Sunday, February 28, 2016

"Turkish Tiles" process

Sometimes you just have to take a chance.

I had great expectations for this Opus tile, but I just didn't like it once it was finished.
But darn it all! I'd put a lot of time and work into it! No way I was going to just throw it out, and I already have too many ATCs to trade. Surely I could do something with it.

I'd had the idea of Turkish and Iranian mosques, with their columns and stripes and geometric patterns, but the parts hadn't come together as I had hoped. I realized that I needed a different vision for it, and decided that maybe it needed to become less cluttered by mixing it up a bit more.

I trimmed a quarter inch off all sides, leaving me with a 10" square, easily divided into 25 two inch squares. Here are all the "twinchies":

I painted a 12" canvas white and then decided how I would arrange the little squares. There were a few with doorways and I decided to place those along the bottom. The sides of the canvas were then painted mottled turquoise and blues, which turned out really nicely.
"Turkish Tiles" (c) 2016 Margaret Bremner
12" square; pen-and-ink, colored pencil, acrylic paint
I didn't like the tiny difference of level between the canvas and the paper, and I thought it should be glossy because of the "tiles" idea. I used a self-levelling epoxy varnish and it now looks as if there's a sheet of glass on top! I painted gloss varnish on the sides to tie them in with the glossy surface.

16 comments:

  1. Very creative, good save! I really like it as a kind of mixed media piece.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Margaret, you are so brilliantly clever! Glorious Art!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely stunning effect. Great thinking!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Super clever and so beautiful. Thanks for sharing your process. I bet it was hard to cut up the original, even if it wasn't your favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think its a fantastic piece of art!
    The Opus tile already was beautiful, but what you did with it is Amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful... i love this creativity.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well saved!! I too felt the initial one was a bit cluttery, albeit with some really interesting shapes and patterns. By separating them on white, it has given a different dimension......Fantastic! Thanks for sharing......

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, Margaret, that was a stroke of genius. A 100% improvement. It is just beautiful now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great idea, I love the colors and the tangles too. Amazing what you can create after a "mistake".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true. Zentangle has really helped me embrace the "mistakes", something I did NOT do many years ago!

      Delete
  10. Ah, Margaret. That's extraordinary. The original had some really lovely passages but they were "lost in the mix". Now they all shine, and work together cohesively. Love all the echoes you have set up in the finished piece. GREAT solution :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Megan. Having the patterns in smaller areas with white "breathing" space between them really helped.

      Delete
  11. Really stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I looked up the self-leveling epoxy and it is VERY VERY expensive!!! Wow.
    One gallon at Home Depot is $149. Although I did see some for $40.
    Does this stuff keep? I have seen some work at art fairs with it on. Pretty amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An artist friend had used something, and I bought the same thing. At Michaels, called "pour on high gloss finish" for about $25. It comes in two bottles which you need to mix proportionately as needed. Just a very faint odor, no stink, no ventilation needed.
      I just hope it won't discolor over time, but it recommends use on photos and diplomas so I hope for the best!

      Delete