Mixed Media

Several students in my class are into mixed media these days. Scrapbook paper is having its heyday. Some of the most amazing artwork has come out of these students, so I finally decided I needed to try to experiment with it...only I took it a step towards wild, literally...

Before I leave Texas (I am moving out of state in a few months), I decided it was time to embrace the state flower: the bluebonnet. It has long been a staple of landscape painting, made famous by Onderdonk. He really made Texas landscape painting its own category.

But when I told my class my intentions, I think most of them rolled their eyes. Every Texas artist sooner or later tries to paint them, and most of them are not considered to be successful. If not trite--a field with the requisite live oak, then there is significant criticism about the right color of the bluebonnet.

It seems I have entered a minefield.

I actually started painting a truck that I wanted to be surrounded by bluebonnets, and I ended up leaving it in a grassy field.

I still plan on painting this gorgeous old thing in the bluebonnets, but it is just a glorious mess of lights and darks for the moment.

On a picture that could definitely be considered trite in normal circumstances, bluebonnets along some railroad tracks, I decided to loosen up.

I started with some wood grain paper and peacock feathers paper. I had a clear vision of an "X" composition. Then, I needed some texture. What I decided to add had everyone in my class pulling over each student in the class to ask, "Guess what she used for the texture?" Can you guess?

Roots. I had a dead plant and pulled the roots out of the pot, dirt and all.

I began glueing them in with thick gloss medium, but I realized it was going to be difficult to work with because so many of the roots wanted to stick out, more 3D than I liked, so I applied a layer of gesso that would also allow me to paint without constantly loosing my texture and dirt to the ground.

Next came the paint.

At least it kept it interesting.

Two more, not mixed media but some good texture: