Released Today! Rex Reed-Inspired Art-Making Tools

I've discovered Mid-Century Modern art (a title that I've seen sometimes capitalized and sometimes not) and I love it!

Rex Reed's color-loaded collages are out of this world!  I wanted to create simplified, black-and-white masks that show the flavor of Rex Ray’s art, without copying any of it.  

That was a challenge!  Stripped of color, the designs by themselves sagged.  It was those colors that gave them life.  

But because of my love for his work, I accepted the challenge, and today's 2 new releases are the result.

I wonder what Rex would say if he could see my 2 newly designed masks?! --

Above left: 

Champagne s960 (6” x 6”) Above right: Carnival m340 (4” x 4”) 

 

 

Champagne s960 (6” x 6”) is the title that popped – like a cork??? -- into my head as I designed the image at the top of today's post.  Its creation was influenced by the whimsy and energy of mid-century modern artists, Rex Ray in particular.

Carnival m340 (4” x 4”) is a design that makes me happy.  It’s an image influenced by the playful and fanciful mid-century modern art, especially that of Rex Ray.

Below:  Today's featured project, made with my brand-new 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960-- 

  

My 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960 got its name after the designing was done.  Before that, I had buried myself in a book of Rex Ray collages.  His art sparked my imagination.  That man was a genius!

The above photo shows the true colors of this art sample of mine -- but without its shine, since my camera can't capture the whole effect of gleaming metallic acrylic paints.  And this piece is three-dimensional, altho the above photo appears to flatten it.

Below:  The first step I took was to get out sturdy black matboard, a spreading tool, a jar of light modeling paste, and my paint-stained 6" x 6" mask Champagne s960 ....

Note 1:  A flexible dollar-store spatula is shown above, but I later changed to a different spreading tool since this project called for a tool more rigid.  Note 2:  The background needs to be sturdy and for me this matboard was perfect since it was both sturdy and black (that color was needed for the metallic paints to appear at their best, in contrast to black.)

Above:  I've used a plastic artist's spatula to spread light modeling paste across the entire mask.  I tried to create an even layer, but ended up with an uneven layer that proved harder to paint.

I carefully lifted off the mask and immediately placed it into a basin of water to prevent the modeling paste from hardening.  If it were to harden, some of the mask's openings would be altered in shape or entirely blocked.  (Scraping off hardened modeling paste would probably require using a knife; that could possibly warp or bend the mask, despite its being made from sturdy Mylar.)

Above:  While the modeling paste was still wet, I used pointed cotton swabs to clean up a few areas of stray modeling paste.

Below:  After the modeling paste had thoroughly dried, I started applying metallic acrylic paint....

.... and the photo below has zeroed in on the two small brushes I used, along with the pointed cotton swabs that continued to be helpful when paint strayed beyond the areas where I wanted it.

Note:  The metallic acrylic paint is resting on my tablet of pallet paper.

Above:  After I'd covered all areas of the modeling paste with gold and blue metallic acrylic paints, I allowed for drying time, then cut out the finished piece. 

The result is a sturdy piece of art that could become the cover for an art journal, but I decided to mount it onto the front of a greeting card (which was cut from sturdy cardstock -- not the flimsy cardstock that bends easily.)

Because of its three-dimensional thickness, this card won't be mailed. It'll be handed over in person.

The bright colors that I chose for today's art sample are "cousins" to what are called "MCM" colors -- in the 1950's, Mid-Century Modern art was often done in gold, aqua and mixtures of the two colors.  These two colors were often blended, creating hues that were muted with tints of gray.  Rather than mute my colors for today's art, I used the pure colors, without mixing them.  (Because aqua and gold are near-opposites on the color wheel, mixing them creates shades that are grayed down; they are muted colors, rather than bright.)

Above:  The colors labeled "orange" and "blue-green" are nearly opposite one another on the color wheel.  "Orange" in this case is gold and "blue-green" is of course aqua.

Thanks for joining me today as I introduce my newest designs at StencilGirlProducts.com!  To scroll thru the pages of my masks and stencils, please start here.

Daily posts will continue here, for a week or so, as I trot out the ways I have been using these just-released art-making tools.  I hope the art-making experiments will inspire you as much as the book of Rex Ray collages inspired me!

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