Disqus - Latest Comments for kdraney

Re: Are You More Drawn to Simplicity or to Abundance?

kdraney — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 23:35:55 -0000

I'm in both categories, depending...
I'm in the simplicity category when I'm sitting in my living room at night, looking around the room, or at my desk working. I don't want to have a single extra object anywhere.
BUT: when I'm cooking, or when I'm making art, I want to have every ingredient and supply I need to hand, no improvising necessary.

Re: Closing Celebration! — Laly Mille Mixed Media Art

kdraney — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 10:54:48 -0000

Thank you Laly, this was really nice -- and happy 10th artist birthday!
Although I'm one of the slower ones, and still just messing around a little, I'm still benefiting from your classes.

Re: Workshop 1 — Laly Mille Mixed Media Art

kdraney — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:33:24 -0000

Hey Laly,
I think I finally found my soul palette: beautiful, intense jewel tones, against soft neutrals. I started my scrapbook with the blue and beige rectangles I found on a shopping bag I picked up at a bead store years ago (more or less center near the binding on the right-hand page) -- and added other, brighter and darker colors that I love, along with some neutrals. This is the palette that I wear most days... This makes me really happy! https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Workshop 1 — Laly Mille Mixed Media Art

kdraney — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 21:47:28 -0000

Oh my goodness, I LOVE the idea of the scrapbook. I did Soulful Abstracts already, and mood boards didn't work for me (mostly because my space is small, and my walls are already full of art -- gifts, things I loved that I purchased, things I've made). But taping images with masking tape into an art journal (so you can use them later) -- that works for me! I'm excited to get started!
Karen
--PS... How did you do the "key print"? I love keys, they are my favorite

Re: contents — Laly Mille Mixed Media Art

kdraney — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 23:25:37 -0000

Thank you for this lovely lesson (and thank you for keeping it up a little longer; it took me a while to finish). I'm not usually a fan of hearts, but this one really spoke to me.
I have a different set of cards, one a friend of mine and I developed together when we were both going through a difficult time: we wrote down everything good that someone said to us, so we could take them out and read them when we were feeling down. I used these cards to do my little love notes.
I don't have room in my little apartment for canvases, so I did this on a 12X12 sheet of watercolor paper.
If you look closely, you'll see a figure in the lower right hand side (that's me, I think). And even more closely, a second heart, all white, within in the first heart. The second heart holds a key. I'm not sure what it means, but keys speak to me. I wrote (in barely visible Posca pen): Approach each day with an open heart.
I think I might frame this one...

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Textured series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Sat, 09 May 2020 23:00:29 -0000

Here's my set of four texture pieces. This is the first time I've ever worked on any substrate but paper, so this was a really new experience.
These are 5x7" cradled boards I covered with gesso. It was a different, and fun, way to work, and I used so many different media: gesso, gel medium, cloth, plaster cloth, modeling paste, gelli-printed papers, burlap, tea bag paper, stamps, stencils, inks, tissue paper, pens... I’ve wanted to make collage like this for years, and I finally know how. I need practice, of course, to do it well, but now I know what to practice.
The keys are metal, from a couple of collections. I love keys. They have a lot of layered meaning for me — Unlocking real doors, metaphorical unlocking of places, options, and ideas that have been hidden before. Even insulin unlocking my cells, so they can get their sugar and make their energy (I have Type 1 diabetes).
I still have a bit of trouble "curating"; it's hard for me to leave out elements I really love, even when they get in the way. But I did leave out some elements that I really wanted to include, including cheesecloth and ink sprinkles... But I'm excited about how these turned out.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Serendipity series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 22:00:22 -0000

And after looking at these many times -- as they showed up on the computer, and when I saw them again after not looking at them for a while, I felt called to rework them. I think these are mostly much better. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Serendipity series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 18:41:48 -0000

https://uploads.disquscdn.c... Here is my first stab at a serendipity series. I have limited space, so I just used two 12x18 watercolor paper sheets, and cut them all up into 6" squares (because I was too impatient to make a view finder LOL!). These are my four favorites (there are 8 more I can work with, so who knows what will happen). They are quite colorful and a little busy, but I kind of like them :-)

Re: Classroom Menu — Laly Mille

kdraney — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 00:33:30 -0000

Oh I love this!!!

Re: Textured series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 22:59:23 -0000

Hey, these are so inspiring!
How would you attach metal objects (keys or gears) to the substrate and background?
I can hardly wait to start....

