Yesterday at the Wallkill River School I gave a class on abstract painting that turned into being more of a Mixed Media abstract art class. We had a ton of fun and the 6 hrs (whew!) flew by. The participants were amazing. They were adventurous and dug right into creating texture and images with found objects, rubbing alcohol, plastic, molding paste, etc. I brought my camera but - of course - forgot to take photos. The piece above is what I created. We're going to do the class again in November and they want to mess around with the 'fabric paper' that I make. I heard a few "oooohs" when I described this mixed media 'paper' that is made from sheer fabric and can be either machine or hand stitched. I'll try to remember to take photos during that session!

Sometimes it's a good idea to let things set for awhile before deciding if they are done or not. Case in point, I added more to this painting afterwards - after wondering if it was done. It's much better I think than before...looks more like my voice....lots of layering and complexity.

How do YOU know?

I started this acrylic painting yesterday and arrived at this point today. I never know when or if enough is enough. Is this painting finished? Or should I go for more layers? Are there rules? If so, what are they???? When I started this I was going after a textured painting with an organic nature. I'm contemplating layering more organic shapes and marks but I dunno...I just dunno.