The Mindful Artist

Have you ever gotten paint on your clothes?

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Ever gotten paint on a favorite item of clothing, carpet of piece of furniture?

This is hands-down my most popular video on youtube:

This method works for the toughest dried on acrylic paints and mediums as well as oil paints AND it’s a non-toxic, biodegradable product.

Another tip – my husband and I have restored 3 different hundred + year-old homes and I have used this product to safely soak layers and layers of the paint off of intricate hardware.

Andrew Lenz owner of Lenz Arts in Santa Cruz claims it “saved his marriage” after he tracked tar in the house and nothing else he tried would remove it from the carpet.

Hope this helps!

How to Do Stain Painting with Acrylics- Video Tutorial & Art Workshop

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A lot of people recently when I tell them about my next in-person workshop have been asking me “What exactly is stain painting?” So I thought I would show you rather than tell you. In the late 50s and early 60s there was a move towards creating abstract canvases in which color became the primary subject matter and the paint itself practically merged with the surface. These painters created fields of color on large canvases which might envelop the viewer with their scale.  were some of the known “Color Field” painters among many others. Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis invented a particular type of Color Field painting called Stain Painting in which the liquid paint seeps into the fibers of an unprimed canvas.

© 47 Untitled, 1946

Here is a video from a talk I did at Portland State University in Oregon showing some simple preliminary steps to getting started with this gorgeous technique.

You can see from these photos, I like to encourage people to work large and get their whole body into it! We’ll be doing some yoga stretches to warm up – but don’t worry if your body won’t allow sitting on the floor, I have a big studio and plenty of table space, too.

These were taken in 2009 and 2011 in North Carolina. May 5 will be  the first time I have ever taught this workshop on the West Coast.

It’s a beautiful technique and so much fun to try! Come join us for an all-day workshop in my studio in Emeryville, CA Saturday, May 5. Click here to register.

Remember How Much Fun Paint Can Be?

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Do you remember the first time you painted? The pure joy of smushing paint about? The miracle of watching colors interact? The visceral thrill of seeing just what the stuff would do?

Sometimes, as we gain skills and get more “serious” about art, it’s easy to get caught up in outcomes and we forget just how fun paint can be as a material. But don’t you find that playfulness is often where you best “serious” discoveries occur?

Pouring with acrylics can take just about anyone back to that immediate delight of handling pure color. Here is a video to show you a basic technique with pouring :

 

But you ought to know there is SO MUCH more it can do! For instance, have you seen Brazilian painter Beatriz Milhazes’ exuberant canvas collaged with layers of acrylic sheets in eyepopping colors and forms?

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image courtesy of James Cohan Gallery

I created this piece using pouring medium and string gel combined. See my post here for video with details on how I did it.

 

 

 

 

Here is list of materials that I used that will help you get started:

 

 

 

Happy Painting!

 

Using acrylic mediums to created mixed media foil sheets

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A couple of years ago, I was invited by curator Chandra Cerrito to create a piece for the exhibition she was curating at the di Rosa called Altered States: The Collection in Context of artworks related to the mystical, the transcendent and the transformative.

Sea of Connections

I was given a large wall in the gallery space overlooking a small lake. Inspired by a meditative state I had been studying and experiencing call the Sea of Connections, I decided to make a link between this state, the lake outside and the piece.

My intention was to create a piece that would reflect light, shimmer and glow. Based on my in-depth knowledge of acrylic mediums, I innovated a brand new material using acrylics over aluminum foil.

The finished pieced measured was over 6 ½ feet tall by 11 feet wide (198 cm x 348 cm).

Here’s I video I made for you showing exactly how I made the sheets:

And here is a video showing how I connected all those sheets to make the whole piece.