Re: Classroom Menu — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 21:02:26 -0000

Laly, I have a question for you -- where do you get your fun little mini-palettes? To me they almost look like the plastic tops of baking soda, breadcrumb, or oatmeal containers -- I've started saving these for just that purpose :-)

Re: Mark-making series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 20:58:17 -0000

These are really pretty -- and they use some of my very favorite colors and textures :-)

Re: Mark-making series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 20:56:30 -0000

Here is my little mark-making series (tried to load it last night but it didn't seem to work). I like this one much better than the last one. I'm working with only a few colors: purples, blues, teals, all favorites, plus neutrals. I chose the bare branches theme because I loved it so much, and the circles really made this feel finished.
One big "aha" moment - I had been trying to cover a couple of little accidental smears on my last project with white acrylic - which didn't work. This time, I used a different approach -- put down a bit of black or brown Stabilo pencil, or a bit of water soluble crayon, activated it, and "painted into" the smear in watercolor fashion. This worked well for me.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Mark-making series — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 00:52:08 -0000

https://uploads.disquscdn.c... I like this set of minis much better than the last one. There are still things I'd change, but I like them. It helps that I'm working with fewer colors -- mostly just purples, blues, and teals (my favorites) plus neutrals.
I did have one big "Aha" moment: I'm no longer trying to use white paint to "erase" marks -- especially smears from activating stabilo pencils. Instead, I'm using either the stabilo pencils again, or watercolor crayons, along the nearest collage piece "edge", activating the color, and feathering it for more of a watercolor effect. I like this a lot, and it's easy to do.

PS. Laly, can you tell me where you get your "mini palettes"? They almost look like the lids to baking powder, oatmeal, or breadcrumb containers...

Re: Make your mark — Laly Mille

kdraney — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:43:18 -0000

Today, I feel very inspired! Circles and crosses are my two favorite symbols (I also love spirals!). And I really love layers of handwriting! Today I made collage papers. On some sheets of sketchbook paper, I used my favorite tools: a plastic cup, a small bottle cap, a plastic card, and two things I made (a wine cork cut in a cross-hatch pattern with a sharp knife, and a small piece of cardboard tightly rolled up and secured with a rubber band), to make marks with sepia ink on backgrounds of watercolor/ink washes. I also did a piece with about 5 layers of handwriting, with watercolor washes to activate the pencils. https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: In the Chrysalis — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 02:24:37 -0000

Hi Laly,
Thanks for this.
I don't have just one word for each year, but I do have a yearly theme. This year, it's been "embrace the new experience." I didn't choose this; it sort of chose me. I've had so many new experiences, good and bad, in the first three months of 2020, that I can barely count them.
Like you, I've been signing up for art classes. When my life first upended itself (in 2013, when my divorce started), I signed up for a "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" class. And since then I've been using art as an approach to dealing with my difficult feelings. I may never be an "artist" as defined by someone who sells art in a gallery, and is recognized by others. But I've started to understand myself as an artist as defined by someone who deals with her feelings through sketching, painting, collage, mixed media, whatever. Putting some sort of marks on paper.

Re: Make your mark — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 01:10:05 -0000

So I feel MUCH more comfortable with mark-making than I do with color!! Here's one of my recent experiments (with household tools) -- I did these with sepia ink over the "candle-scribble" exercise pages. https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c... When it stops raining I'll find some tools from nature to try :-)

Re: Color Mini Series! — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 00:59:29 -0000

My four little collages (first image). Apologies for the cardboard backing and blue tape, it's all I could find. I think they are sort of cute. I loved the color palette (from a book called Colorflow), even though the suggested palette had yellow, and the image also had quite a bit of green in it -- colors I rarely use.

And then I started playing with paint and other supplies. The more I messed around, the worse it got. I finally stopped (the result is in the second image). I'm afraid I don't like them at all. I will try again with another set of collages.

But I'm learning a lot about color. I am totally beginning as an artist -- in my day job, I'm a research geek -- so I thought I would post these anyway, even though I feel very uncomfortable doing so, after all the beautiful images I'm seeing below. Any suggestions you have are welcome...

https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Your Soul Palette — Laly Mille

kdraney — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 00:27:08 -0000

So here's my soul palette: MANY blues, some teals, some dark purples and soft lilacs, some burgundies and pinks. And then, my neutrals: payne's gray and light gray; chocolate brown, beige, antique white, and a touch of white.

Things that were hard for me:

1. At first I tried too hard to make my palette look exactly like my inspiration board. I added WAY too many dots (with my fingers) the first time around. Version 1 was crazy-busy...

