Here is one of the first illustrations I did using C.F. Payne’s mixed media technique. Although, Payne’s technique was derived from Mark English’s mixed media technique; Payne’s version seems to work better for me. This illustration called “Greenspan” was done from a small article in Time Magazine about the way the likes of Greenspan talk a language called “federalese” and after a few moments, most people, the media, realize that they have no idea what in the heck was said. So the concept of Greenspan as the court jester juggling the bowling pins seems to speak to the heart of the issue. We are entertained by the humor of that serious financial guy dress in funny clothes; we are being informed by the commentary but the whole time we are just watching a typical shallow song and dance show of of the feds manipulating the uninformed masses to take one more step towards their ultimate goal – own and control everything.
In this piece, I did not use the color in the same way as Payne. I used a singular flat wash of an ochre plus burnt sienna acrylic paint mixture and gesso over the entire transferred drawing. The transferred drawing was rendered a little with terra cotta prismacolor, the verthin pencil. Payne in contrast uses graphite on everything except flesh areas where he uses burnt ochre prismacolor thick lead pencils. Next, I used a mixture of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna watercolor (Grumbacher brand) to apply a a singular transparent flat wash. Let the wash to dry and then lift off the watercolor to create light areas and essentially rendering the form. Next a wash of a very thinned out (with mineral spirits) oil paint mixture of Dioxazine Violet and Permanent Green light and a touch of Burnt Sienna is brushed over the entire image and allowed to dry so that the sheen of the wetness has disappeared. Using a kneaded eraser, erase out the light areas and again essentially rendering the forms. After erasing out the light values on the forms, I sprayed the work with Sureguard (use only in a well ventilated area!!!) retouchable photographers lacquer. This spray will seal the work, add a tooth and remain workable so I can add washes of acrylics to adjust color strength and colored pencils to add greater degree of rendering and details. Also, sometimes I will use acrylic paint in a impasto manner in areas to interest or texture.
Greenspan was selected for publishing in Applied Art Magazine and was accepted into SILA, Society of Illustrators of Los Angles.