I’ve been playing with Marbling… 
 Besides being so much fun, it’s one way to turn a painting that doesn’t quite gel into something amazing. Of course, I never really know what I’ll end up with, but sometimes I get lucky!

Here’s an example…
 This large painting of a child eating an ice cream cone doesn’t work
because the hands and arms are too small and don’t look natural.
Yeah, I realized this AFTER I’d spent lots of time working on it! But I
LOVE the color and texture of the thing.

So Voila… a dip in the marbling bath plus an over painting, and look…

“Raven Dreams”
The hands were adequately obscured, but I felt the marbling pattern was a bit too busy — no central image or place for the eye to rest. So I added the bird, painting transparent enough that the marbling still shows through a bit.  I’m thrilled to say that this painting will hang in the Spring WSO show in Albany!
…….

Below, another painting that is quite intriguing after the marbling… It’s an airbrush piece that I originally painted for the Oregonian. It was a little sappy and WAY too pink! Covering it with a semi-transparent blue/black marbling pattern turns pink to violet and gives it the look of a tattoo. I also added more hair on both sides and cropped the empty space on the right. But I could still play with an overpainting…

“Pandora’s Mask”

As Vincent van Gogh said, “it is difficult to know oneself, but it isn’t easy to paint oneself either”
      Ah, but the self image is fun to play around with! HE played frequently…

Painting ourselves — That’s what we’ll be doing on Friday at Oregon Society of Artists in Goose Hollow.
        As part of the process we will experiment with different paint techniques and surfaces or alternate color schemes.

The above portrait of me, in progress, uses cool accent color to contrast with the warmness.
        I chose it for the interesting shadow pattern.

The aqua shadow on the face of this portrait of my friend’s grandson draws attention to his expression.

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“Possessing Nothing Yet Having Everything” Chris Stubbs

I remember talking with Chris Stubbs, a well loved portraiture artist who was teaching at OSA Tuesday mornings, about our painting challenges. And she said, “each time we paint, we have to prove our ability to do it over again, don’t we?”

You would think after painting all the years I have, that I would be able to know a piece will “work out”. It’s true, having a history of success does bolster confidence. But each time, starting with that white piece of paper, I reaffirm my ability. Or not… some paintings just don’t work out the way I want them to.

As an artist, I quickly lose interest in playing it safe. I WANT to take risks — challenging myself to work on the edge of my ability. That’s where the FUN is!
It also leaves room for failures and mishaps.

“BIGdarrin” Ted Nuttall

And that reminds me of what Ted Nuttall said at the WSO Fall Convention (2011). ” We never achieve the level of success in our paintings that we see in our minds. The mind is always one step ahead”.

So true…!

Marbling is not so predictable.

Full disclosure: it’s time consuming, messy and results vary. Preparing the paint is a challenge. But once you’ve mastered paint mixing, basic concepts are easy to learn. Some degree of control is gained through experience. Possibilities are endless… and how exciting to see the transformation!

I originally learned to marble from Galen Berry, who is a master. If you have the opportunity to take a workshop with him, do it! I won’t go into detail on the process, because you can find it all on his site. Galen also sells the supplies and a very good instruction booklet.

The surface to be marbled is first treated with an alum water solution and dried. The paint sticks where the alum was.

 The process uses acrylic paint — we used M.Graham, which worked very well — whereas some quality paints don’t work at all. The Terre Rosa was fabulous! The paint is thinned with water to the consistency of milk or light cream and spritzed over a tray of carrageenan water, adding more and more color until the surface is covered. Then you can create patterns by cutting and combing the surface in zigzags or swirls. Or add gall which pushes the paint away, creating lacy “holes” in the pattern.

Originally my interest was in cloth. I found it ideal to cover journals — a way to personalize them. We purchased cotton cloth from the Dharma Trading Company.

My next discovery was marbling over silk ties (with original patterns and colors less than fabulous). Adding a marbled swirl pattern smoothed and integrated the stiff geometrical shapes while introducing a few new colors. Definitely one-of-a kind wearable art!

For shirts, both sides need to be marbled separately. A favorite T top had a little stain. Fixed that with marbling! You’ll never spot it now. Silk works best.  Tip: paint does not stick well once the cloth is wet. I made a form out of a rigid sheet of plastic to keep the
second side from becoming wet while I marbled the first side.

What I am most thrilled with is how marbling transforms a painting that isn’t working.

This was a throwback to my airbrush days, but the painting had no serious possibilities as art until marbling over it.

My brain is churning over other ideas combining marbling with watercolor. Thin rice paper marbles well and is almost transparent for using in collage work.