Quarry at the Eno River

Painted entirely in thin fluid acrylics, this work reflects the quarry at the Eno River. The picture was taken on a beautiful, crisp day in early March. Although there was not a cloud in the sky I chose to alternate colors in the sky in a combination of cobalt and cerulean. Both the sky and the water were created by first outlining a grid of a squares (each about 1/2" x 1/2") The squares were all individually painted to reflect a distinct color or pattern. The land mass of trees uses a series of greens and earthtones, I needed to use two different glazes of Burnt Umber and Raw Sienna to provide some contrast with the land and water.

Quarry at Eno River - 12x24" Acrylic on Canvas

Finishing a Painting – How long should the painting process take?

A question I am often asked is – “How long did it take you to do that?” Unlike most other questions about a painting this is one I always have an answer for. I am a firm believer in the power of time – never too much, never too little. I have painted enough varying sizes of canvases to know how long I should be painting. I always keep notes as too how long I have painted – if the painting process of a 16x20” takes 5 hours less than a 16x20” painting I finished last year, I know I did something wrong. Sure the more I paint the more seasoned I become at different techniques, but does that mean I can accept mediocrity and stop learning and improving my art. Of course not – I am a firm believer that persistence and hard work hold suit over talent and training.

I have to keep working, not to arrive at finish, which arouses the admiration of fools... I must seek completion only for the pleasure of being truer and more knowing.

Paul Cezanne

Art-A-Thon for Haiti

Yesterday I participated in an "Art-A-Thon" to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I had four hours to paint a 12x12" painting that would be bid on later on. This definitely took me out of my painting element as a painting of this size would normally take about 12 hours . Nonetheless I finished the painting and it was hung on the wall to bid on later. I did not think the painting was very good, but I guess with events like this I need to remember it is not about perfection, but rather a reminder of the importance of community. Maybe the painting put a smile on someone's face and hopefully the money donated will help aid that region of the world in a small way.

The event was alot of fun, but I was hoping to see more people. The kids enjoyed painting, and they seemed interested by the airbrush artists. I was painting in the morning and early afternoon - being the event was in a nightclub I am sure the it got more crowded as the moved on.

Swamp at Crews Road #2

I just finished this painting depicting a swampy area on Old Crews Road not too far from my house. The paints used for his work are a bit of a diversion from how I normally paint. I normally work on a painting by first creating a layer using Matisse Structure heavy Bodied Acrylics. After this layer is made I will use a combination of Matisse Flow Fluid acrylics and Turner Acryl Gouache to add the details over this layer. For this painting I did not use the heavy bodied acrylic and worked exclusively with Turner Acryl Gouache and Matisse Flow Acrylics. In a way these types of paints are opposites in that the Acryl Gouache is opaque and most of the Flow acrylics are thin and transparent. Using these in conjunction with one another provides for some interesting effects. Certain colors work better with other, so of course a lot of trial and error is involved.

Swamp at Old Crews Road #2 - 12x24" Acrylic on Canvas

Focusing on One Art Form at a Time

Often times the lines are blurred as to what constitutes “Art”. Art is part of our lives everyday – whether it be the elevator music in the dentist’s office or the inspiring collages and paintings my children bring home from school – there is no doubt art is everywhere. To consider myself the best artist I can be at any type of art means I have to focus on one thing at a time. I never thought cooking to be an art until I tried to split time between doing both. The end result . . . dinner was bad and so was the painting.

I spend many hours in front of the easel – during this time I listen to a lot of music. It really is amazing the profound effect background sounds have on my paintings. The few times I have listened to sports radio or NPR while painting have always yielded poor results. While painting I have listened to everything from opera to heavy metal. It seems I am most successful when I listen to top 40 pop music. The irony of this is when given a choice of music to listen to, I consider most of these songs mind numbing and if not painting would probably listen to anything else.

I guess trial and error will keep my mind focused on the art form that is important to me at a particular moment in time.

3" Wide Canvases - Grassy Creek Falls

So I just finished an 8x6" painting - Nothing to distinguishable about that size. Sorry forgot to mentions the edges are 3" wide. Pretty cool stuff . The end product is almost more sculpture than 2 dimensional painting. This size canvas offered some different opportunities and challenges. I normally paint on 1-1/2 wide canvas and I always paint the edges. In these paintings I look at the subject and only consider the face of the canvas - when it comes time to paint the edges I just extend it over the edges. This type of fudging works with 1.5", but for 3" I needed to consider a much larger area for the subject.

