll combine them into one big multicolored work. 

I’m sharing my process throughout this adventure here in this blog. (So far this year I’ve explored Yellow, Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue, Violet-Blue, Violet,  Red-Violet,  Red & Red-Orange)

Hi – I’m Mixy!

This is Mixy 🙂

I’m a mixed media & textile artist from London, UK.

I love to share what I’m making, and I hope it brings some inspiration to your creative time.

You can see what I’m making on this blog, and in these places too

Join Me!

Get monthly-ish Studio Musings Newsletter.

You can use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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Painted Papers

monochrome collage with painted book pages

This month we’re exploring ORANGE in the year full of color journey.

Like a lot of these single color series, I started out with a select of painted papers.

Some magazine and book pages, and a bit of an old recycled painting on heavy cartridge paper.

The paint I used is a mixture of craft, acrylic, gouache and watercolor.

Some pieces have a bit of scribbled doodling in places – if you’ve followed this series along you’ll know the kind of things I’ve been up to!

Now, between you & me, I’ve struggled to find my footing in this episode of color. I can’t tell if it’s because I’m nearing the end of a big project and my energies are flagging, or if it’s the amped up chaos the outside world filtering through and distracting me (or some of both).

But I’m sharing this with you because I guess you might have creative humps too, and it’s reassuring to know we all flounder about sometimes, and that there is a way through.

Sometimes I have to return to familiar places to find something new. Tearing up shapes and finding ideas as I make layers and arrangements.

As an idea develops, a narrative forms. Layers of rectangles remind me of abstract city scapes, the orange hues are like the light of a setting sun.

The process feeds into itself and generates more ideas. Those little bits I tore off one piece to give it that wibbly deckled edge I love so much can become another little landscape of their own.

Sometimes I play about with the pieces before deciding on a layout. Sometimes I just glue together all the little scraps on my desk and decide from there. Today I did a bit of both. Did I like all the results? No. But I made these three pieces and that was enough to ease myself out of a rut of discontent.

What I love about this way of working, is there is no wrong way.

Multiple layers of gouache and acrylic on thin book paper formed a brittle layer of color that broke as the paper tore and made this double outline of color over white. It reminds me of cracked mud on a dry river bed.

Here’s how today’s process unfolded

“Twelvty” 12 Colors in 12 Months

Every month this year I am making a series of mixed media pieces in just one color. At the end of the year I’ll combine them into one big multicolored work. 

I’m sharing my process throughout this adventure here in this blog. (So far this year I’ve explored Yellow, Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue, Violet-Blue, Violet,  Red-Violet,  Red & Red-Orange)

Hi – I’m Mixy!

This is Mixy 🙂

I’m a mixed media & textile artist from London, UK.

I love to share what I’m making, and I hope it brings some inspiration to your creative time.

You can see what I’m making on this blog, and in these places too

Join Me!

Get monthly-ish Studio Musings Newsletter.

You can use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
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day 12: 12 days of Twelvty

The 12 colors: 12 months project of 2017 plays back in the last 12 days of the year. Today:Yellow-Orange

Twelvty-Twelve: Yellow-Orange

The Gorgeous Golden Glow of Yellow-Orange, Ochres, Ginger, Saffron & Spice

 

“All that glitters is not gold.”
~ Shakespeare

yellow-orange in the color wheel

All through 2017 I’ve been exploring the subject of color in a year long visual adventure: one color each month. Over the last 12 days of the year I’ve shared a little insight into what I made through the year, and today we reach the end of the journey, the circle is complete.

Each month I continued adding more single color doodles and collaged ephemera to the pages to this art journal, these are the closing pages.

If you missed the previous posts, you can catch up here: Starting out in  Yellow, then Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue and Blue-Violet, next Violet, then Red-Violet, Red then Red-Orange and finally Orange. Now we’ve arrived full circle! Yikes what a trip!! 

Wishing you a fabulously colorful new year! Much love to you X

If you’re interested in understanding more about color, get my ebook A Year full of Color as well as regular monthly updates on my latest colorful antics, delivered right to your inbox:

YearFullOfColorbyPennGregoryR2017_Page_01

Your email is utterly safe to me. It will be guarded by the deity of your choice and a small dragon.

TWELVTY is adventure you can join too.

By exploring the color wheel and each of the 12 colors, I share my creative process plus a feast of resources about color I’ve collected for you.

You’ll learn about the history of how color has been used, not just by artists, but as part of different cultures around the world. You’ll discover the meanings linked to the colors, how there are connections through the ages and around the world.

There are even playlists of songs and music relating to each of the colors! (I said it was thorough, right?)

In 2018 I’m introducing a new element to TWELVTY – a shared creative project that we’ll work on together as we traverse the color wheel.

