Hey Ya'll! Guess what---> I have a mom! And she likes color, painting and art too. She is in North Carolina visiting from my home town of New Orleans, and brought over some art paper and graphite pencils so we could have craft time together. :)We turned it into eco art time though, by adding in bunches of natural and non toxic materials to create more elaborate fine art projects.
We added in smooshed poke berries, marigold & nasturtium flower petals, and coffee grounds for paint - we used this with graphite pencils & magazine clippings, then finished them off with a chunky coating of food safe wax (used for some canning processes). My mom was wishing for more colors, especially blue - but I have fallen in love with the bright yet monochromatic selection I have found in nature so far. This was the first time I used old coffee grounds and I love the weak subtle brown I got just from adding a little water to it.
Here are my finished pictures below! I am really excited about how they came out, and now have even bigger ideas for even bigger mixed media paintings, made from completely wild, organic, non toxic, and natural materials.... (I am even working on making my own paper from dumb junk mail- I can't wait to share it with ya'll when it's done.)Both the scenes I did ended up being nature/ mountain landscape type paintings...
(below are some close up pics so you can see how the wax works over the drawing, collage and painting details...)
I bet Bob Ross would totally love my happy tree! Yay!XoXo
I love that your mom came to visit you. Now I see where that artistic streak came from! That purple is so awesome, and I love that bear!
ReplyDeleteIs that a bear or a pig? lol. It morphs every time I look at it, like a shape shifter. Oh I also wanted to tell you how much I love the blue tips on the birds' wings.
ReplyDeleteHey Susie!
ReplyDeleteIt's a bear/pig- or maybe even a sloth, whatever animal you want it to be :)
The purple color is from the poke berries, i love it to - i can't wait to do this same method of mixed media art, but on a much larger scale. The ones in the post were my tiny experiments.
The blue birds were collaged in from a eco fashion catalog :)
PS- my mom in an interior decorator in New Orleans and recently started painting.
xoxo
Nice eco art time with Mom. How fun is that for a girl in the woods.
ReplyDeleteMokihana
Hey Mokihana!
ReplyDeleteVery nice- there are only two things in life that really bring me back to the basics and forget the silly details we will eventually forget anyway - that is nature & art.
It's like wiping the slate clean and connecting on the soul level again. :)
Wonderful Leslie!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post and all the photos that go with it.
The birds in particular spoke to me - they are awesome! Love their crispness in contrast to the rest.
Would you be willing to share details on the wax you used, application process, smell etc?
thanks!
♥
Hey Liberty :)
ReplyDeleteAbout the wax- this was a food grade/safe wax that was here at the house, it was a white-ish color and I was told it was used for canning.
I personally would prefer to use local bees wax, which I think would have a better smell and possibly a even cooler look. The wax I was using also already had oil mixed in with it (olive oil) because i had been using it on wood as a protective coating (experimental).
The smell of the canning wax is kind of odd, but certainly not perfume'y- maybe a little food-ish. When i melt wax i always put it on a hot plate outside and cover it, so it's not being breathed in in the liquid form into the lungs (they actually even taught us that in art school - wax in your lungs is no good).
I love the birds too, those were collaged in :)