....Mandalas, WaterColor & Ink Experiments....

'Autumn Flower'

11x14 Water Color, Acrylics & Ink on Paper

by Tatiana Kuzyk

How do I even try to capture a month's worth of my creative life...?
Perhaps letting the images do 'the talking' will be a time~efficient M.O. ~ though I've been working on couple of projects simultaneously in recent weeks, I refrained from posting all the photos from my camera's memory card out of my sincere concern for your, already extensive, scrolling...

I chose to post two completed projects and one in its early stages of development. The first nine photos depict, what turned out to be my Masters Creative Project, 'Ajna Mandala' 18x18 Mixed Media & Paper on Canvas.

I begun by first drawing the initial mandala design within a 16'' circle outline.

... before proceeding to the tedious task of filling~in the single elements of design, I outlined the entire composition with a black fine point marker 0.01...

Next I set out to fill in selected areas of the mandala with a black ink using fine point markers ~ 05, 08, 005. My overall aim was to bring out the negative spaces and thus add more depth to the black&white whole...

After first priming the surface of a 18x18 canvas, I proceeded with building a background color, which eventually became completely obliterated by the subsequent acrylic paint applications ~ see the final photo.

...unfortunately the final color development process for this piece was a very spontaneous activity lasting over an hour which I could just describe as being in 'the flow' ~ herein is the reason for the lack of accompanying photos as I did not take any. All I can say is that I used a numerous acrylic paint colors and while each layer was still drying I pressed a sheet of Kleenex against it while removing the majority of the color saturation at the same time. The final effect is a depth of, mostly transparent shades, which add a bit of ,distressed' feel to the over~all effect. For 'the final touches' I spreaded a thin layer of Golden Fluid Acrylics Iridescent Gold (Fine) letting the paint be deposited at the uneven texture~created crevices...

'Ajna Mandala' ~ finished painting was submitted to my school along with a lengthy description of the spiritual aspects of the creative process associated with bringing this mandala into 'the visible'...

Behold, after over a decade of 'staying clear' of waterColor paints I decided to add, yet additional, serving of a challenge into my life.... here's the short lowdown of my adventures with waterColor(s) & ink...

I strongly believe that a great and simple way of beginning a new project is by drawing a couple of random shapes either free-hand or using a stencil, or just by outlining an ordinary object of your choice. It's fun to combine and interpose shapes onto one another and once the overall composition feels finished, I like to go back with my eraser and develop some new, fresh shapes by erasing few lines here and there and observing a completely new design being born.

... I prepared a half a dozen of water color paint tubes, bought myself a small set of basic brushes and off I went with the flow ~ literally and metaphorically...

I begun the project by building a translucent background with a couple different washes while gently wiping the surface with a soft paper towel.

After outlining, once again, the main elements of the composition with a black ink marker, I preceded to fill them in with a variety of light washes.

... I'm yet to meet the person who, once exposed to the magic of rubber stamping, could resist this delicious temptation.... while on the subject, let me digress of one sentence here ~ I extended the temptation of trying a rubber stamping to my husband two weekends ago after purchasing an antiquated stamps alphabet kit and he got hooked to the point of stamping words on the walls ~ but getting back to our main story line, I stamped the right border of the painting with a vintage pattern and later on the hearts with a hand-written pattern using a black India ink...

But before I'll tell you about the above photo, let me re~wind the process a bit here... because the ink will be eventually smudged with any water contact, I used Golden Acrylics Varnish spray in between subsequent paint~mediums applications in order to preserve prior layers. After the varnish had set, I proceeded with spreading a thin coat of Golden Acrylics Soft Gel (Semi-Gloss) in order to, one: add a bit of irregular background texture, two: prepare the ground for the acrylic paint fun...

Next I drew a flower shape with a fine point archival marker 0.5...

Later on I added couple of light washes of acrylic colors to selected elements ~ the close-ups are seen in the above and below photos. For an overall image of this painting, titled 'Autumn Flower', please refer to the very top picture of this post.

So, let's embark on a new waterColor adventure by creating a fun, unexpected background with a little help from a masking tape and outline tracings...

In this new project I first used a 1/8'' wide masking tape to put in a few angular lines and awaited the mystery of shapes to come to life once the painting process begins. The masking tape itself in the above photo is almost invisible, but upon a closer look you can distinguish an ivory lines against the pure white watercolor paper background (the last photo shows the tape much better thanX to a contrast of black outlines).

... to be continued...

... each time I smell the un~mistaken aroma of water-diluted pigment I find myself being transported in time to my preschool and elementary school art experiments....I'd love to hear about your adventures with waterColor~ing

Late Night Collage~ing...

As the congestion is slowly moving South ~ right into my throat ~ I'm working on my new collage.... the excitement of the un~expected is keeping me awake, I want to find out what will happen next.... So far, the multitude of elements involved in the composition has finally put the 'censorship' to rest for a while ~ perhaps I can finish filling-in the color within the 'leaf~y' imagery before my hand will fall asleep, or the paint will dry up. This collage is a wonderful re~minder of the challenges involved in developing a visual texture - thanks to an abundance of acrylic mediums I can 'safely' navigate the waters of tactile texture, but the visual 'auditioning' is very much 'in business' when it comes to this project....

