Saturday, May 16, 2009

Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun
3 x 5 mixed media on watercolor paper
by Miki Willa
Here, again, I decided to work with split complementaries. I really like purples and blues with oranges, golds, and yellow ochres. The feel so rich to me. For this mixed media collage, I painted with acrylics first. I played with wet on wet, which I haven't done since my watercolor days. I like the lines that happened as the colors dried and showed where they bled into each other. That was especially true with the yellow. After the paint was dry, I glued down the papers in a pattern I had worked out ahead of time. After I got the lavender oval in place, I decided to do some dry brush with burnt orange in a circular pattern. I am pleased with the results. I have never seen a midnight sun, but I think this is what they should look like.
I think I am going to work in small formats for a while. My goal is to get comfortable with the medium before I jump into something bigger. Right now, I am quite happy with my learning curve.