A couple of weeks ago, I drove to Las Cruces with my painting friend Karen Halbert to take a workshop from Julie Ford Oliver. She is a wonderful teacher and very generous with her information. The ladies in the class were very good painters and so much fun. We laughed a lot. But we were there to learn Julie's technique of "fracturing". She has invented a very cleaver tool which is like a small squeegee which enables you to make your paintings more painterly. The painting above is one I did before the workshop and the one below is my attempt at the fracturing technique. Of course, Julie's beautiful paintings make it look so easy but I feel that I need to practice more and can see various applications for this technique.
This was a excercise I did in the workshop, painted on Senso Canvas which is neutral colored canvas. It's beautiful if you allow the canvas to show through in spots - but the fracturing technique needs some practice! You can see the results of the use of the tool in the background. Google Julie for more information on her technique and she even gives directions to make the tool in one of her earlier blogs.