... the forgotten Waterproof India Ink (by Dick Blick) is asked to join the 'texture enhancing' party ~ let's begin with a good, old fashioned contour tracing and, once again,

single out each element of this ever~changing composition....

... and I mean 'no collage element left behind' here...

The above photo depicts my filling~in of green-gold hues over the leafy imagery (originally cut out of the hand-made paper). I applied a layer of Golden Heavy Body Acrylics first, followed by a very thin application of Golden Liquid Acrylics Green Gold and Iridescent Gold (Fine) to accentuate the diversity of ever~fluctuating paper-created texture...

... what happens to keep you awake in the middle of a creatively~stimulating night???

De~Congesting.... Creatively, And Otherwise

Physically I've been congested since the last weekend and by now (Friday) my initial annoyance with not being able to feel the taste of my food, waking up with a desert-like mouth, and having my ears plugged from time to time, has transformed into a growing anger, to say the very least while still keeping this post 'G' rated at the same time.... Needless to say my inclination to writing has.... well..... somewhat.... diminished (still trying to stay on the side of 'niceness').

Looking at my congestion from a more metaphorical perspective, a creative self-expression in this instance, I've begun to 'connect few dots'... here and there. Most importantly I realized that though I've been creating on somewhat regular basis, part of my expression has become too 'automated' for me. I've over~committed myself on so many fronts, while still practicing conscious selectiveness among the opportunities that have presented themselves in my life. So, I decided to start from the beginning by remembering the conscious participation in my artmaking, staying present and open to the moment-to-moment creative inklings.... one of my 'anchors' to the present-moment-expression was music.... no words, or distracting TV imagery... once again I re~engaged the flow by listening to my all time 'centering' classic by Dan Gibson ~ 'Forest Piano.' I pulled out vintage magazines pages, circa 1925 which I bought this summer for $2. Of course I never work with the originals, so after making few color copies I spray them with a heavy coat of Golden Archival Varnish with UVLS in my garage and let them dry overnight. At the time of this writing, my collage background is about half~finished.... I look forward to an afternoon and evening of creative delights....

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There's No Way But Within...

You can only know your gifts by expressing them...

The above is a quote from my meditation recording on which I've been working for the last two days, it's titled: "Re~Connecting With Your Creative Self." The original idea for this project begun as a required assignment for my curriculum ~ I have to submit a 10-minute long meditation recording and I thought, what better subject matter than creativity? In essence I'm taking a listener on a short journey to one's creative Source.... within, a place where no 'creative congestion' or a so called 'blockage' is ever possible.

The biggest challenge with this project has been the recording part and mixing a background music, I'm hoping to complete this assignment by tomorrow at the latest. If you're ever want to have some fun with playing with voice recording there's a wonderful and quiet simple in usability software, and best of all it's FREE, called Audacity, you can download it here.

On an artmaking note, I've been having a great creative fun with polymer resists in a new painting on a canvas board ~ I love how underlying texture-shapes of the polymer medium become alive with a subsequent layer of color. I also enjoy going a bit 'physical' with the piece by using a wire brush or a palette knife to bring out that 'weathered,' distressed feeling....

My recent photo~tutorial article featuring the creation of 'Leaf Notes' painting has been published on Creativity Portal.

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Feeding The Creative Spirit In The Changing Season...

Last night we had the first frost this season and my body has been protesting against this radical temperature drop in recent days.... Though I covered my tomato bushes overnight, I think the frost has gotten to the leaves. So, as instructed by seasoned gardeners, I picked all the, not as yet mature, tomato fruits and placed them in an old wine box ~ they're headed for the warm, dark interior of my kitchen cabinet.... if everything goes according to the strong assurances of my fellow~gardeners, the tomatoes should begin to turn red in the upcoming weeks.

Following the food train of thought, I'm cooking one of my very favorite soups this evening ~ red beets borscht. I'm a soup person and I welcome a good cup of soup for any meal of the day. In fact, most Sunday mornings, my husband Greg and I, we go out to our favorite breakfast place, Egg Harbor Cafe, and I get to enjoy a very flavorful tomato bisque soup with a side salad....

I find cooking to be a very creatively stimulating channel of my self-expression... perhaps partly because I don't cook 'on schedule' ~ just like I don't make art according to some self-imposed timetable (this is the way it works for me). It is my personal rhythm of self-expression and creative nurturing ~ I love going to the store and being open to put into my shopping basket ingredients that I feel drawn to ~ I may enter the store with an intention of preparing a specific category of a meal ~ a salad, a soup, or a flavorful entree.... the rest is up to my being in the moment and filling my basket with ingredients (a very reminiscent process of artmaking for me). I like to read culinary recipes from time to time, just like reading armaking how-to books, but strictly for INSPIRATIONAL purposes ~ I don't adhere to a step-by-step journey of someone else.... I roughly mark my own 'the territory' I'd like to travel to, yet the mystery of a visual, tactile, or olfactory sight-seeing is the real treasure.

How do you feed your creative Spirit? Please share....

Read My New Article In Full...

'Leaf Notes'

My article titled 'Are You Mistaking Arrogance For Humility?' has been published at Creativity Portal ~ follow this link to read the full feature.... or go to:

http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/a/tatiana-kuzyk/mistaking-arrogance-humility.html

On a separate note, last night I finished my latest painting, as seen above, ~ 'Leaf Notes'