Mixed Media work
Recently I have used a lot of mixed media in my work such as different/vintage papers, found items sometimes from the shoreline, acrylics, oil crayons and inks. I often start by creating some kind of texture on to my blank paper by using materials such as gesso, pva glue and tissue paper. I will then draw on to the textured paper with ink using an old twig or rough brush to give some idea of the composition and subject. Then I add paint using watercolours and acrylics, lastly I add any 'found' objects that I think will fit into the picture. My subject matter is pretty much still the same as before, I just see it in a different way.
I really do like birds! I don't know a lot about them but I love to watch them on the shoreline or in the sky. Since starting to do more mixed media I will often place some kind of bird into my painting. I always think that a picture needs something else and it is usually a bird! Oystercatchers are one of my favourites as they often pose for you on a fence post or standing in the waves. Every year I go to The Brough of Birsay, towards the northside to see the arctic terns or picky terno's as Orcadians call them! They make lovely abstract shapes when in flight.
Silver darlings is a painting of a shoal of herring in a fishing net. I painted this using acrylics. I really liked the idea of painting a subject underneath the sea. I think diving would be a really good hobby but I am too scared to do it!
Recently I have moved into more abstract work which has been exciting! I start by trying to empty my mind and just make marks on to the board or canvas intuitively not thinking. Often you have your own individual marks that you don't realise you are making all the time. I then add in layers of collage, drawing and paint, trying to make sense of the image and gain some kind of meaning. It is a very rewarding way of working and good for your mental health! Several paintings in this collection have been painted like this such as Oystercatcher abstract and dark red abstract.
I have included quite a few pieces of fused glass artworks in this collection too. I did do a lot of glass work a few years ago when I purchased a kiln. The nice thing about glass is that it is hard to get a lot of detail unless you are using glass paints, so it means you have to work in a more lose way and do what the glass tells you! Seaweed in the sand and rockpool are two examples of this.
Mixed media is something that I see myself continuing in the future so watch this space if you want to see my new work!
