I’ve talked about Alisa Burke on many occasions while blogging for Piece of Craft. Just to reiterate, Burke is a freelance artist and crafter. She wrote my favorite crafting book of all time, Canvas Remix, gives classes (including online workshops, check them out!), has had her artwork featured in a variety of galleries, and has an amazing blog that I check multiple times a week. Her work has been the inspiration for a great deal of the crafts I have written about and made myself. Today is no exception.
I find many of Burke’s projects to be approachable by anyone of most skill levels. The other day I was flipping through the pages of her blog and happened upon her ideas for wall art. What she did was paint canvases black, and then used a white-out pen to draw on them. Her drawings consisted of basic lines, dots and circles. She created patterns that appear very reminiscent of tribal art, but when finished, they look quite elegant. I really like the idea of just using basic lines, dots and geometric shapes -- the artwork is very minimalist, but allows for great variation and depth, depending on what the artist actually decides to do.
On Burke’s paintings, she used the following designs: striped zigzag lines, a pattern of leaves, circles of various sizes connected by lines, and a mixture of various designs confined in a square space. I recommend if you want a pattern type like Burke’s, have a plan before starting. Otherwise, if you’re looking to just kind of doodle and see where your art takes you, feel free to begin right away without any plan in mind.
There are a few other things to also keep in mind. Make sure you paint the sides of your canvas; if you don’t, the entire artwork just looks weird when you hang it up. Also, just because Burke used black doesn’t mean you have to. Any color would look really cool, perhaps even a mixture of colored canvases. I would also recommend using acrylic paint for this project; Burke doesn’t say what type of paint she uses here, but watercolors and white-out pens honestly won’t have the same effect as a deep acrylic color.
If anyone tries this project, send me your finished project; I’d love to see it! E-mail me with pictures, questions, or comments at fbreisbl@asu.edu.
