![]() Acrylic paint was my way back into art and I loved it that's for sure. I signed up for some on-line art classes during lock down and was exposed to the world of mixed media. This changed everything for me and my art. Also, attending art classes where you could experiment and use different mediums opened my eyes and hands to different textures and styles. So what is mixed media I hear you ask. Mixed media is the combination of two or more art mediums into one piece of art. Some examples would be painting a watercolour picture and then adding pen or ink to the works or using acrylic paint and then adding oil pastels to the piece. Of course, you can have multiple mediums in one piece to get your desired effect. I tend to use soft oil pastels and or charcoal after I have completed the acrylic artwork. I find adding another medium gives you some amazing affects you can't necessarily achieve using the one medium. Mixed media can be used on all genres of art whether you love abstract, realism, expressionism or impressionism. Vincent van Gough before his early death had been experimenting with colour combinations and mixed media, although it hadn't been named at that stage. Mixed media for me is a new and exciting way to find expression and texture in my artwork, particularly as my art is inspired by nature and nature is full of texture and colour.
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![]() Art can be a relaxing past time, a hobby, or your way of making a living. No matter what role art plays in your life, creating art teaches us to problem solve. Looking at a piece of art and seeing that it doesn't quite work or quite speak to you means stepping back and looking at what is working well, what is ok and what isn't working. When I was in a corporate role, we often as a management team would sit down and analyse the business based on what's working, what's not, what can we do to improve it. As artists we do the same. We look at our artwork in the same way as a businessperson would look at their operations. Art teaches us to observe, analyse and work through a specific problem to overcome what is not working. Do we add some texture, shape, tone, or colour? Do we make this come forward, back, paint over it, leave it. What will make this piece speak to the viewer? This process carries over into every area of our lives. These skills are transferable and valuable to our growth, increasing our capacity for thinking in new and diverse ways. We determine what we need to do to ensure a better and different outcome for a specific problem. The benefits of taking time out for creativity are endless. Keep creating! ![]() I grew up in what was once a sleepy town on the outskirts of Perth. Our house was surrounded by bushland with a peppering of houses until the development of the land started. Our primary school had a special "Australia Garden" with a man-made creek, rockpools and native flora and fauna. It was an ideal surrounding for kids who played in the bushland, built secret cubby houses and hideouts. I think this is where my love of nature truly began. The photo you see here is the bushland that still exists near my parents' house. The land has been preserved to continue the growth of wattle, wildflowers, banksia, and eucalypt trees. I now live in a beautiful part of Victoria with our house backing on to public open space which has beautiful bushland, wetlands and bird life. I don't know how I would leave this place, it is so beautiful and inspiring. I am inspired by nature in my artwork, whether it be landscape, abstract or florals. Nature is perfectly imperfect. No two flowers are the same, an aging rose is as beautiful as a newly formed bud. A walking track can take you to the most beautiful parts of a bush or the most treacherous. A flower can bring back a memory and a smile to your face. You can change someone's day by sharing some nature with them, even if it is a small, handpicked posy from your garden. You can even have nature in your home every single day of the year with a piece of artwork inspired by nature. ![]() You may recall previously I have written a post as to why I enter art shows. You can read about it here A few months ago I entered an art show which had a theme and some criteria. I had agonised over whether to enter the competition as it was out of my genre and not the usual type of show I would enter, I decided in the end to enter it as it would stretch me to think about the theme and my artwork. I never gave it much thought after I hit the send button, in fact if I be upfront, I had forgotten about the entry, that is until I opened an email from the organisers on the weekend. As I opened the email and scanned for the words "accepted" I quickly saw "unsuccessful". Normally I would think, well, that is the decision and at least I gave it a go. I continued to scroll down the page, and I came to a list of why my artwork wasn't accepted, to say the least it was brutal. I read, reread, and read it repeatedly letting the words sink in. For the entire weekend, the words continued to cross my mind as I digested what was said. After a while, all the self-doubt crept in and I started to question myself, am I a fraud, am I supposed to be an artist, what was I thinking, and imposter syndrome settled into a nice comfortable spot in the front of my mind. So often we let other people's opinions and points of view take away our joy and our confidence. Joy and confidence vampires lurk in unsuspecting areas of our lives. This was a valuable lesson for me to learn. My art doesn't hurt anyone, it brings me joy and obviously brings others joy as I sell my work. The lesson really came home to roost when I opened up a social media post and saw the finalists for the exhibition I had entered. My artwork was nothing at all like the finalists work, they weren't looking for my type of artwork, in fact more likely completely opposite. The list of brutal feedback in the email was based on what they were looking for, what they had in mind and was not about my artwork nor me. The moral of the story for me is continue to do what gives you joy and let others have their opinions, it's none of my business what they think. Go create in joy. |
AuthorLee Cummins is a mixed media artist, workshop and art class facilitator. Archives
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