INTRODUCTION FROM THE AUTHOR I have been painting full time for nearly eight years now and still nothing compares to the excitement and anticipation of starting a new piece of work. For me, the keys to this excitement are chance and chaos. It was chance that brought the first unconventional materials into my work—a glass of brandy that made its way into a watercolor painting, which then paved the way for experimenting with different teas, coffees, and alcohols, and now the opportunity to explore a variety of media in the making of this book. So how do you bring chance into your painting practice? The most important thing is to be open-minded about the outcome of your painting. The examples in this book give you guidelines and starting points to make your own journeys. I share secrets and tips that I use every day in my work, but the key to the whole process is to be prepared to take risks with your work: Never get too precious with what you have created. Each of the projects in the book is designed to introduce you to a new technique or new way of applying materials to your work. There are an infinite number of ways that these projects can be combined to add dynamism to your painting, so take each project as a guide; if you feel yourself moving away from the guidelines, then go with it! The projects are designed for you to create freely. This means you may end up with completely different results than mine, but don’t worry—that is the key to freeing up your painting style. Carne Griffiths PROJECTS PUT THE KETTLE ON: Using Tea to Paint Floral Patterns A WEE DRAM: Adding a Little Booze to Your Painting NEGATIVE SPACES: Using Leaves to Create Textured Layers CAFFEINATED PORTRAITS: Using Coffee as Paint THROWING PAINT: New Ways to Launch Paint at Your Work HOT STUFF: Using Flame and Smoke to Create Marks USING GOLD, SILVER, AND COPPER: Subtle Mark Making GETTING MESSY: Combining Media to Create Layered Work PREPARING YOUR MATERIALS PREPARING SURFACES: Stretching Paper and Priming Objects In this section, I show you how to prepare surfaces for painting so that they are robust and ready to be subjected to the rigorous painting methods you will put them through. There is something very relaxing and almost meditative about preparing a surface to paint. The process of stretching a piece of paper is methodical and such a contrast to the chaotic methods I use in my work that it is almost like a limbering up and buildup of excitement before I get to start a new painting journey. SOURCING: Liquids and Materials for Painting A great deal of this book is about using substitutes, either readily available or sourced, in place of the usual liquids associated with painting, namely water! In this section, we will gather and prepare liquids for use throughout the book. Some of these are easy to find and others are fun to make from natural ingredients. From the first accidental appearance of brandy in my work, I have experimented with brewing teas, preparing iron (oak) gall ink, boiling sorrel, and raiding the pantry for painting materials. GET READY TO MAKE MARKS: Using Brushes and Found Objects Mark making can add variety to your work. Sometimes forcing yourself to use equipment outside of standard art materials can give great unexpected results to your art. You can combine the types of objects so that they relate to the work you create. For example, use leaves or feathers as mark-making tools and dip parts of branches into ink to create crude and textured marks. Gather an assortment of these items before painting and make some small demonstration pieces to give you an idea of their effects before you combine them into a painting. ALCHEMY: Palettes, Pens, and Mixing Materials Sometimes you may have an idea of the general palette you want to work with. Working with a restricted palette, you can extend the color using a minimal set of materials, maybe adding bursts of color later to give the image vibrancy. I use fountain pens extensively throughout this book, often as dip pens, but you can also use a piston converter to draw up ink. The piston converter simply replaces the cartridge in a standard fountain pen and allows you to use any liquid you want in the pen—even tea! INK SPILLS: USING CHAOS TO START YOUR IMAGE In 2012, not long after I had decided to make a change in career from embroidery designer to full-time artist, I was fortunate to have some work shown with a small gallery called Ink-d in Brighton on the south coast of England. Ink-d was a kind of curiosity shop gallery over three floors, with a crooked staircase and artwork in every nook and cranny! The lovely thing about the gallery was that its curators were always looking for unusual pieces of work, curiosity pieces that they could place in boxes for their customers to rifle through. CAFFEINATED PORTRAITS: USING COFFEE AS PAINT This is a great project for those of you who like a strong cup of coffee in the morning. Begin by brewing some of your favorite coffee. This demo uses a strong cup of espresso, which gives the best color painting, as espresso usually contains the oils of the coffee bean and has the richest color. Adding to this are a pot of filter coffee and some ground coffee, or you can use granulated or freeze-dried coffee as a substitute. THROWING PAINT: NEW WAYS TO LAUNCH PAINT AT YOUR WORK I just can’t sit still when I paint! If I am in a comfortable position when working it seems to create a stillness to my work, which just doesn’t suit me. As a result, I have taken to working at all sorts of angles and using an easel that adjusts quickly from horizontal to vertical. This movement has had a huge effect on my painting—as I rotate and tilt the board, I create accidental spills and arcs in the work, which I then use and interpret into my style of painting. USING GOLD, SILVER, AND COPPER: SUBTLE MARK MAKING Metallic paints can give a real richness to a piece of work. The way that they play with the light and jump out from the page makes them ideal for highlighting areas of your work. Gold, silver, and copper leaf create a smooth and reflective surface. These are generally available as imitation gold—or even as real gold up to 24 karats—and give your work a real opulence! Using gold leaf in a painting usually works best right at the end of the process; you can create layers that will sit over the gold, but the full impact of using it will be lost slightly.
✔ Author(s): Carne Griffiths
✔ Title: The Organic Painter: Learn to paint with tea, coffee, embroidery, flame, and more; Explore Unusual Materials and Playful Techniques to Expand your Creative Practice
✔ Rating : 4.5 out of 5 base on (241 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 163159608X
✔ ISBN-13: 9781631596087
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
Readers' opinions about The Organic Painter by Carne Griffiths
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