Mixed Media Experiments

I self-identify as a painter.  I like the squishy-ness and forgiveness of a viscous liquid medium.  Ever since I bought some pigments in Venice, though, I've been trying to figure out how to incorporate them into artwork without going full Da Vinci and mixing my own everything from scratch... Look.  I walked away from Chemistry in 2002 and have not looked back.  So drawing and collaging all of a sudden became way less intimidating then chemicals!  And here we are.  Here are some of my latest experiments.  First, Bryce Canyon.  No, it doesn't look like that but this fun watercolor / charcoal / pastel / paper collage mixed media piece set a good foundation for how I'm processing those canyon colors.

This piece is two-fold, I don't think it's done, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.  First, I was playing around with photo transfers.  I have some cool overexposures I've been trying to decide what to do with, and I figured out this technique of transferring photocopy toner onto paper using acrylic gel medium - voila!  Then I watercolored over it.  And now I'm not sure what to do.  It needs another layer... I may have some story illustration in my future.  What do you think should be happening in this picture?

I put a bunch of things together in this piece.  First, before adhering three overexposed photo transfers, I put some of my Venetian pigment onto the paper and squished it in with the gel medium.  Then I went to town with some pastels and conte, adding color and some Venetial motifs that I collected photos of in the streets of Venice.  Clearly this was fun... it's another good foundation for taking the work in new directions.  What do you think?  Stay tuned for how these experiments show up in my next round of work!