The Evolution of a Mixed Media Painting

Today I created a seascape based on an image I saw within a design that was on a faux marble countertop in a hotel room I stayed in last fall when my mom and I were in Seattle. Sometimes my ideas come from crazy everyday stuff like that. 

This is a photo I took of the faux marble design that was in the countertop...and I thought this specific spot looked like an ocean seascape. Can you see it? 

So I started with a 12"x36" canvas on my easel today. 

I sketched with graphite and charcoal to outline the seascape. Sketching seascapes is something I've done a lot in my art sketchbooks, and on large paper, but this is the first one I've done like this on canvas. 

Then I added in with soft chalk pastels. I wanted to mimic the faux marble design of the soft sketchiness look, but I also wanted to make it a painting. 

So next I painted in areas with acrylic paints. 

But I still wanted the sketchiness of it, so continued the layers. I outlined more with the soft chalk pastels and charcoal. 

And for the final touch (to give it my personal expression) I splattered on top with latex house paint to create some action in the waves. 

The Line

c. 2018 Lisa Marten

12x36 mixed media on canvas

(graphite, charcoal, chalk pastel, acrylic paint, latex house paint)

I purposely left the top of this painting unfinished and I call it "The Line" because it's about standing at the edge of uncertainty...or perhaps it's certainty that has yet to be embraced. Looking out past the line of the horizon...contemplating your purpose, your calling, your future...to move forward into the unknown. It's that moment before you step out...before you choose to cross the line and go forward...to take the risk and answer the beckoning call across the water...to be brave and become who you were made to be. The painting is intentionally unfinished because life is unfinished...and there is so much more to experience and be a part of...and that line keeps moving.