Find out more here

penngregoryTwelvty1200x574Registration for TWELVTY 2018 is open now!
Find out more & join here

 

day 11: 12 days of Twelvty

The 12 colors: 12 months project of 2017 plays back in the last 12 days of the year. Today: Orange

Twelvty-Eleven: Orange

Juicy citrus shades of marigold, maple & mango

“Orange is the happiest color.”
~ Frank Sinatra

orange the color wheelColor is an integral part to all types of creativity, it influences our moods and emotions, it’s linked with memories. Colors have been assigned meanings and connections throughout history and around the world.

When we tune our eyes in to notice the colors around us, life becomes brighter and more vibrant.

Through 2017 I’ve been exploring these aspects of color in a year long visual adventure: one color each month.

Each month I continued adding more single color pages to this mixed media art journal.

Over the last 12 days of the year I want to show you a glimpse of this project.

Starting out in  Yellow, then Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue and Blue-Violet, next Violet, then Red-Violet, Red then Red-Orange. Tomorrow we’ll take the final step bringing us full circle to Twelvty-Twelve: Yellow-Orange. 

If you’re interested in understanding more about color, get my ebook A Year full of Color as well as regular monthly updates on my latest colorful antics, delivered right to your inbox:

YearFullOfColorbyPennGregoryR2017_Page_01

Your email is utterly safe to me. I’ll bring it tea if it wakes up, then sing it back to sleep.

TWELVTY is adventure you can join too.

By exploring the color wheel and each of the 12 colors, I share my creative process plus a feast of resources about color I’ve collected for you.

You’ll learn about the history of how color has been used, not just by artists, but as part of different cultures around the world. You’ll discover the meanings linked to the colors, how there are connections through the ages and around the world.

There are even playlists of songs and music relating to each of the colors! (I said it was thorough, right?)

In 2018 I’m introducing a new element to TWELVTY – a shared creative project that we’ll work on together as we traverse the color wheel.

Find out more here

penngregoryTwelvty1200x574Registration for TWELVTY 2018 is open now!
Find out more & join here

 

day 10: 12 days of Twelvty

The 12 colors: 12 months project of 2017 plays back in the last 12 days of the year. Today: Red-Orange

Twelvty-Ten: Red-Orange

From auburn to brick, rusty rouge, browns & burnt orange.

 

“The sky takes on shades of orange during sunrise and sunset, the colour that gives you hope that the sun will set only to rise again.”
~ Ram Charan

red-orange in the color wheelColor is an integral part to all types of creativity, it influences our moods and emotions, it’s linked with memories. Colors have been assigned meanings and connections throughout history and around the world.

When we tune our eyes in to notice the colors around us, life becomes brighter and more vibrant.

Through 2017 I’ve been exploring these aspects of color in a year long visual adventure: one color each month.

Each month I continued adding more single color pages to this mixed media art journal.

Over the last 12 days of the year I want to show you a glimpse of this project.

Starting out in  Yellow, then Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue and Blue-Violet, next Violet, then Red-Violet and Red. Tomorrow we’ll step around to Twelvty-Eleven: Orange 

If you’re interested in understanding more about color, get my ebook A Year full of Color as well as regular monthly updates on my latest colorful antics, delivered right to your inbox:

YearFullOfColorbyPennGregoryR2017_Page_01

Your email is utterly safe to me. I’ll bring it tea if it wakes up, then sing it back to sleep.

TWELVTY is adventure you can join too.

By exploring the color wheel and each of the 12 colors, I share my creative process plus a feast of resources about color I’ve collected for you.

You’ll learn about the history of how color has been used, not just by artists, but as part of different cultures around the world. You’ll discover the meanings linked to the colors, how there are connections through the ages and around the world.

There are even playlists of songs and music relating to each of the colors! (I said it was thorough, right?)

In 2018 I’m introducing a new element to TWELVTY – a shared creative project that we’ll work on together as we traverse the color wheel.

Find out more here

penngregoryTwelvty1200x574Registration for TWELVTY 2018 is open now!
Find out more & join here

 

Reinvention

A few years ago I created a year long project, dedicating each month to a single colour. Beginning in January with red/purple – that gorgeous magenta I keep falling back into – I cycled my way month by month through the primary/secondary/tertiary colours, ending the year in Red.

Ever since I’ve had the desire to follow up on this and reinvent the idea.

So while I haven’t been over here in the world of Ephemeral-Gecko-ing, I’ve been busying myself on a new project ….but you will have to wait until tomorrow for all the details….

Meanwhile, here’s what the 12 colours in 12 months adventure looked like:

 

derailed logic

You know me well enough by now – you know not to expect a simple train of logic, don’t you?

ephemeralgecko53mermaid

When I found this anonymous model, the leopardskin, that sultry seductive look, and all the glamour of the 1940’s ‘do — and I don’t remember the exact connecting train of thought that same next –– I just straight away thought mermaid.

ephemeralgecko52mermaid

Of course, right? <welcome to my world!>

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