The scene painted is Grassy Creek Falls in western North Carolina.

Grassy Creek Falls - 8x6" Acrylic on Canvas

Swamp at Old Crews Road

This might be the smallest painting I have ever done at only 5x7". Per square inch this took me about seven times longer than a painting done on a 30x40" canvas. It seems kind of silly to put this in a frame since the 1-1/2" canvas sides occupy about as much space as the face of the canvas. I guess I'll do some experimentation.

The last two months we've been getting alot of rain in eastern North Carolina, so I frequently see these type of swampy areas in very ordinary places.

Swamp at Old Crews Road - 5x7" Acrylic on Canvas

Pocosin Lakes - Step 6 - Final

Ok, Step 6 probably should have been Steps 6, 7, 8 . . . Needless to say there was quite a bit involved with finishing this painting. I struggled mightily with how I was going to paint the big tree. My initial thought was to create impasto walls going up each side and then use a liquid mixture to fill the space in the enter of the tree. I opted against that and chose to use more detail on the tree bark and branches.

In doing the big leafy areas of the tree, I used a bright palette of color - when everything was painted I came back and added a fluid acrylic/glazing medium mixture applied with applicator bottles. Eileen walked in while I was doing this, and said I was adding ornaments to the Christmas tree. While that was not my intention perhaps there is some truth to that perception.

This painting took over 50 hours of painting time, but I am quite happy with the finished product.

Some of the earlier pictures of the process were photographed in sub par lighting, so that would explain much of the color variances.

All comments, questions and criticism are welcomed.

Pocosin Lakes - Step 5

I will paint the big tree last, but I now will focus on some of the larger trees that ascend from the wooded area into the sky an in some cases off the canvas. This is an enjoyable part of the painting process, because it allows different experimentation with colors and patterns.

Pocosin Lakes - Step 4

Probably the most challenging and time consuming portion of the painting process comes with the densely wooded area behind the water. This is a three step process that begins by using standard heavy bodied acrylics to depict the shapes and colors of the various trees, bushes and foliage. Once these forms are made I will use a thinner fluid acrylic or sometimes acryl gouache to add details and give these elements more character. Finally I will use 4 to 6 different glazes to help add some depth and set this area off from the water, sky and other elements in the painting.

Pocosin Lakes - Step 3

The water elements of this work will probably be the most visible when the painting is finished. There are three components to this water. 1. the water is shaded by the wooded ares 2. the water that is unshaded and 3. the water shaded by the big tree.

I begin by using heavy body Acrylics consisting of Carbon Black, Hookers Green, Paynes Grey, Midnight Blue and Australian Sap Green. Titanium White is used to create different shades of all these colors. Covering components 1 and 3, I concentrate on darker shades - with the unshaded area several grays and light blues are used. I now use Acryl Gouache in varying shades of greens, blues and white to create detail an water ripples.

When covered I move onto applying two glazes over the entire area. For component 1, I use a dark glaze of Hookers Green and a little Carbon Black. The remaining area is covered with glaze of midnight blue. This glaze makes the water ripples look like an under painting and gives an effect of movement.

To create the water ripples on top of the water, I use a glaze mixture of white and Sap Green. This is applied through detail applicator bottles to give the further effect of water movement.

Pocosin Lakes - Step 2

When beginning the painting process I always work in sections from the background to the foreground. In this case the sky is where I begin - I choose three colors (Paynes Grey, Midnight Blue and Carbon Grey) and create 1" bands all the way down to where the sun is rising. When I get to this area I use five different bands of Naples Yellow to achieve the sunset effect. When these bands are complete I create three separate mixtures of fluid acrylic paint and glazing medium - this time using the colors Australian Sky Blue and a light and dark shade of Paynes Grey. These transparent bands are painted over the opaque bands that were made earlier. For the sunset at the bottom a glaze of Cadmium Yellow Light is painted over each band of Naples Yellow.

Pocosin Lakes - Step 1

After doing several smaller paintings, I am back on track and painting a larger (30x40") canvas. Over the next week or two my blog entries will reflect some of the different stages involved in making this painting.

The subject I have chosen is Pocasin Lakes Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, North Carolina. I visited the area in early October, so there are some interesting reds and autumn colors reflected in the photograph. I like this picture because it includes sky, land and water. As I start to paint these areas each will reflect a different painting style.

