Catching Up On Artmaking & Art Appreciation...

On Saturday afternoon I treated myself to the creative feast of attending 'Art Chicago' ~ An International Fair Of Contemporary And Modern Art at the Merchandise Mart. I was blessed with a free admission ticket by an elderly gentleman promoting one of the antique art galleries in the building - $20 admission was also an equivalent of my parking cost and I remembered the path of gratitude again...

What can I possibly say about hundreds of samples each exhibiting gallery tried to present.... collages, mixed media, fine art photography, assemblage, and found objects artwork, just to name the very few varieties of what a Creative Spirit can express through a human being. Couple of my favorite highlights ~ a found object assemblage titled 'Modern Heroes' created by joining together small plastic action heroes figures, not larger than couple of inches in height, into a shape of North and South Americas on resin. Oh, did I mention I could purchase this stunning piece for a bargain of $13, 500? Another artwork I had difficult time to say 'goodbye' to was described, in terms of mediums, as 'oil and wires,' however, I couldn't possibly conceive of oil paint being manipulated/utilized according to that description. Imagine a set of ten steel wires spaced in between one another about two inches apart.... the multicolored paint drip-drying in between the wires creating plastic, elongated shapes that fuse the layers and wires together ~ here's a good example of a picture being worth a thousand words (in digital format a thousand words is translated into a LOT of tedious scrolling down). This beautiful artwork was priced at $35,000 and I just couldn't walk away from it.... but, with much hesitation, I finally did.

The rest of the weekend was spent on catching up on couple of pieces I've been working on simultaneously, here's a little sample of my meanderings....

A New Bottle Is Born

I started working on a new bottle... I poured Golden Acrylics Indian Yellow Hue, Nickel Azo Yellow, and Interference Oxide Red down the bottle neck. I gave it some shakin' and spinnin' for couple of hours (letting the paint settle in different areas intermittently).

The following day I mixed Golden Hard Molding Paste with Liquid Paynes Grey and Heavy Body Acrylics Phthalo Blue (maybe someone could give me an advice on how to pronounce that fancy name...?). Next I applied the mixture to the surface of the bottle.

I used a Color Shaper and had a blast with making marks and removing paste-paint mixture while creating a rather haphazard pattern across the glass surface.
I keep you posted on the progress of this project as I continue to work on it.

NEXT PROJECT

Here I revisited the project from over a week ago, feel free to refer back to the post from

April 22, 2009 and see its beginnings. I spreaded a thin layer of Golden Liquid Acrylics Transparent Red Iron Oxide across the surface with a palette knife trying to create a circular, mandala-like shape.

Once the first paint layer was dry to the touch, I followed with an even thinner application of Iridescent Gold (Fine), making sure that the background color bleeds through.

All metallic paints dry quiet fast as the water particles evaporate, so if you want to manipulate with the still wet acrylics, act Fast. In the above photo I used a Color Shaper to inscribe into the wet Iridescent Gold layer, a Sanskrit sign pronounced 'Om' or 'Aum' by Tibetan Buddhists. I've incorporated that same sign into two other pieces before: April 13, 2009 and April 17, 2009. I will elaborate on the meaning of this sign and symbol in one of my future posts.

The good, ol' wire brush works its aging magic on a still slightly wet acrylic paint.... removing particles of paint, bleeding through the background color and paper, and smoothing out the edges. I've said it before and I'll repeat myself here again, wire brush can be an invaluable tool for your aging adventures, please keep in mind, that the type of brush I use is to be purchased at craft supplies places, NOT at hardware stores!

In the above photograph I applied Golden Liquid Acrylics Paynes Grey to the large stamp (I know, I know.... it is a big No-No to apply anything except ink to the rubber stamp... but I will experiment with applying clay if I feel the artwork needs it). Anyway, make sure you thoroughly wash the surface of your stamp with warm water and dish washing soap, don't let the acrylic dry on the surface!

I like the uneven paint distribution of the stamp's design, you can somewhat see its impressions on the surface of the project.... a little patina exudes more 'authentic' antique character of the piece.

Finally a applied two thick layers of Golden Self-Leveling Gel which drys to a gloss sheen. It may not be very well defined in a photograph, but adding layers of gel has somewhat altered the depth of Iridescent Gold, you can notice some hints of bronze hue inside. I played with pouring Self-Leveling Gel on other pieces in the past and each time there was more depth showing through, even though this particular medium is not very thick in its viscosity.

