Part 2 Project 6 Exercise 5 Mixed Media

While working on the charcoal and conté drawing of my favorite corner chair, I decided to explore this interior setup further by developing it into my next mixed media project. As I am not experienced at collage work, when preparing myself for this exploratory mixed media composition, I looked at some of the work of Cameroonian artist Ginette Daleu (Fig.1). She gains much of her inspiration from the contrasting textures she finds in her urban environment and the “assortment of found objects” she incorporates into her collages. (Lecaille, 2014) I decided to try to explore the textures found in this enclave, along with the sharp lighting which falls across the chair, casting descriptive shadows across the entire area.


Fig. 1. Architextures Urbaines (2010). Ginette Daleu.


I decided to use the thickest paper I have to ensure that I could use collage. As it turned out, this paper stock proved to be awful: it expands radically when paint is applied and contracts noticably with glue. I was not to know this until I was almost finished my first section.

I did not fancy working too small, as I wanted to explore the surfaces of my subjects, so I divided the A2 sheet into two landscape-formatted sections. I drew the same interior corner from two slightly different angles. I drew the green chair scene whilst sitting on a mattress on the floor, and the blue scene was drawn from the corner of my bed. The slight difference in viewpoint particularly altered the appearance of the wing-backed chair. 

Initial sketch

What I love about this chair is that it nestles in the corner nook in our bedroom, in a spot where it catches the late afternoon sun. It is a cosy little spot, where I often curl up to read my Kindle. I decided to try to create this sense of warmth in my initial study. I also wanted to incorporate the quilt which drapes over this chair. This quilt was made for my daughter last year when she was hospitalized with a collapsed lung. Since we battled for six weeks to get her lung back to full capacity, this quilte now has nostalgic memories for me. As our apartment is on the third floor, we get to watch the changing skyline. For this reason, I chose a skyscape from a magazine to stick into the window of the lower portion.

Running with the ideas of Ginette Daleu, I decided to try to emulate varying textures in this diptych. I would have enjoyed incorporating even more found textures, but as I do not have canvas to work with, and was trying to stay with drawing related media, I decided rather to suggest textures through rubbings. As the scene has very rough crude bars on the windows, I wanted to create paper to emulate them. I used watercolor black crayons with a wash of brown ink to create an intense dark brown which was definitely textural in appearance. I used this paper to create the window frames, bars, and the wooden structure of the chair legs. I created a different rubbing using a straw mat to create circular patterns to adhere to the wing-backed chair upholstery. I used brown crayon with an ink wash to create this effect. Once the chair was stuck in place, I used oil pastels to suggest the shadows and light falling on the chair, and to emphasize its form. I also used oil pastels for the curtains behind the chair.

Sketchbook textural experiments.

The area where I experienced the most trouble was the wall under the window. As I have almost finished my white watercolor paint, I used some acrylic paint to augment the mix. This immediately curdled the mixture slightly, giving the surface a slightly rough texture. The biggest problem, however, was that I did not realize that it would be very difficult to use mixed media on top of the acrylic paint. When it came to painting the fern, I eventually had to mix wood glue into the ink and watercolor mix in order to make the paint adhere to the surface. As I don’t have other colors in acrylic, this was my best solution to this problem.

I found the floor quite hard to regulate the color. This time around, I used white wall­­­­­­ paint to add into the watercolor paints. Although the paint mixedd all right, in this hot, dry climate, the paint dries very quickly, making it hard to blend shades to create smooth transitions in hue and tone.

I enjoyed painting the cupboard. For this surface, I used watercolor crayons which I then blended with Bombay inks. The surface was easy to control with a paintbrush and created a rich, shiny mahogany which emulated the cupboard well.

For the basket, I used two different crayon rubbings covered with differing washes of watercolor. I did not want to overstate the basket, so left out a lot of the details of the weave work.

I experimented with applying glued paper towel in my sketchbook. I tried to add color to the paper towel but for the most part the results just looked messy. In the end, I found that the plain paper towel applied with lots of glue made an interesting drape effect. It does not really look like a quilt, but rather like a crocheted shawl. I really like the way the color of the chair shows through the applied paper towel, so left it the way it was.

Lower section of Quiet Closet Diptych.

As the brief suggested experimenting further, I decided to change the scene from being based around warm colors to being rather cool and stark in appearance. As we are facing yet another placement, somewhere in the world, I decided to use a map of flight paths to varying destinations in the window. I used strips from the Tower of London to fill in the standing lamp shaft and its base. This time around, I avoided using acrylic on the walls. For the one wall, I applied a section from our organization's newspaper. I treated this wall with colored chalks, applying oil pastel to bring out the light highlights. I used blue tones to paint in the palm, as well as for the tiles on the floor. I wanted to emphasize the starkness of the light on the floor, so drew in the tile lines with crayon before painting. This left most of the lines visible, but hardly noticeable.

Sketchbook experiments #2

To create a different atmosphere in the chair I used just two differently toned papers I created using rubbings. I tried to emphasize the harsh lighting falling across the chair, creating the definite highlights and shadows. The chair legs I simplified into a single cutout shape, which I cut from a watercolor crayon and ink rubbing.

I tried to unify the diptych slightly by doing similar window treatments, the same colors in the curtains, and the same technique of painting in the cupboard. Obviously, the actual subject matter also serves to unify the two artworks. I also suggested a drape hanging over the chair in the top picture, but I tried to understate it by just creating it from a papercut. This helps to provide a center of interest in the lower section. This helps to balance the artwork as the yellows and oranges in the top panel tend to draw your attention due to their stark contrast with the blue of the the rest of the artwork. So, I think having more textural appeal in the bottom section helps to unify it further.


Upper section of Quiet Closet Diptych

It is interesting how the artworks, when photographed seperately, have a totally dfferent atmospheric feeling to when you view them as I created them, together. I called this artwork Quiet Closet, as this is the area where I often closet myself to quiet my racing thoughts.


Quiet Closet Diptych

Although I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with various materials, I think that in future I will need to use cardstock, as the surface crinkled horribly. This was disappointing as the exercise took a long time to execute and the final result is not quite what I was expecting.

Works Cited

Daleu, G., 2010. Achitextures Urbaines (2010). [Art].

Lecaille, E., 2014. Ginette Daleu, Une Artiste Au Feu Sacre. Intense Art Magazine (IAM), Autumn/Winter(#01), pp. 38, 39.