Did you ever stop to think ...

... and forget to start again?
(A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh)

The final project on my art course was to create an abstract and we had to find our own inspiration.

Which for me involved a lot of thinking!

Abstracts are quite difficult as they come from the imagination, but there has to be a starting point. For my inspiration I found a photo of a autumn day with the sun coming through autumnal foliage; I just loved the colours. Then - more thinking ...

I decided to experiment by creating some poured acrylic skins. Which means doing a normal pour, but onto a non-stick surface. I used a silicon oven liner.

I let them dry and cure for about 2 weeks before I peeled them off, and stored them between sheets of wax paper.

I'm using a 12 x 12 stretched canvas, and I drew a design (for placement) before using dilute acrylic paint for the background.

I'm quite impatient whilst waiting for paint to dry, so I have learned that putting more acrylic over wet acrylic takes the first layer off. I used this to my advantage by creating fast moving drips over over the wet first layer. I made both horizontal and vertical drips.

Next I painted the circle in gold and added the horizontal and vertical lines. Later I knocked back the lines as they were too strong.

I carefully cut the skins (with scissors). I do like geometric shapes, hence triangles! Finally, I added some mica pieces (Golden's Gold Mica Flakes) which are held in a transparent medium.

I've called this "Summer's Last Breath", and it will probably go into my Etsy shop.

Hope we have seen the last of the bitter cold wind and freezing temperatures, and that summer is not far away!

Pouring happiness!

I've still got several projects that need finishing; being ill for most of February has set me back somewhat! Anyway, fully recovered now, and the sun is shining so feeling very Spring-like.

Still experimenting with pouring acrylics. It looks simple but it isn't - here's the science bit - some pigments are heavier than others, which should dictate the order of pour. But that is only if you know the specific gravity of the paints! I think I'll just continue to experiment and let serendipity prevail!

Here are some more ...

I used an old canvas board for this one, and I can still see the texture paste underneath! If you look carefully you can see a bird in the bottom black section!

This is a horizontal pour, with a black pour either side.

This tiny canvas has the excess from the previous pour above. I just scooped up the paint with a palette knife and dropped it onto the canvas, letting it do its own thing!

This pour is on a white glazed tile.

Sometimes there are air bubbles in a pour, and I think that heat can get rid of them. Musr remember that next time!

I've been using mountboard for experimental pours too, and I thought that it would be a pity not to use the successful ones  - so I've put some on the front of notebooks! This one, and a couple of others are in my Etsy shop (here), or there is a link on the sidebar.

















Now, I must - must - must - finish some of the projects that are littering my craft room!

A different B side ...

I am very pleased February is over, as I was ill for most of it. Today is the first day of the meteorlogical Spring, but it is freezing with quite a bit of snow around, so not too spring-like!

Still having fun playing with pouring acrylics. This time the Fearless Four got together to do an LP pour. That is, take one old vinyl LP, cover the hole with a sticky label then do a slow pour!

What a mess!

But such fun ...





















Whilst they were still wet and dripping I took these photos.

Linda's creation.

Monica's

Lin's

They took an age to dry. Here's mine -

I'm going to varnish it and then ... not sure - could make it into a clock, or just mount it onto a canvas; haven't made up my mind yet.

We all used the left over paint to do more pours on whatever was to hand, I did a small canvas -

Happy March madness!