Studio Workhorse.... GOLDEN High Flow Acrylics

Pictured here in the morning light, these amazing paints look like little gems on my studio table. There’s so much to love about these GOLDEN High Flow paints.  Their rich, intense color that flows off the brush like watercolor but is permanent when dry, and the ease of pouring, dripping and splashing this paint is just some of what makes it a “go to” paint in the studio. Because it’s highly pigmented a small amount goes a long way too.

Here are some of the ways that I work with these versatile paints.

•    Various ways of pouring and on different surfaces (substrates)

•         Staining rice paper (Hosho and Kozo) and tissue for collage and finished work

•         Drawing with Fineline Applicators and in refillable markers

•        Glazing with or without glazing medium

•     Washes of color

• Flinging paint by hand

STUDIO TIP: The High Flow Bottles have a small ball in them to help keep the paints properly mixed. It’s important to shake them vigorously prior to using. You can hear the ball rolling around when you shake the paint. I save the used bottles to make custom color mixes because of the ball. Keeping the colors well mixed is trickier without the ball.

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Stained and painted tissue collage

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Line drawing using Fineline Applicator

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High Flow Acrylic poured and puddled on acrylic paper

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High Flow Acrylic poured over Heavy Body Acrylic

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Flinging High Flow by hand and pouring from the bottle

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High Flow Acrylic poured, stained collage paper and drawing with a FineLine Applicator

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Hosho paper stained with High Flow Acrylics

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High Flow Acrylic pouring, "Ebb and Flow", 12x12x1.5" on cradled panel

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High Flow Acrylics make the perfect drips

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High Flow Acrylics in FineLine Apllicator and with Marker Top

Mounting Paintings on Paper to Cradled Panels

The parade of paintings on my work table are lined up for next steps in the mounting process (above).  For the last several weeks I've been working on this project.  The pile of small works on paper has been growing steadily over the last couple of years. It's impossible to keep up with uploading them to the website.  Presenting them framed is cost prohibitive but I wanted a way to present at least some of them rather than being filed in a drawer for an occaisional viewing.  The idea to mount them to cradled panels came about during an exchange about this dilemma with an artist on Instagram.   After auditioning several paintings that would work for this kind of presentation I created a small test piece with the palm sized painting below. I love the way it turned out! More of these may go on the to-do list! 

The cradled basswood panels were prepped with GAC 100 and then gesso. Mounting the larger 9x12" and 11x14" paintings went well.   I used a thick application of GOLDEN's Soft Gel Matte, slathering it on with a palette knife like frosting a cake.  The paintings dried perfectly flat!  It was amazing considering that several pieces have collage and various types of acrylic paint on them which makes the surfaces uneven and some of the papers were buckled a bit.  The sides are in process of being painted.  There was an overstock sale at Jerry's Artarama on Ampersand Floater Frames for the 11x14" size so I purchased several to try out.  Looking forward to putting those together.   

Christine Sauer "Luminous"  11x14" acrylic and graphite on paper on cradled panel

This mounting process not only solved a problem but has also inspired many other ideas for other paintings and collages that i look forward to exploring soon.  If you are interested in more specific information about mounting art to panel or are interested in purchasing a piece please email me christinesauer@christinesauerstudio.space.

Christine Sauer, "Collection:Bundles"  11x14", acrylic, collage and Inktense pencils on paper on panel

"Night Flora"

Several months ago I started a new group of abstract floral paintings.  After posting a couple of my first Flora explorations on Instagram (@christinesauerstudio) several months ago, Mary Beth Shaw from StencilGirl contacted me for a post.  I’m so appreciative of being featured there!  I really enjoy working with the very creative designs from Stencil Girl stencils.  Here’s a bit of the process.

The lush and abundant flora of New Orleans inspires me.  I love photographing my garden and the floral streetscapes in my neighborhood, even at night when colors and forms take on a mysterious and luminous quality.  Photos are used for inspiration though I work primarily from imagination and through exploration of paint and other materials.  Part of the process when starting new work is to explore a variety of approaches on a small scale.  Creating rich, varied and textured surfaces is a big part of what I love to do.  GOLDEN’s Glass Bead Gel is one of my favorite mediums and I keep finding new ways to incorporate it into my work.

©Christine Sauer, “Night Flora” in process, 10x8”, acrylic on canvas board

For this exploration, a repurposed, experimental canvas board that already had paint and texture on it was used.  A rigid surface such as a panel or cradled panel would also work well.  The process started by pouring a variety GOLDEN High Flow acrylics in a freeform manner onto the surface.  I spritzed the paint lightly with H2O to help the colors merge and flow into each other.

©Christine Sauer,  10x8" Repurposed Canvas Board

GOLDEN High Flow colors used for pouring include Anthraquinone Blue, Iridescent Copper, Permanent Violet, and a mix of Green Gold with Hansa Yellow Light.

 1)      Let this dry over night before doing the next stage.  Because the colors merge in unpredictable ways, it‘s always fun to see how the pour has developed overnight!

©Christine Sauer,   GOLDEN Glass Bead Gel applied through stencil

2)      The next layer is GOLDEN Glass Bead Gel applied with a palette knife through stencils.  Maria McGuire’s “Ripple” stencil, shown here, and “Floral 2” by Traci Bautista were used in small sections and turned different directions to create an organic, abstract design with a sense of movement.  I love the gritty texture of the Bead Gel as a contrast to the smoother poured paint. Let dry approximately 4 hours or until it has dried clear before adding paint on top of the Bead Gel. TIP:  Carefully lift stencil.  Use a small color shaper to clean up between spaces if needed to keep shapes clean edged.

©Christine Sauer, (above) Wet Glass Bead Gel design (below) Dried Glass Bead Gel.  Fluid Acrylic colors painted on top of dried Glass Bead Gel.

3)      All colors were mixed with Iridescent Pearl to create sheer, luminous color and to provide high contrast to colors below. A small Filbert brush was perfect for the job. Sometimes it’s hard to see the dried Bead Gel Shapes.  I used the photo of the wet Bead Gel as a reference. TIP:  Iridescent paint dries quickly.  Spritz your palette with a little H2O periodically while painting.

©Christine Sauer   10x8", acrylic on canvas board, completed layer of Iridescent colors.

The above piece is still a work in progress and will still get some tweaks.  Below is another iteration of this process.  They have even more texture than the above piece.  For these I created a painted tissue layer first.  Then a dark glaze layer was added that allowed for the tissue colors to show through a bit prior to adding the Glass Bead Gel flora.

©Christine Sauer, “Night Flora” explorations- (above) 10x8”, acrylic, mixed media on canvas board (below) work in process, 8x8” acrylic, mixed media on cradled panel,