All That Glitters

This is my latest piece, Too Many Romance Novels #2, 25" x 14" mixed media on shaped canvas. Lots of gold leaf which I love along with image transfers, collage, stencils and numerous surface techniques.

 I have spent quite a bit of time in Venice and what city is more romantic except Paris. Winter in Venice is like a Gothic novel with the damp mist clouding every twisting walkway and taking us back to a different time. The story? How often we are entranced by the glimmer of the surface that we forget to look beneath the obvious only to miss seeing what other alternative may befall us.

Mixed Media Revolution

 

Darlene and I have just finished the final edits for our third book, Mixed Media Revolution. It is available for pre-ordering on Amazon, and it will be out by the end of November. This book is packed with ways to reuse your art elements, how to work with scale and composition and hundreds of ideas and images to get you started creating.

Fun with Plex

Years ago I did a series of pieces on plex and loved it but forgot about it as I moved on to something else. An artist friend scored dozens of odd shaped pieces of plex from a framer and passed them on to me. I had forgotten the joy of it's luminosity and the gorgeous depth you get.

This piece is Road Show Star and is 16" x 7" on plex with a wood backing. It has everything on it — gold leaf, water slide decals, stenciling, stamping and collage on both sides. Yum.

Combining Techniques

Calculating Infinity by Sandra Duran Wilson

I use panels to demonstrate techniques when I am teaching, and I often just keep working on top of demos that came before. This finished painting is an example of how to keep working and have no fear to cover things up. I have used collage, acrylic pours, crackle textures, silk tissue and other techniques all on top of metal leaf. This gives your work incredible depth and an interesting history. I will be teaching these techniques in AZ at Art Unraveled August 4-6. Please join me for some fun filled workshops. I am teaching three different classes on crackle techniques, plaster and alternative surfaces.

Let's Get Plastered

Reflections 8x8 sold

This painting is made using venetian plaster on board. I will be teaching this class in Scottsdale, AZ on Tuesday August 7th. at  Art Unraveled. We create multiple layers of plaster and paint and scrape to remove top layers. You get the look of old fresco paintings. I will even show you transfer techniques and how to create elements that may be fused together with heat.

Gel Transfers on YouTube

I just checked the views for my video on Gel Transfers on YouTube and it is over 166,000! Wow, was I surprised. This is still one of my favorite transfer technique and have done them up to 24" x 36". Larger than that and I think I would need another set of hands. Enjoy

Image Transfers & Roll Top Desks

This 26.5" x 26.5" piece, (h)ombre, is painted on the back of the top of a roll top desk hence all those great lines. I found it at a Habitat for Humanity store and when I flipped it over to see the back side I was floored by the beauty. It was very hard to make that first mark on it so I ended up having to restrain my natural urge to add more.

Gratitude

Misty Dawn

copyright 2012 Sandra Duran Wilson

This work on paper was made for a gallery show I had in Australia. I used many of the texture techniques in Surface Treatment Workshop to create "collagraph plates" that I then inked and printed using an etching press. Other layers were created on silk and layered on top of the collagraph. As you can see, there are no limits of what the many techniques can be used for. Try some of them for printmaking, quilting, fiber arts, book making; the list goes on.  

Infinity and Beyond

Infinity

copyright 2012 by Sandra Duran Wilson

Can you guess which techniques I used in this painting? They are from both books. I have crackle paste on the bottom and light molding paste on top. Gampi tissue with stamping and fusible web. lots of layers of glaze and colors and a final coat of clear acrylic. I love to layer the textures and transfers so it is not easy to guess what is what. Many times I will wipe off a lot of the glaze after I apply it so only a hint remains.

Think Outside the Canvas

Energy

copyright 2012 by Sandra Duran Wilson

I have been working on book three and we are in OH for the photo shoot. You are going to love this next book. It is so full of ideas and inspiration. One of the things I have been doing a lot lately is incorporating papers, transfers, collage elements and anything else I find in the studio into my art. I am trying to reuse and repurpose things I come across. This painting, Energy, has so many different layers and leftovers. I just love the depth that it gives the work. You may only see a bit of what lies below.  

Up, Up and Away

Sandra and I are off to Cincinnati for the photo shoot on book #3 and are excited to see our old friends at F&W and meet some new ones. It will be a week of working, having fun and we always seem to learn something in the studio of Christine, F&W photographer.

In the meantime here is a 12" x 12" mixed media on panel titled Snacktime. I love Little Cuties, my snack of choice.

Artwork by Workshop Participants

artwork by Cindy Lopez

This sweet little painting is from a talented Austin, TX artist who shows her work in several galleries. She has taken my workshop in Austin several times and I look forward to seeing her again this year. I will be teaching there in March and April. You may go to my website or personal blog to see my schedule.  I will be posting work from students both here and at Science and the Princess of Paint. If you have an image from a workshop you have taken from me or from following the books, please send them to me and I will post them. Sandra

The Seed of Sound 40x30"

Sandra Duran Wilson copyright 2012

Sound and color are intertwined for me. When I hear music I see colors and numbers create songs in my mind. This is called synesthesia, or a crossing of the senses. It makes life fun. Try listening to a passage of music or close your eyes and listen to the sound of nature. See what it inspires. Have fun with it.