"Look" by Terry Honstead

This 24 x 16 mixed media piece was done starting with joint compound on the support.  I used a roller  on it to add a texture and then waited for it to dry.  I didn't like how bumpy it turned out, so I took a chisel to it and took off the top edges.  It added wonderful light squiggles in the titan buff background.  I then transfered a picture that was taken of a rusty metal ornament on a brick wall.  I used a snake skin for the branch and hornet's nest fiber for the birds nest.  I also added parts of an old piece of lace, a doily, some music, writing, a broken piece of leather, some letters, some pages from and old book, some feathers, and an old dried up leaf.  It was a lot of fun designing this painting.  I was going to put some scrolls on in a couple of places with built up texture, but decided to go with oil based colored pencils instead.

"Angel"

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This is a 16 x 24 mixed media on a board.  I started by putting the texture onto the gessoed board and then used colors that are a stretch for me.  Pinks and purples are not usually found in my work, but this was a challenge and it took me a while to decide where to go with it.  If you are interested in this or in seeing more of my work, it can be found at :  http://terry-honstead.artistwebsites.com

"Journey"

This mixed media 16 x 24 x 1 in. piece is modeled after an old world map.  I wanted it to look like a treasure map and boys who are into pirates would love this!  There is a lot of texture to the background.  If interested you can get prints at:   terry-honstead.artistwebsites.com or contact me at:   honstead@paulbunyan.net

Artist Mentor Grant

Today I started with my new student.  She is a high school girl that wrote a grant (by herself I might add!) so that we could work together for the summer.  She wants to learn some technical things, shading and highlighting with watercolor and acrylic, and showing emotion in her work.  We will also be working with collage.  Today we made collage papers that she will be using in the upcoming paintings.  I thought I would post of few pictures of our time today.

"The Elephant Watches" finished

This 18 x 22 watercolor on 300 lb paper was done in layers using masking and then painting the entire sheet with a watercolor wash and then repeating the process until the very darkest layer is finally done.    When I took of the masking that kept the layers from getting darker, it did pull of some of the color so I did have a lot of painting to do when I thought I would be done.  I also had to lighten the background areas because they were still too dark!  Anyway, I learned a lot and may try this technique again.  Interested parties can see more at my website terry-honstead.artistwebsites.com or email me at
honstead@paulbunyan.net

"The Elephant Watches"

I thought I would post this painting so far.  I am not done yet, but you can see the succession of layers that I did in these.   I only used antwerp blue, permanent rose, quinacridone gold, and cad yellow light to do the whole painting.   I already had several layers done by the first picture.  I drew my picture on and then masked off part of it to stay white.  Then I poured paint on it and let the paint run and mix.  I let this dry and then added another layer of masking.  Then I poured again.  I would say that I had about eight layers before I took all of the masking off.  When I did that, more paint than I had expected came off with it so I had to darken some areas of it again.  The two sides that show the background were too dark so I lightened those area up again.  I still have more to do on this to darken the neck area and possibly try to darken the decorative part under his chin.  I will see.  I hope to finish this soon a it is a lot more work than I thought it would be.  However, I am having a lot of fun with it!

"Eyes In The Window Of Time"

This is one of those paintings where I let the painting show me the way it wanted to go.  I started with geometric shapes that were interlocking and overlapping.  It sat that way for quite some time until I decided that I wanted to use mixed media on it.  Then I had lots of fun painting designs, spraying, stenciling, etc.  I got quite a bit done on it and then hit another block!  Again it sat for quite a while, but then I decided to put a set of eyes and a hint of a face.  That pulled it all together for me and I did some more line work to finish it, and now I feel like it is done.  I am happy with it now and the name says it all.....