Making an acrylic skin from Golden Paints Fiber Paste using Digital Ground White

I am learning to make digital skins using acrylic gels.  My friend Bonnie Cutts, an absolutely incredible artist, has been encouraging me to experiment and I am totally stoked about the possibilities.  I am spending part of this Labor Day weekend making skins and printing on them with my Epson printers.  I love the Fiber Paste for the texture and similarity to the torn rough watercolor paper that I like to use.  These acrylic skins can be applied to  canvases as part of  a finished piece.  Usually I would scan the finished watercolor piece to print it larger on canvas but now I can apply my photographic elements directly to a large acrylic work.    As I learn more, I will post working tips and guides to my process.    I’m sure I will be posting new work soon too.

Umbrella in the Rain

I sometimes forget the images that formed me until I work with them again.   I have just scanned this image from 1978 and as I was cleaning up the scan for printing quality, I started remembering the many times this image came to mind over the years and influenced my image making.  I was on a project where I was documenting the winners of a sales contest on their fabulous trip to Monte Carlo and the coast of southern France.  I was lucky to catch this image from the bus window as we rolled past.  I remember pulling my attention back from the happy people on the bus and seeing this solitary figure ahead and as we passed snapped off one frame. The image resonates with me, then and now.

A friend once stopped by my studio space (apartment) and commented on a group of pictures I had displayed.  He said, “I really like your work but the images are all so lonely”.   It sometimes takes someone reflecting back to you what you put out to give you clarity of your own experience.

Dreaming of Flight

This is a recent work, using torn tissue, printed images, water color paper embedded with leaves, water colors and acrylic paints.

Pond

This is a recent work, using torn tissue, printed images, water color paper embedded with leaves, water colors and acrylic paints.