Porky - a redone painting

22x15 acrylic and ink over a failed watercolor of watermelons that just did not work. This pig art is featured in Chris Unwin's book The Artistic Touch 5. I took some of the lemon shapes in the watermelon fruit still life and made pig rears as you can see in the background, and also did negative painting where needed. The hardest part was his large head as I wanted some of the watermelon to show yet needed basically one color in the shape. When we raised pigs and hogs on the farm they were often fed watermelons. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Thai Dyed Woman

30x22 mixed media painting on 140 lb paper that is one of my reworked pieces.  This used to be a horizontal Santa Claus face in acrylics and wax crayon that was pretty bad so I turned it vertically and sketched with black ink a Thai woman profile.  Using artist's acrylics, ink, watercolor, and gouache along with latex acrylics put in colors of her costume.  This work is SOLD.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Tree Tapestry ~ How to Rework a Painting

 

                       AFTER version and final result Tree Tapestry mixed media 15x11 on Canson 140 lb paper completed today.

BEFORE original painting Strolling

 



 

First step:  Sketching tree trunks over existing watercolor using black Tombow brushpen

 



 

Second step:  Covering most of background with white gouache and Coastal Fog (Cheap Joe's), leaving colors inside trees.

 

In this work in progress step by step I am showing how to rework what I considered a failed painting into a mixed media landscape. It doesn't take too long to find a bad painting you want to improve upon and this one done in 2009 of a Victorian couple was no exception.  After deciding to do trees the rest was obliterating the background, first with gouache to see how it would look, then filling in with various Montana acrylic markers.  A black marker and Caran D'Ache watersoluble wax crayons were used last to accent and punch up the composition.  Very little of the original is now visible except in left foreground and within the tree trunks, branches, and limbs.

Image is COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.







Heartfelt Geraniums-reworked mixed media floral

 9x10 mixed media (inks, colored pencils, gouache) done today in 1 hour approximately from existing painting titled Primary Colors Heart from Feb. 2013 (inks, see below).  I've painted these same red geraniums before and did another watercolor yesterday of hanging baskets, but changed the flowers to a variegated salmon.  The photo was taken of my friend Barbara's plant on her sun porch a few years ago.  Tonight this was featured in WetCanvas! Weekend Drawing Event in the All Media Arts Forum where I am the host.

You can see where I've left parts of it showing in the new reworked image which I like a whole lot better
Images are COPYRIGHT 2013/2014 Kay Smith.

Group Dynamic reworked fish demo

AFTER version, final touches added in this last step.  I borrowed a stamp that had small fish scales pattern and stamped into the blue head area with a mixed black; not much free space anywhere on this marked up fella!  Collage can be seen clearly now on white nose and mouth and large and small side fins.  The eye was adjusted and finally, I used black India ink only at random to outline shapes where needed.  In Doug Walton's famous words:  "Touch that which is most important the least, and touch the least important the most!" I've spent more time on the water area than on the grouper itself.  This was a learning experience for me as well as the class participants.  Here is Group Dynamic, 22x30 mixed watermedia, copyright Kay Smith.  Thanks to all the students who did wonderfully on their own rescue/recycling of old paintings into new works of art!

Fish Demo step 4

Now collage paper has been added to lower fin.  I chose a neutral paper with tinted pale pattern to mimic fin lines and will also add that to the lip area and to the larger upper purple fin area.  His eye needs to be toned down as well.  I've taken a sponge stamp and added bubbles in white above mouth and on up, and have carved out seaweed forms from existing lines in the original work, both under and over the grouper's body.

Jacque Rabbit reworked watercolor demo

22x15 watercolor, gouache, over failed watercolor painting of a too detailed floral.  One of my line drawings was placed over the old one and the shape outlined in fine tip Sharpie.  I placed a full sheet acetate over and began laying in large areas with paint to see what worked and what did not.  There was lots of negative painting in the original piece and I wanted some of that patterning to show in the finished rabbit.  This was begun as a demo last Monday at the Palette Club in Midland, TX.  There are tiny touches of line emphasized with Caran D'Ache watersoluble crayons.  I will be back there in June 7-9 for a short workshop teaching this method; email me to find out more:  kay1971smith@aol.com

Here is the old failed painting, an imaginary floral which shows what was in my brain at the time last year, mostly nothing! I did like the warm coral, pink, gold, yellow, magenta, and orange colors accented by the dark hunter and lime greens, and cobalt teal blue.

BEFORE:

Paper Tigers

16x20 watercolor of two tigers done in cool blues and hot pinks in an imaginary scene.  I cut out their stripes then placed an old dog painting behind for pattern that was not there.  The old painting was actually a still life of strawberries that just didn't work out. This one would work well in a child's room with jungle decor.

Retro Rooster Collage - recycled art

10 x 14.75 mixed media (watercolor, acrylics, newspaper, napkins, catalog pages, ink) I composed over a failed geranium watercolor. The rooster head and neck were from a former failed barnyard painting with him and 2 hens that did not quite work.  The hens I cut out also and adhered to an old shack scene called "Chicken Ranch", that should still be on this blog.  His purple legs just kill me; feathers in front are from newspaper photos of old wood.  It is a conglomeration of elements with a whole lot of country style and was fun to make.

Flirty Flamingos

15x22 watercolor over a failed geranium painting. This fun scene is one of many of my old dogs redone into something else, reworked or recycled to make a better piece of art. On Saturday, March 26, in Colorado City you can watch me create another one! Join us at Studio 20!