Mollie January 16th, 2008 Business , Mixed Media , Show Comments(0)

I have the concept and most of the materials needed to complete the base and surround for my centerpiece (see below inspiration). Now I need to narrow the ideas for the arm and hand.

My ideas
All Seeing Eye with palmistry symbols: I love this idea, but I’ve had a hard time finding the right materials to complete it.

Harlequin diamonds: Simple and elegant, the contrast of the bright colors against the black & white centerpiece would stand out nicely.

Inspiration found at www.viewimages.com

Mollie January 9th, 2008 Mixed Media , Show Comments(0)

I just received my first check for “Symbols of Christmas” sold at Framtions! Hopefully it will be the first of many to come.

Conception Process for Charity Centerpiece:
First: Research Marti Gras and all things New Orleans. Look up images associated with the subject for reference and ideas.

Then come up with areas of interest: Beads, Feathers, Anonymous, Purple Gold Green, King Cake, Parades, Doubloons, Comedy and Drama, Fleur de Lis, Jesters, Jazz, Mystic, etc.

Now I need to narrow that list to a few that go well together. I’ve written the list down and done some word associating to get a feel for what I might do with each idea and how it might be used.

I’m still working on the last step, but I took a trip to Hobby Lobby to see if I could get more inspiration looking at possible materials. I’ve found one piece that I think is absolutely perfect and some side items that might give me a start.

More to come.

Mollie September 2nd, 2007 Mixed Media , Painting , Show Comments(0)

Below are some of the pieces I’ve been working on. I’m not quite happy with ‘Rome’, it needs something to tie it all together, I’m just not sure what yet. ‘Swan’ could be done, but I may decide to go back in… it’s so hard to pronounce things finished when there are things that you aren’t quite sure about… which is always. Lastly, ‘Curious’ is nearly done, I have some work to do drawing everything together, but it shouldn’t take long. Hopefully that wont prove to be my famous last words.

I’m thinking to enter Blue Arches’. ‘Queen of Hearts,’ and ‘Direction’ in the Oak Leaf Show; and for Art St. Louis ‘Curious,’ ‘Swan,’ and something else.. not sure.

‘Rome’

‘Swan’

‘Curious’

Mollie August 23rd, 2007 Mixed Media Comments(0)

Still debating if this one is finished or not, let’s call it “Midnight” for now. I got to experiment more with transparent layers. A lot of the original drawing and painting has been covered up over and over, but by using thin paint you can still see part of them.

Mollie August 18th, 2007 Mixed Media Comments(0)

Below is my newest mixed media collage. I was calling it ‘Facade,’ but I’ve changed my mind and it’s now called “Thief.” I tried to make the edges look torn, but I don’t like how that turned out; I’m thinking about taking it out or cropping the piece to exclude it.

Mollie August 16th, 2007 Mixed Media Comments(0)

I’m nearly finished on this new mixed media collage, and I wanted to post a bit of the progress as I near completion. The medium hasn’t been kind to me, I’m using pen, marker, and acrylic on collage, then in order to get a map-like effect I’m using a transparency overlay to try and bring the picture together.. It’s been an uphill battle, and I still have a bit to go. First thing I do is to add more green to the map so it doesn’t look too much like a coffee stain and more like a land mass.

Tonight I found out that my scanner might be able to do high enough quality scans to make prints without paying a fortune on having someone scan them for me. The catch is that I’d have to scan my paintings in sections, then piece them back together. Fortunately Jesse thinks he has a piece of software that would make this easy.

Mollie January 10th, 2007 Mixed Media , Painting , Pen & Ink , Show Comments(5)

I’m finished!!! I’m exhausted, my carpal tunnel is killing me, my head feels like it’s going to split in two (and I wish it would just fall off and get it over with), my whole body aches, and I went over my deadline a bit.. but I’m done; and the mixture of relief and pride I felt submitting everything tonight was indescribable! I’m so relieved that I actually finished all three pieces; especially after all of the trials and tribulations I had with “Chivalry.” It’s a little unreal how well it came together in the final hour, talk about an underdog!

“Knight,” 30×40 inches, acrylic on canvas (I’m still working on a better photo. If you look closely you can see the clematis at the bottom).

“Chivalry”, 30×36 inches, mixed media (collage, acrylic, pen and ink). A major change in the last hour included taking out the top center helmet and replacing it with knights on horses jousting.

Mollie January 9th, 2007 Mixed Media , Pen & Ink , Show Comments(0)

Current status:

Frames: Ended up purchasing two frames from Hobby Lobby. One needs to be painted and the other had to be cut down to size, but I think they will both work very well.

Drawing: Completely done, mounted, and framed in the shadow box. It’s difficult to see the 3-D effect in a photograph, but I tried anyway. My (great, wonderful, stupendous) husband and I spent well into the morning, and used a whole package of round self-adhesive foam core to lift each piece off the background, so that they create a 3-D cityscape.

“Knight”: Completed final critique, just waiting to complete the finishing touches and frame. No photo available (I took a few, but none they were all horrible).

“Chivalry”: Incomplete. I decided to add another element to the painting before completion. (Below is my progress, most noticeable is that I continued the knight down over the castle, to help regain it’s dominance).

Mollie January 7th, 2007 Mixed Media , Painting , Show Comments(2)

Yesterday I spent nearly the entire day painting and drawing. I stayed up late, and got up early this morning, and I’m already tired LOL.
We didn’t have much luck finding the right molding for frames at the hardware store. The best we could do is to put two moldings together to make one, then cut and fit them to the painting.. it seems like too much in too little time. We checked out the local stores to see what it would cost to purchase ready made frames, but only one of them is a standard size. Ugh! On top of that the only store that has frames big enough (that I’ve found) isn’t open on Sundays. So I have to put that off another day if we decide to go that way.

“Chivalry” – I finished the niche and the flowers.

“Knight” – I worked even more on the stone, hopefully it’s done, except maybe to darken it.

Mollie January 6th, 2007 Mixed Media , Painting , Pen & Ink , Show Comments(0)

I’m posting a progress report for this week – to act as a starting point for this weekend… a countdown of sorts to the big show deadline.

I’ve actually taken a couple steps backwards with “Knight” the stone bricks just weren’t cutting it, so I bought some sea sponges and went to work. As much as I hated the idea of starting them over, (it’s a huge setback), but my pride wouldn’t allow me to submit a painting I’m not satisfied with, as would’ve been the case. Please forgive the horrible photo I was in a hurry because I need to get to the hardware store to buy molding to create frames for the paintings (ya, that does mean that not only do I need to finish each the painting, I have to make the frames and frame everything.)

I’ve made several changes to “Chivalry” this week. I darkened the castle, the cat, and the dress; but I still have a ton to do.

Last, but not least I’ve made a lot of progress on the drawing. I still have to cut them out better, arrange and layer them, draw the background, mount them onto the board, and frame them.

At this point I could use all the luck I can get. If everything doesn’t go perfectly this weekend one or more of these pieces will not be ready for the show; and therefore not be submitted. Keep your fingers crossed!!!!