Roseburg, OR - Cornflowers (illustration)

This is a mixed media of illustration marker and ink stick--after I thought about it, I realized I could've just called the medium "ink" and been done with it, but hey.  There was this GREAT ancient truck parked on the farm that had once been red but was so faded it was mostly bone white with red around whatever edges it had--there's a photo of it in the Roseburg album and you'll see it again in some other work once I'm back in the studio.

I'd picked up a packet of solid ink sticks the other day and thought I'd give them a try for the faded paint effect.

Yes, I said "give them a try."  I'd never used them before, had literally taken the cellophane off the box sitting right there during the competition, and tried them out on something I was planning on submitting in a show.  The jury here is still out on whether that was an incredibly stupid thing to do or an incredibly gutsy thing to do.  (Hint: it was an educated guess based on some experience with the same ink-solid in pencil form, so this artist would like to suggest the correct answer is "incredibly gutsy.")

Anyway, this piece earned accolades (but not awards) from some of the folks at the gallery, and I got a lot of compliments on it during opening night.  It's featured in the arts center "top 40" gallery for the event (out of about 160), which made my day!

Things that I like about this:  The high contrast between the warm colors on the top half and the cool colors on the bottom half.

Thing that I don't like about this: I should have used the dang rusty brown (instead of fire engine red that was closer to the real deal) to play down the truck and added in some cream tones to the background to make the white less bright.  Maybe include more weedy flowers with future attempts?  I don't know--but this has potential as a style.

Cornflowers.  Appx 8 x 10 in. (unframed), mixed media on paper.  $150 (framed) at UVAC.