2. I had real trouble trying to find a good version of the dark reds and pinks. In the end, I gave up on the exact colors in the inspiration board and just made my soul palette look like the colors I love best.

3. I'm so glad you showed yourself making "mistakes" and correcting them, as opposed to just knowing how to put the right colors in the right places the first time around. I almost threw away my first version. But then I just did what you did -- added a LOT of white (antique white in my case), and just painted over a lot of the dots, and the "bad" reds and pinks with better versions.

I've just realized that this is the first time I've ever used my acrylics to just paint a painting, Mostly, I've used them to make gel prints and do stenciling and stamping. This is a new experience, and very good for me.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c... .

Re: Your Soul Palette — Laly Mille

kdraney — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 14:43:04 -0000

I'm going through this pretty slowly -- I work full time, I have a teenage son that lives with me, and I sometimes get distracted by other fun projects. :-)
Today when I sat down to paint, I took out my acrylics (I have a box of 40 small tubes of different colors that someone gave me as a gift, plus several colors that I purchased individually because I love them). I realized that I didn't know which tubes of paint would make which colors on the board!
So I did an additional step that I learned in another artist's online class: I made some color swatches (lots of them actually). When I couldn't find quite the right color I did a little experimental mixing. Now I know which colors will give me my soul palette.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Your Soul Palette — Laly Mille

kdraney — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 01:37:26 -0000

Here is the "oil paint/fat brush" version https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

What I notice is that the RHS has mostly neutrals: an almost peachy
beige, a lighter beige, a bluish-gray, and some warm browns. The LHS
has more of my beloved jewel tones: lapis blue, coral, turquoise, ruby
red.
I'm still doing some studies of colors and art supplies (in
browns, greens, teal tones, etc.). But now, I feel ready to have a go
at my soul palette.

Re: Your Soul Palette — Laly Mille

kdraney — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 01:34:55 -0000

So today I made a small inspiration board using both my palettes, on a little unused bulletin board (shown below)

Then I took a photo, uploaded it into a sample software package, and blurred it using a function called "oil paint" with a fairly "fat brush" setting. I love the results, and will post in a moment. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Your Soul Palette — Laly Mille

kdraney — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 23:36:10 -0000

Your first video on color was really interesting. I realized that I have two very distinct color palettes! One is what I have in my little condo -- the colors are almost all neutral (wood, stone, distressed metal, linen). I always want my walls a soft cream color, my floor is variegated wood, my couch is a soft, highly textured burlap brown with faux fur throws in animal patterns, my candles (and I LOVE candles) are cream, gray, and brown. I have tiny little pops of color here and there (oranges, dark reds, teals, blues), mostly from paintings, pillows, and faux flowers. This feels restful and inviting to me.
And then, there is my closet -- another thing entirely! My closet is dominated by jewel tones: periwinkle, blue-jean blue, teal, turquoise, coral, scarlet. I use whites, grays, and blacks for my slacks, jackets, and skirts. I never wear brown or cream -- I don't think I own a single brown piece of clothing! I look, and feel, tired wearing brown. But jewel tones feel energizing to me when I wear them.
I think that's why I've always found color confusing -- I've been drawn to art in both of my color palettes, and I've never known which was "mine" (as if I were compelled to choose only one). I guess they both are mine. :-)

Re: your Inspired Setup — Laly Mille

kdraney — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00:35 -0000

Since I've never used a canvas, and don't even have an extra bulletin board or picture frame lying around, I found one on Amazon (one of only a few options I have now in the current shelter-in-place where I live), for less than $20; it's called

Love-KANKEI Wood Picture Photo Frame for Wall Decor 26×29 inch with 30 Clips and Ajustable Twines Collage Artworks Prints Multi Pictures Organizer and Hanging Display Frames Weathered Grey

In the meantime, I've been amazed at the things I had tucked away in my "beadwork" closet (I've done beadwork for years) that will go on this board! Not to mention wrapping paper bits, gel prints and printed tissue (I like to do gel prints sometimes), pages from beading magazines, fun fun fun! And of course I have a few pinterest images to print.
Next is my sketchbook cover. I'm going to start with brown packing paper (I'm using a Canson 9x12" mixed media notebook that I had not really started with yet). This is a really awesome way to be spending my free time when I have to stay at home alone.

Re: Self-discovery — Laly Mille

kdraney — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 22:57:13 -0000

Let me try to do this via FaceBook (not my favorite but...)
If not, ah well. Not essential I guess...