How I use the multiple mediums in my art?
Mixed Media provides creative freedom and rewards with the strengths of the various mediums. My photography focuses on how to encompass an image with light and its reflections. Often incorporating multiple photographs into a composite image gives an innovative perspective. Whether incorporating bright colors, the values expressed in a black and white photo, or how the light reflects off the subject and cuts across the background; the light and its reflections are crucial to illuminating the message of each image. Utilizing the colors within the visible sections of the light spectrum can reveal scenes and subjects in a different way. From highlights to shadows, all of the different values are integral parts of an image. Taking the time necessary to measure both the light falling on a subject and the amount of light reflected from the subject allows me to obtain the unique effects. Sometimes, specific moments require supplementary lighting to accomplish a desired visual experience. Each photograph artistically developed emphasizes a unique story or a component of a larger story or message. Specific photographic development processes accentuate form and texture.
Pen and ink define and emphasize details not available through the lens. The watercolor provides a transparent glow unique to the medium. The reflection of light by fiber paper through the transparent watercolors illuminates the subject in a unique and selective way. When areas of a painting need an opaque medium, I utilize gouache. This accentuates the transparent areas of a painting by increasing the contrast. Chinese paints add more unique opaque colors to fiber paper. However, many subjects require a greater softness with a rich depth of color to convey their messages. This led me to use pastel, a dry pigment with very little binder. I like to retain the right amount of transparency, so I prefer to use pure pigment in pans, but I will utilize traditional stick pastels whenever they harmoniously enhance the image.
Using creative methods and multiple mediums provides many ways to accentuate the message within a work of art. This is the reason I am fascinated by and passionate about working in multiple mediums to produce a unique mixed media piece of art.
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