Lost

Lost was created by covering the canvas pad with strips of masking tape (technique from Clauding Hellmuth). After, I painted Nickel Azo Yellow acrylic over the tape. When dry, I painted and smudged green paint over parts of the pad. Here I forgot that the second layer of paint should cover less of the painting surface so that the first layer can still be distinguished. Anyway, I got new sets of number and letter stamps and just read the book Alphabetica by Lynne Perella, so I was inspired to add numbers and letters to my background. I used a combination of archival ink pad and Paintbox and Colorbox pigment ink pads to apply the stamps. I thought of my birth date, the current year and my age, etc. Pitfall was, when i smudged paint over parts i stamped with numbers and letters, parts where i used regular pigment ink got smudged off as well. Those left were numbers and letters I stamped with archival ink. So I added more stamps only using archival ink pads. I stamped a scratch pattern in the left side, let drops of watered down Napthalo Red Light paint crawl over the surface, and used DYMO stickers to create the words. I added chinese character stamps and a small UNDERGROUND stamp i got for free in the left bottom corner. I named this piece Lost because i got lost in the process because what i had stamped first got erased and I got lost in so many techniques i could choose from.

Fire

Fire was created by priming a canvas pad with white gesso and using an end of a paint brush to draw some marks on the wet gesso. When dry, I applied Nickel Azo Yello in the background mixed with Quinacridrone Gold on certain parts. I also used a cosmetic sponge to apply the gold at the bottom half of the piece. I used tape to create a monoprint with gold paint on the right top half of the piece. I smudged green paint on the top left and bottom right of the piece. Then I spattered green paint and used the gold paint to stamp upper case Os in the left side. Lastly, I used green paint to stamp the letters H and W. I called this piece Fire because the interaction between yellow and gold give me a feeling of heat. If i were to repeat this piece, I would stick to related colors like red, yello, gold and browns. Also, I would use only 2 or 3 combination of techniques.

The Green Tree

From Designedly Kristi's online Bodacious Backgrounds class, I learned a number of techniques to mix and match to create wonderful backgrounds. The Green Tree piece is created by mixing Nickle Azo Yellow and Titanium White, applying it on canvas pad already primed with white gesso. After, I painted black around the edges and quickly smudged and whiped the black paint off before it dried. After, I spattered green paint a bit and applied drops of watered down green paint. I tilted the canvas pad to help droplets of paint to move around in random. I named this piece the Green Tree becauase the drops of green paint form the branches and trunk of a tree.

pandora's box

Going to the US was like opening a pandora's box. You resent having to leave the best comforts in life to search for better life conditions. You find the better and more efficient mode of transportation, system of taxes, and career opportunites. Yet you find you're disatisfied. In short, the grass is always greener in the other side. But you still go on putting up with life changes. You try to see the best in every situation. You mantain a positive mind for everything even in the rudest of all times. But, from time to time, you miss the company of friends back home. You yearn for the comfort of Filipino cooking. You think back to the best of times spent with your family. It pains you not to be there on birthdays and Christmases. You think and feel lonely. You ask yourself for what reason are you putting up with living in the US. Then you think, while you're here and away from home, you might as well make the most out of it. You begin an endless search and exploration of what you think you can do. You find new activities and hobbies to fill in your time. You forget you're lonely and get busy. You cover up that loneliness and kill time to move on from today to the next. You just dread the next time the bell tolls and you remember that you're still lonely and have no family.

voice

stop, go
thoughts
strong
but lingering
in my head
words too fast
not said
nor heard
linger
-ing
away