back to canvas

i have been working small and in my art journals- which i love to do, but, sometimes i have to stretch my creative mind and fingers a little and work big again. this canvas is the first mixed media piece of many (i hope....) as i build on a concept i have been working on in my head.

i am currently working on a 24"x 30" canvas. here are a few sneak peeks for you:

i was using some of my new paint....which i discovered i so loved (thank you mom!). i love how you have to look close to appreciate some of the smaller details. 

i have used a mix of supplies that included acrylic paint, pencil and a thick, black charcoal, collage papers, and ink.

my pictures do not really capture the charcoal well- but, it looks almost like velvet sitting on the canvas.

happy monday!

charcoal love with a latte

my mom was able to come over for some studio time on saturday afternoon and told me she was bringing along some charcoal and lattes. i was thinking, "sweet! i love lattes!" little did i know that we were not going to drink the lattes.....we were going to paint with the lattes. and if you know us at all- we have done weirder things...

we decided to head outside for the painting portion of our play; and thank goodness, because we painted, splattered, and threw latte at our drawings (and it does get a bit sticky).

we started by drawing with charcoal on watercolor paper. my mom had various hardness of charcoal available to draw with. i had a couple of other options for us which included stabilo pencils.

my mom had a wonderful size watercolor pad that we shared for our first attempt. below was our first attempts.

we did discover that the harder the charcoal, the more it really "sat" on the paper and almost refused to move; so if you wanted some movement, you needed to incorporate some softer charcoal.

*our disclaimer...some of these drawings were better others :)....but, we did have a great time

happy labor day!