As with all my paintings, I begin by doing a pencil sketch of the photograph. I rarely refer to this sketch during the painting process, but I find it helps me think of the image in more abstract forms and the additional study time that I spend focused on the image helps churn more ideas.

"Intangible Illusions" at the Arts Council of Wayne County

An exhibit of the work of artists John Wendelbo, Micah Mullen and Adam Beeby.

Goldsboro, North Carolina - 2406 E. Ash Street - (919) 736-3300

Opening Reception - Thursday February 11 - 5 to 7 pm. Music by Eric Knight

Exhibit Dates: February 11 to March 25

www.artsinwayne.org

Cotton Field Paintngs

The second in a series of cotton field paintings. The purple and blue sky in this came out magnificent. The cotton is this painting is again composed of fluid acrylics (Pearl White and Van Dyke Brown) mixed with glazing medium.

Cotton Field off Highway 64 #2 - 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas

"Raleigh" Three Artist's Interpretations of Raleigh - Inside and Outside the Beltline

Capital Bank hosts this premier exhibit. Opening February 5th at Capital Bank Plaza Lobby. 333 Fayetteville Street, Downtown Raleigh - Reception 5:30 - 8:30.

Featuring: Dan Nelson, Micah Mullen and Nicole White Kennedy

Dan Nelson is renowned in Raleigh for his unique illustrative style depicting scenes like downtown Raleigh...one of his favorite subjects. Most of these large paintings are actually executed "en plein air" meaning out in the open air.

Nicole White Kennedy has always painted scenes from Raleigh and is particularly enamored with the State Fair, (a forthcoming series) and the beautiful Greenways, local lakes, rivers and Falls Dam area, In 2009 Nicole won First Place at the Fine Arts League of Cary and was juried into the Audubon Artists National exhibit at Salmagundu Club in NYC, winning the "Jack Richeson" award.Nicole has been painting scenes around Raleigh for years. These pieces focus on the beautiful scenery outside te beltline and the State Fair

Raleigh Artist, MicahMullen, has shown in numerous solo exhibits and has been juried into countless regional and national exhibits with his mezmerizing mosaic interpretations of nature. Mullen won FIRST PLACE in the National Multi media Juried Exhibit at Rocky Mount Arts Center. This series on Raleigh focuses on his unique interpretation of the beauty found in some well-known and yet undiscovered gems in Raleigh!

Sponsored in part by Nicole's Studio and Gallery

Artist's Unite for Haiti - This Weekend!

Help the Disaster Relief efforts in Haiti by donating an unframed work on paper

All works will be for sale for $25

Exhibition and sale of work will be at THE LoDi PROJECT on:

Friday February 5th (4 - 10p.m.),

Sat Feb 6th (11-4 p.m.)

and Sunday February 7th (11-4p.m.)

Visit the Lodi Project for Full Information

The pieces shown are done by me and my Dad and are two of hundreds that will be for sale this weekend.

Whitewater Falls #4

I've received many great remarks on my series of paintings depicting Whitewater Falls. This is the fourth time I have painted this setting. This particular painting is very similar to the third of this series only it is on a much smaller surface. I really enjoy doing paintings like this since the palette is so vibrant with colors.

Beginning Friday February 5th, this painting will be at the Nature Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Downtown Raleigh. www.naturalsciences.org

Whitewater Falls #4 - 18x24" Acrylic on Canvas

A View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

This painting is inspired from a trip we took to western North Carolina in early November. My original thought was to paint the big tree in the foreground on glass and offset that over the rest of the composition. I probably will do that at some point, as I do like this composition.

This painting and blog entry are both dedicated my wife Eileen who is celebrating her birthday today. Without her none of this is possible. I'm quite sure if she was not in my life I would not being painting - she is my first and remains my greatest inspiration.

Happy Birthday, Love Micah

A View from the Blue Ridge Parkway - 9x12" Acrylic on Watercolor Paper

Cotton Field off NC Highway 64

Growing up in the North, I always tended to see cotton as a synthetic/artificial material. Seeing it grow out of the ground in full bloom is quite interesting. The pure white of the cotton offset against the greens of the field and the trees in the background create some interesting color contrasts.

The cotton is this painting is composed of fluid acrylics (Pearl White and Van Dyke Brown) mixed with glazing medium. I am anxious to try a similar composition on a larger canvas.