'Vedic Om'

Mixed Media on Wood, 12x12

Tatiana Kuzyk 5/2009

Finished piece, coated with Polymer Varnish with UVLS (Gloss).

Glass, Paper, And TV Darama On PC

I begun to work on one of the bottles I bought yesterday. The smaller one felt to be a good warm up before the XXX-Large fun.... Last night I poured, intermittently, Golden Liquid Acrylics Sap Green, Iridescent Gold (Fine) and Interference Oxide Red, down the bottle neck. After I closed it with an old cork top, I gave it some shakin' & rollin'.... and let it dry overnight.

One of my very favorite techniques to experiment with has always been a torn-up paper pieces glued to a surface. It started back in my grammar school when our art teacher decided to teach us mosaic making by gluing together pieces of colored papers. I deeply enjoyed those projects and I've been waiting for an opportunity to finally experiment with this technique as an adult. And that's how my bottle' surface met with newspaper and collage paper tonight... mutually cemented by Golden Soft Gel Semi-Gloss. As an accompaniment I used last week's 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Burn Notice' episodes played on my laptop while joining glass and paper in a rather unexpected union.... here's what my camera chronicled:

Do Not Ask What An Empty Wine Bottle Can Do For You...

Instead, ask what YOU can do WITH an old bottle... The question I have posed was ~ what if, what if I pour different liquid acrylics down the empty wine bottle? Then, later on, I thought to myself - what if I alter this cool bottle with paper and ribbons?

While watching-listening to the Chicago Bulls playoff game this afternoon I decided to indulge in some unexpected creative fun for couple of hours. I really like how the final version of the bottle turned out and I'm coming up with couple of different ideas for its future use. I think it could stand on its own as an altered art piece, but personally I like to find different ways to utilize art in my daily life. I believe that fine art, crafts, or whatever category we use to classify a particular work, carries within itself an inherent purpose of engaging its viewer, that purpose has been bestowed upon it by its creator, artist. It seems to me that there's an unconscious dialog we carry with an artist when we engage our attention in relating to an artwork.... and it truly is timeless. Profits of any auction house can attest to this assertion.

But let's get back to my wine bottle...

I used a plethora of Golden Liquid Acrylics, the majority consisting of multiple pours of Quinacridone Magenta and Interference Oxide Red, next followed by cobalt Turquoise, Titan Buff, Paynes Gray, Iridescent Bright Gold (Fine), and Iridescent Pearl (fine).

Let's start pouring! One by one, paint goes in, then some additional servings down the bottleneck... there's no rules here, just pour your heart and bottles down, down...

Paint mixing and rolling... be careful not to spill the paint out as I did, straight onto the LCD of my camera, what can I say. If you put the cork back in, you can play 'spin-a-bottle' and create some really cool paint patterns...

That's how my bottle handled a bit of spinning, though at its final stage the color has settled to become quiet uniform as I decided, against my better judgment, to pour few drops of Retarder on top of the paints down the neck... if you like the final effect, use that recipe. Personally I like the color variation better.

Next, I covered the bottom portion of the bottle with Golden Soft Gel Semi-Gloss as the adhesive of my choice.

I cut out a desired piece of hand-made paper and pressed it against the gel letting the texture to become a bit uneven in selected areas.

I repeated the above procedure at the top of the bottle's neck.

Using a make-up wedge-shaped sponge I applied Golden Liquid Acrylics Iridescent Gold (Fine) to the raised surfaces of the bottle.

I found a piece of scrapbooking paper depicting some handwriting and first I burned the torn out edges. Next, with a sponge I stained it with Iridescent Gold, trying to create variations in paint application.

Again, with some help from Soft Gel, I glued the above piece of paper on top of the previously attached paper cover.

I used glue gun to attache ribbon to all four edges of hand-made paper that I used in the earlier steps.

Ribbon attaching continues...

I formed a bow of the ribbon and glued in a manner that suggests that a ribbon is tied all around the perimeter of the bottle... and it's not.

I wrote 'Du Vin' in a stylized, antiquated manner using brown and black Fine Line Markers. While still wet, I wiped the surface with a damp sponge to smear the ink.... just a bit.

In the end I applied a coat of Golden Acrylics Varnish (Satin) to the paper covered areas.

Finished altered wine bottle.

Before & After wine bottles ~ side by side.