....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