Cotton Field off NC Highway 64 - 9x12" Acrylic on Watercolor Paper

Justin Vining

I came across an outstanding artist a few months ago. The works of Justin Vining use color and distorted geometry in a fascinating way that makes one look at the entire painting, not just the focal point. In the cityscape shown of Chicago I am drawn to the skyline in the upper left portion of the surface, but along the way I take in all parts of the city blocks and the dazzling shapes and colors.

I’ve been following Justin over the past few months and it is so nice to see someone with such passion for art. He currently is doing some promotions – stop by his website and drop him a line. www.justinvining.com

Grassy Creek Falls #2

I’ve always considered my paintings to be “mosaic” like in appearance. The varying grids of color make for diverse patterns, and I always try to achieve a gloss like finish to the paint to give that high sheen appearance when dry. Given this painting style, it seemed a natural transition might be to use real mosaic chips in the painting. I’ve accumulated enough old plates from yard sales over the years so I have quite a big selection from which to create some colorful patterns. This particular composition offered varying blues, greens and earth tones to allow for a variety of my plate collection to be broken and subsequently placed into the painting. I’ve done a few mosaic/paintings over the years. The 18x24” surface is the smallest I have done so far. The surface used for this project is Ampersand Gessobord and the primary paint used is Turner Acryl Gouache.

18x24" Acrylic and Broken Plates on Gessobord

All comments welcome.

Artists Unite for Haiti

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AND EMERGENCY CALL FOR ARTISTS

To help the Earthquake Disaster Relief efforts in Haiti All funds will be donated directly to Mercy Corps (www.mercycorps.org)and designated to the immediate relief of the Haitian people

CALL FOR ARTISTS:

Open to all artists of any level and any country - everyone is welcome to contribute

Help the Disaster Relief efforts in Haiti by donating an unframed work on paper to the Artists Unite for Haiti art sale.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Work on paper or light board any size, but no larger than 11 x 17 inches (maximum size: 29 cm x 43cm)

Any medium such as: drawing, painting, collage, photography

All works must be unframed and unsigned- the work needs to be signed on the back (also include your city and country)

Work will be hung using clips, so avoid using heavy materials.

Each artwork will be sold for $25.00

The artists will remain anonymous until after sale

SUBMISSIONS:

Multiple submissions are welcome - Deadline for submissions to arrive in the gallery isThursday February 4th, 2010

Send work to: The LoDi Project, Attn. Artists United for Haiti, 1126 North Blount Street, Raleigh NC 27604 USA

We encourage artists from all over the world to send their drawings, and please pass the word about this exhibition to other artists.

Mercy Corps:

For more information on Mercy Corps click here: www.mercycorps.org

To donate any amount please click on our fund-raising page:

http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/artistsuniteforhaiti

For further information please contact:

Peter Eversoll at peversoll@yahoo.com or Georges Le Chevallier at georges@thelodiproject.com

www.thelodiproject.com

Crabtree Creek : A View from the Greenway

A painting depicted from a scene in late November of 2009. I took several pictures from the bike path overlooking Crabtree creek. It was a cold miserable sky, the grey sky is somewhat reflective of the atmospheric conditions in contrast to the blue water which if looked on alone might depict a sunnier day. Most of the leaves had since fallen leaving a lot of interesting earth tones to work with. The big trees really allowed for some interesting details and they have a lovely contrast with the sky and the water.

18x24" painted on 300 lb. Watercolor paper.

Sweetwater Creek #2

In the second painting of my Sweetwater Creek series I decided to hold off on the impasto work. I like the water in this piece and the reflections of the trees seem more pronounced. The depth provided by the blacks, grays and blues in the top center make a bit of intrigue as to where the water ends and land and trees begin.

Even when looking at this work now, I wonder if I should not done some impasto work. I guess I'm always my best and worst critic, as the few people who have seen this painting like it better than Sweetwater Creek #1.

All comments welcome.

Upcoming Show: Tuxedo Gallery at Tuxedo Junction

Micah Mullen

A Painter’s View: The Carolina Landscape

January 8th - February 7th

Artists’ Reception - Friday January 8th, 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Tuxedo Art Gallery is a private visual arts organization dedicated to enriching the cultural environment of Wake Forest. Their goal is to encourage regional artists and enrich the Wake Forest community through the arts.

Directions from Raleigh

Take the NC-98 E ramp toward WAKE FOREST.

