Journeys To Abstraction by Sue St. John

Author:Sue St. John [St. John, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781440311536
Publisher: F+W Media, Inc.
Published: 2012-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

Coastal Layers • Sheila Grodsky

Acrylic on Morilla paper • 20″ × 22″ (51cm × 56cm)

Dianne S. Trabbic

The words “water media painter” tell the tale. I am not a purest. I will use any means to achieve a successful painting.

This painting started out as watercolor on Waterford l40-lb. (300gsm) cold-pressed paper. It was a total disaster. I put it into the bathtub, which Waterford paper accepts with softening effects, and scrubbed it off. I had a sort of purple-blue overtone. After letting it dry, I started to outline subtle shapes using charcoal. I also used a rigger brush with palette gray and drew lines to indicate movement. At this point I had nothing to lose. I started to paint negatively around the shapes I had drawn with grays mixed with Holbein Rose Madder and Viridian. With Cobalt Blue and Cadmium Orange, I painted more negative shapes, leaving the purple-blue overtone as my positive shapes.

As the painting progressed, I continued to paint negatively using Chinese White. I always try to keep my outside shapes simple using the open composition theory of “leaving the smaller shapes to the interior.” Using lost and found lines with charcoal, I established my original shapes. Spots of color and line were also achieved with Caran d’Ache crayons. These crayons are great for sparking darks and adding a little dash of excitement.

Saving and reusing things that make marks is one of my favorite things to do. I used the bottom of fiber egg cartons as a stamp in this painting. The brushes I use vary. I like the lighter-weight ones, usually a 2-inch (51mm), a 1½-inch (38mm), and a ¾-inch (19mm) brush. The ¾-inch brush is a favorite of mine.

When I’m working with a painting, I bring it into the living room with a mat around it. As I walk by it I will glance at it. After a couple days of doing this, I will see something that doesn’t fit or could be improved upon. There is a danger in doing this, because painting it into the ground is a great possibility. By using restraint, one can overcome this.

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