Wednesday, March 28, 2012

This week's work....

I've spent all of the last week working on this last Angel of Spring piece.  I'm not happy. I am happy. Depends on where I look. Her mouth still needs work. The size of her head shawl is way too big. I like the backgrounds. I like the colors in her face. Her face was done using Sharon Tomilson's "Faces in Collage" technique. I used a vintage photo of my mom! She was sooo beautiful. Here, she was about 15 I think.

I used Angelina fibers for her shall... they are still really glittery, but will tame down with the encaustic layer. I also used some vintage hand tatted trim around her veil. I like it... still working on the staining/coloring of that.  And I also like the Rosary necklace that I placed in yesterday. It also, will look great with the encaustic wax coat.

Oh... and I think she needs hands. I was trying to get away from painting hands... but looks like I need to.




So... I've been frustrated... ALLOT! with this piece, so I've started on something different.... birds on a wire, using vintage music collaged onto a canvas, then heavy layers of paint. Here's how far I've gotten...
I love the thick heavy brush strokes. Even used some heavy modeling paste here and there. I like the depth of adding more and more layers, and using a huge brush, bigger strokes.



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Angels of Spring #4 & 5

So... I'm loving working in my cleaned up studio. What a pleasure to have space and be able to find the tools and paints I want. I just finished up Angel of Spring #4 & #5. Please give me constructive feedback!










Friday, March 16, 2012

She's coming along....

Well... she's coming along! I'm happy with what's appearing here. Still more layers, glazings, paint, and who-knows-what!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

My Wood Nympth Angel progress

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, and, on the other hand, I'm telling my inner critic to hush now.  I kinda like her... but her mouth needs to be bigger. This shows layer after layer of color on her face. Aqua, ruby red, forest green, copper, and now skin tones.  I'm happy with the the trees in the background. Her eyes need adjustment too. Now I think I should take this down until I can 'fix' things. oh well.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

What I've been working on.....

So, I'm on a roll now, creating my series "Angels of the Spring"  As with the previous painting, it is mixed media collage and encaustic.... actually, I've started another one today.... I'm one of those who likes to keep several projects going at once.

Here's the whole painting.... I loved playing with the found images when they showed up... like the arch. I hadn't seen it until I stood back, so with a little touch up I continued the straight line and accentuated lines that suggest stones or bricks.

 I love these flowers... they are all collaged from some fabulous papers. They just felt right around her neck.
 These are the pics of the crackle finish. I love the suggestion of age, then an application of hot bees wax (encaustic) gave it a mystical sheen.




 You can see the crackles really good here..... and up above.





And so, I started collaging layers of papers yesterday, then more layers of paint, stencils, etc.  I had a small Idea of where I was going....

 And here she is.... amidst ferns and fauna, my woodland nymph angel.  I did a little more on her after this picture. Actually, I painted her all COPPER! and she's beautiful!  I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Angel of the Spring #2

This is Angel of the Spring #2. I'm still working on #1, but I'm so happy to have completed this one. I collaged and painted on a 16x20" wood cradleboard, such a delight to work on. Used lots of collage papers, acrylics, pencils and encaustic (100% natural honeycomb bee's wax).





A lovely morning - Life's a Beach

Oh how lovely! I took this morning off and spent a few wonderful hours at my favorite beach in my favorite van!  I've been so snowed under work and eBay listings, I was happy to get away for a few hours.