Sunday 25 March 2012

In my Japanese Garden

My art style has always been rather"tight", and I was feeling a bit like a photocopy machine. So this year I decided I was going to let myself be more "intuative"...loosen up like. I have found that the medium I choose dictates the "looseness" of my work.

So this piece started as a sponged acrylic background. To add interest I glued some butterflies onto it(and a flower that was laying around)...
I painted over all these with a soft blue...and my Japanese lady came to tend the flowers...
a layer of watercolour and pencil...but she looked a bit "forced".
Sealed the lot under a layer of clear gesso...
then softened the whole piece with white acrylic and a rag...
and then the inks, straight from the bottle dropper(I used the little Tim Holtz distress alcohol inks).
I love drawing with the inks like this! You can't have tight lines, they won't let you! I think it's what is described as an "impressionist" type effect, no solid line, just the impression of flowers and a figure(though I did define the face a teeny bit with a brown pencil)
Suppose I should have called her "Madame Butterfly" :D
Enjoy :D XXX
Photobucket

7 comments:

  1. Okay, sorry but this is the 3rd attempt to leave a comment to say what a cool picture. I guess you would have to know what part of the what you add to the page will work as part of your design. At first I had a difficult time determining where the butterfly is in the picture. Great...would love to spend some time in your head! Awesome!
    hugz
    Pam

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    1. I have had trouble with interweb today too. couldn't upload pics to FB at all :S...oh, and there is plenty of room inside my head if you'd like to visit :D

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  2. what a wonderful technique to bring it all out with the ink drops in the end! and I love the green frame around ♥

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  3. Gina, fantastic!! She is beautiful! I love how you show the steps in your art! I am learning a lot from you! Take Care ;o)

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  4. Gorgeous artwork Gina, I'm glad you are enjoying loosening up your style and going with the flow as it were

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  5. Madame butterfly looks wonderful. Love the red flowers.

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