Turn RIGHT onto NC-98 E. 1.3 miles

Turn LEFT onto S MAIN ST/US-1 ALT.0.8 miles

Turn RIGHT onto E ELM AVE. 0.2 miles

Turn RIGHT onto S BROOKS ST. 403 S BROOKS ST

Tuxedo Junction is on the LEFT in the Tuxedo Junction Shopping Mall

www.tuxedojunctioninc.com

919-673-4001

Thomas Teague

The artwork of Thomas Teague is absolutely stunning. I admire his choices of simplicity in his selection of subjects. This allows the artwork to take center stage and not be subjugated by an overly used or an overly complicated subject. While I have a personal fondness for Tom’s works that depict nature, he has a wide range of talents ranging from the most incredible detail with thousands of colors to subtle abstract works using only a limited palette.

From January 10 until January 31, 2010, Thomas Teague will be exhibiting recent paintings at the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill. The opening and artist's reception is January 10, 2-4pm. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. HWH is located at 610 East Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill, NC. Hours are Tuesdays-Fridays, 10am-4pm. Sundays, 1-4pm.

www.thomashartteague.com

http://thomasteague.wordpress.com/

A Year of Painting, A Year of Patience and Time

During 2009 my time as a painter has offered some of the most rewarding experiences of my life. During the calendar year of 2009 I painted 35 paintings ranging from 5x7” to 36” 72” in size. I was once asked what I think my strongest attributes as an artist are. I think most artists would try to answer this question based on how they see their style of art. One artist I know considers his best attribute to be his bold use of expressive colors. Other artists might describe their strengths based on teachers, mentors or perhaps the attributes of the great artists throughout history. For me there is no doubt that my strongest attributes are based on my firm understanding of the importance of patience and time. Some people think I’m nuts in my “stopwatch” mentality of painting. If I know a 16x20” painting typically takes me 24 hours of painting time and I do a second 16x20” and it takes only 20 hours - Is this second painting inferior to the first? Maybe I’m my own worst critic, but I would answer that question with an affirmative YES! Patience and time do matter.

I sit here pondering how I will spend my New Years Eve. Will I go out to a restaurant? Will I watch movies? Will I watch college football? I enjoy all these things, but I think I will most likely end 2009 the way it began – and spend some time in front of the easel remembering the importance of patience and time in painting and life.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Painting shown is Double Falls 36x72" Acrylic on Canvas (The first completed painting of 2009)

Sweetwater Creek

Sweetwater Creek is located in Eastern North Carolina near Williamston. During a recent trip to the region I took some pictures from the highway overpass. Things like sunken trees and dark muddy water with brilliant defined reflections make this a very interesting landscape.

There are several different acrylic painting techniques I used to create this picture. The water was painted in different grays, greens and purples – when complete I applied a thick sap green glaze over the water this allowed for a sharp contrast with the foreground. The grassy area in the foreground is different bands of greens and yellows accented by speckles of contrasting greens and yellows to represent the wet grass. The further background in the top 1/3 of the painting represents the dense forestry I saw in that area.

Certainly the most involved and eye catching elements of this work are the trees. The detail work and heavy impasto allow these trees to jump off the canvas. In some cases (like the red in the upper left) dried paint/glaze is adhered to the canvas using gel medium.

Sweetwater Creek 20x20” Acrylic on Canvas

Painting on Metal

I’ve done a few paintings where I painted directly on sheets of aluminum. When doing this I like to leave portions of the metal exposed in the final painting as the shimmering surface adds some interesting effect.

To do a painting like the one shown I start by masking out the portions where the metal will be exposed, in this case rocks within a mountain stream. After the masking tape has been applied to the selected areas, I cover the entire surface with a metal primer. The primers will dry in a few hours and I begin painting the surface. I like to use acryl gouache to do paintings on metal – this is a multi-surface paint with good adhesion since it dries matte and is opaque there is little chance for streaking or surface exposure. When the paint is finished I’ll remove the masking tape and add some highlights to the exposed metal.

Shown - Mountain Stream #1 12x18" Acryl Gouache on Aluminum

Grassy Creek Falls

I try to think of my paintings in three sections. Usually those sections are sky, water and land. In most cases each section occupies between 1/4 and 1/3 of the entire painting surface. This painting was a bit unique and more challenging in that land (the rocks making up the waterfall) occupied over 85% of the surface. The reason for the greater challenge comes from the intricacies of all the details. In painting the water or sky I tend to use broader bands of color and therefore these can be done quicker. This also makes the painting process a bit less tedious in that I can think of it in sections.

