chapter 449

9/26/2016

Acrylics

MMA mixed media art

I feel like a fighter in my Mixed Martial Arts octagon down in the basement. The art phase is coming along nicely. The cleaned cellar now yields space for the "studio". Old formica counter top working well as a work surface. It's all just minimally artistic but I want to encourage this facet.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper was hard to capture on the Cape Cod beach. They move fast on their little legs looking for bits of food. After 20 shots this was the best I could do without spending too much time. I grabbed a cup of beach sand and some small rocks with the idea of enhancing a photo. This one seemed to fit. These little guys are born up in Canada spend the summer along the east coast and winter down in South America. Amazing.

Acrylics are quite versatile and there are many forms that intermix: fluid, gel, paint, paste etc. They are also like adhesives so I'm using the thicker gel to hold sand mounds then apply some fluid to flow the particles together. Above I just mix some sand with the clear gloss gel and paint on. Clear lacquer spray on top seals the whole thing. This is just one form of fooling around with this modern medium. Acrylic paints really didn't blossom until the later part of this century. Clean up is easy with just soap and water, very nice.

Picked a bunch of cheap Walmart acrylics then an easel at a garage sale nearby. This was a fine setting at the Provincetown Inn last week. Used stones collected from Race Point Beach. The little clam shells were just sitting by the changing rooms at Nausett Light Beach. There is a sign that you can't remove anything from the National Seashores and may have scared people but I took the risk of a felony conviction. Colleen had dropped a camera case somewhere on the shoreline with the crashing waves. Thought it was gone forever, gave a little prayer and alas the case was sitting on the steps on the way out. Thank you samaritan. 

Some Finished products for gifts and home display. Have many more miles to go before I sleep.

Aunt Carol, upper and center left,  passed away recently. She deserves more than a passing comment but for now let's just reiterate the words of her son. "She lived the life she wanted." Are we all doing that?

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