Friday, May 15, 2009

"Mixed Media Madness" By Lenall





































It's amazing how a 3 hour class can actually change your future creative direction and your style. Looking back, I can identify the day my style changed. It happened at a night class I took at my first Art and Soul (2004) and it was called "Mixed Media Madness," taught by Marilee Fosbre. The class was organized using a Round Robin approach (which I had done and liked very much once before in a mixed media class I had taken in Hawaii.) What I learned that night was basically the art of layering, using anything and everything as your media and working on a motherboard. Once the motherboard is through it can be used in multiple ways.

Right after the class, I started regularly playing with the process and I decided to call it "Messy Art." One day, I was invited to show my work to a gallery owner. I decided to show her what I had been doing along with some of my more traditional watercolors. Funny thinking back, I don't think she was very impressed with the "Messy Art" concept! Oh, well...
I have found that I have taken what I learned that night and applied it in lots of different ways. It is a perfect style for me as I work very fast and messy. I more often than not use the technique as a starting process. Next I generally crop the motherboard into smaller "canvasses" and then look at the each cropped piece and go from there without a plan. I never know where it is going to take me. I thought that I would add some photos from that time till now to show you how it has evolved. The most recent ones are listed first and they go back through time. The class cost 65.00 and I must say it was well worth it!

2 comments:

Robin Olsen said...

I really like how you keep these fresh and spontaneous yet still find the form in them. Very nice!

Tory Brokenshire said...

It is so nice to hear how an artist gets an idea or the history of how they learned it.I enjoyed your story.