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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

micahmullen.blogspot.com

I recently finished three painting for some friends of mine. The pictures depict an area of Western North Carolina where they were married. I feel these are some of my most major works to date. Comments and criticism are of course welcome.

Valle Crucis #1 (View from Herb Thomas Road) 30x60" Acrylic
After spending some time at St John’s Episcopal Church where Jane and Braden were married I decided the best view was overlooking the valley from the road leading up to the church. It was a little overcast that day, but the sky still offered some incredible blues. Using several layers of masking tape and glazes, I created a cloudy sky. To further accentuate the clouds I outlined some of the cloud formations using Acryl Gouache. I feel the sky is the best part of the painting. The field was done in a similar way to the sky with contrasting greens accentuated with grass blades painted with Acryl Gouache.

Valle Crucis #2 (Waterfalls near Conference Center) 30x60" Acrylic
A long uphill climb led us to a breathtaking waterfall about a mile from the Valle Crucis Conference Center. I love painting waterfalls, the motion of the water allows for many different possibilities. In painting the waterfall for this painting I used 20/80 ratio of paint to glazing medium and then used detail applicator bottles to apply the waterlines. I really like the top middle of this piece, there is just enough bright yellows used to give the impression of light coming through the dense forest. The big rock at the bottom was created using a thick layer of neutral grey and impasto medium.

Valle Crucis #3 (Crab Orchard Creek) 30x60" Acrylic (Shown)
Located close to the Apple Barn at the Valle Crucis Conference Center is Crab Orchard creek. The tranquil stream is typical of most mountain streams, being very shallow and more rocky than muddy. This landscape allows for some interesting glazing techniques. The sienna glaze on top of the creek surface gives an effect of the water surface where can see but not define the rocks underneath. The most interesting part of this work is the left side; Here I used detail bottles and poured glaze to create some of the leaves. At the bottom I actually used dried glaze and applied the chips with gel medium. This was the most time consuming painting of three, but I feel it is the best offering several different painting techniques and a diverse array of colors.

www.micahmullen.com

Located in Atlantic Beach, NC, Hoop Hole Creek offers some interesting compositions. It is not a beach scene, but has marshes, dunes and twisting trees that one might fine on the southern east coast.

This painting consists of 12, 10x10" Gessobord panels mounted to an oak board, My goal was to create one composition, but each panel would use a different painting technique. The following are some of the techniques I used:

Row 1 - Middle Panel - Using glaze as a pourable paint
After painting much of the sky and some of the tree using traditional heavy bodied acrylics, I created an impasto barrier about 1/4" high. From there I poured a mixture of paint and glazing medium. The impasto "wall" confined the liquid to the panel. While still wet I dropped some chips of dried glaze in the liquid to represent the leaves and branches.

Row 3 - Middle Panel - After applying masking tape on the panel, I used an exacto knife to cut out the shapes of different tree branches. I then layered a mixture of impasto medium and pant into the cut out area. With the impasto mixture still wet I inserted some pieces of dried glaze.

Row 4 - Left Panel - Before applying any paint I used a generous amount of gesso on the panel. From there I used a palette knife and some other instruments to create different sculptural effects. The background made for several peaks and valleys which added to the painting process.

Row 4 - Right Panel - Being this was the sand part of the composition I mixed in actual sand with the paint. The texture is very subtle, but up close it helps convey the beach effect.

Comments and criticism are always welcome.

www.micahmullen.com
www.micahmullen.blogspot.com

Earlier this Summer I entered two paintings in a show titled Seeing Red at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh, NC. My goal with both of these paintings was to paint approximately half in varying shades of red, with the other half being the natural colors of the landscape as I saw them. In painting Duke Forest (pictured)I started by sketching a series of squares of the same size. I intended to create varying squares of red shades next to colors of the natural landscape. I took this a step further by painting half these squares directly on the glass. This 24x36" painting took nearly 50 hours, but it is was one of my personal favorites.

The second painting Linville River was the painting accepted into the show. In doing this I masked out horizontal and vertical bands and subsequently painted the unmasked area as I saw the natural colors. When completed I lifted the masking tape and painted the balance of the painting in shades of red.

Comments and criticism are always appreciated.

www.micahmullen.com
www.micahmullen.blogspot.com

In depicting elements in nature relief effects give a 3-dimensional effect that really makes the paint “pop” right off the canvas. In this painting technique I am using Matisse Structure paint (Carbon Grey) along with Matisse Impasto Medium to create tree bark.
Step 1: I mix a ratio of about 30% paint with 70% Impasto Medium. Make sure the mixture is throughly mixed (I use a palette knife) when complete the mixture should be the color of the paint.

Step 2: Apply as much masking tape as needed over the area where the impasto mixture will be applied. In this instance a width of about 4” of tape is used. I generally use more tape than is actually needed so the excess will catch any spillage in the removal process.

Step 3: Once the tape is applied I use an Exacto knife to cut out various shapes, It is important to use a sharp exacto knife and a heavweight canvas, otherwise you risk cutting right through the canvas

Step 4: Once the tape is prepared I use a palette knife and begin applying the impasto mixture. I like to use alot of the mixture, the impasto medium can hold peaks of about an inch. One applied you can use the knife to smooth out the mixture, or you can leave rough or even add some textured details when the mixture is still wet.

Step 5: When the mixture is still wet begin lifting the layers of tape off. Be sure to lift the layers by the outer layer first, otherwise you risk lifting all the layers at one and creating a mess.

When complete the Impasto mixture will take about 24 hours to fully dry. During this drying period you can add texture and subtly shape the peaks. Once dried, the peaks can be painted over just as if they were another layer of paint.

One of my favorite parks in Raleigh is Durant Park. Earlier this Summer my kids had their wrestling picnic in one of the shelters. I was able to sneak away and get some pictures of the creek. It seems the water in the creek is always pretty low so this results in alot of tree roots hanging over the creek. Definitely makes for some interesting pictures and of course later on interesting paintings.

For this painting I painted one layer on a 24x36” Gessobord. I deliberately omitted painting a lot of detail on the big tree and the rock system in the lower right corner. When I finished painting the panel, I primed certain areas of a glass pane, and subsequently painted those. When finished I placed the glass on top of the panel. I started exploring this method of glass painting when I did my second DVD Abstracting the Outdoors: Unlikely Surfaces, it really allows for a different and interesting depth perception that I have yet to achieve from a one layered two dimensional work.

My favorite part of the week is usually Saturday night around 6:00 or so. After a day of painting or running errands I love to sit out on my deck and enjoy a cigar and a cold beverage. My deck is elevated about 12’ from the ground so it overlooks my lawn that extends into a wooded area.

The painting shown is a view from my deck. The lawn and forest area are painted on a 12x16” Gessobord panel. The planks and beams of the deck are painted on a piece of glass. Before I framed the piece I separated the glass and the panel with four balsa wood strips that are concealed by the lip of the frame. The picture shown does not really give the right perception, but if you were to look at the painting from any angle you can really see how the glass is offset from the panel,

Detail bottles are 1/2 oz. squeezable plastic bottles with tiny applicator tips in different size openings. I like to create a mixture of 30% paint and 70% glazing medium. They are sold in a set of three, so I typically mix three different colors. From there the paint mixture can be applied to create string like effects. I find this works well for things like waterfalls, ripples etc.

In creating Looking Glass Falls (pictured) I used the the detail bottles to create the waterfall in a combination of white, silver and turquoise. There is also some impasto effect to give the waterfall more dimension. In contrast to the darker colors used to represent the rocks in the background this waterfall really stands out.