Despite the challenges of the compositions, I am very pleased with this painting. The patterns of the rock and the glazing elements of the waterfall and sky really make various elements pop off the canvas. This 24x24” work took over 35 hours to complete. It really is a nice complement to Crabtree Falls and Crabtree Creek which are also 24x24” and are also inspired from this same region of western North Carolina.

Gustav Klimt?

Recently another artist mentioned my paintings somewhat reminded her of the works of Gustav Klimt. Although several people have made this reference over the years I always dismissed it, thinking only of Klimt’s ‘Golden Phase’ where he painted The Kiss and other figure works. In looking at the work done during this phase I could see similarities to my style, but perhaps through my own stubbornness I decided not to make a comparison with people and landscapes. I now know Klimt painted somewhere around 50 landscapes in his short life. In these works I can definitely see similarities of our styles. In Klimt’s Pear Tree that is shown I love the multitude of colors used to accentuate the leaves, yet there is still enough contrast to separate the tree trunks, grass and sky.

Crabtree Creek - Near Little Switzerland

This is the second painting I completed that is inspired from a recent trip to Western North Carolina. This painting depicts an area of Crabtree Creek about 1/4 mile up from Crabtree Falls. The picture was taken on a crisp autumn day in early November.

In choosing the color selection I used more vibrant colors than what is shown in the photograph. I started painting the water with a selection of my favorite blues including: Cobalt Blue, Indigo and Midnight Blue. The actual color shown in the picture is more of a brown, black – but I could not resist taking advantage of the vibrancy of these incredible blues. This picture was taken on a clear day early in the morning – my intent with the far background of yellow and bright greens was to give the effect of sunlight popping through the trees. Unfortunately what I found was there was not enough contrast with first tier of foliage vs. the trees that are in more of the foreground area. To gain this contrast I used a technique that I previously reserved for water effects. I mixed some Hookers Green and some glazing medium and poured the mixture into a detail bottle. I applied this dark green mixture on nearly all the leaves in this area. It offset it from the first tier of trees and created a nice composition.

Crabtree Falls – Off the Blue Ridge Parkway

On a recent trip to Little Switzerland, North Carolina I saw Crabtree Falls. This magnificent waterfall is highlighted with powerful rushing waters and beautiful moss covered rocks. I visited the area in early November, so I expected to see more autumn colors, but the area was more filled with pine trees and moss making for some spectacular greens.

In choosing how to paint this, I selected a view that showed a tree that was growing in an island near the base of the waterfall. This made for a strong focal point with the waterfall in the back and a brilliant blue and yellow sky in the far background. I began this painting with the sky and basically worked my way from background to foreground, with the tree being the last thing that was painted. To create the waterfall I used two different sized detail bottle applicators filled with Iridescent White and Australian Sky Blue. This type of application provides a subtle impasto effect but is not too overwhelming.

I personally think the rocks in the bottom 1/3 of this painting are quite interesting. The palette used for these rocks consists primarily of Carbon Black, Paynes Grey, Midnight Blue and some purples.

This is the first of two paintings inspired from this trip, I look forward to doing some more in the near future.

Using Mosaic Chips in a Painting

Using mosaic chips in art definitely adds a different element to a painting.  Since my paintings tend to be grids of thousands of colors they appear very “mosaic” like when they are completed, so using real mosaic chips in conjunction with the paint seems to work ok. 

I completed this piece (Creek at Candlehurst Lane #2) in the summer of 2008.  It represents a stream that is just a short walk from my house.  The majority of this is painted with acryl gouache on a 48x60” piece of birch.  I isolated six different areas, where I would integrate mosaic chips.   Once I painted the wood panel, I searched for old plates that might have some colors or patterns that would somewhat correspond with the colors that were painted.  I knew the color matches would not be exact to matching that of the paint, but that was ok since it would ultimately help the mosaics stand out.  I tried to use similar colors when selecting the colors for the tile grout.

After all the mosaics were glued and the grout was polished this work came out really nice.  It has been over a year, since I did anything like this, but I will be starting a new project in the upcoming months.  The mosaic chips I used for this piece were from existing plates that already had patterns on them.  Acryl gouache is versatile enough that it can be used on a variety of surfaces, so I think I will make my own mosaic chips and incorporate them into another painting.  I look forward to getting started on this project soon.  Comments and questions are of course always welcomed.