Working outside under the deck today to beat the heat!

Even though the heat was tough today, I was inspired to prep a few small cradle panels and a framed wooden canvas I made over a decade ago. I laid on several layers of torn bits from the local newspaper (classified adds and feature stories), painting under and over each layer with a mixture of matte medium and water to create a slick papier mache covering. The brilliant sunshine was just the thing for quick drying these foundations.



While I waited for those pieces to dry, I washed off the half-mannequin I liberated from a give-away-or-toss-it pile one Spring Clean-up week, also a decade ago. Garsh it felt good to cover up the poor girl's peeling and cracked skin with a couple of layers of Gesso!

I'm not sure exactly what my next step will be, but I'm pretty sure it'll be interesting ... I just need some cooler temperatures than these record breaking ones to get working in the studio again.

Too hot to work in the studio this week

Sorry, there probably won't be any updates this week because of this glorious weather - it's seems to be conducive to making one want to flop somewhere comfortable in the shade rather than work.

A little more progress ...

Promise of progress

I've made progress on my latest work, but haven't unpacked the camera from my weekend trip yet. I promise to post an updated image tomorrow!

Cheers.

Progress

I was up late last night coaxing this piece along, painting over the old image with layers of gesso and acrylic paint.




I played with shapes, textures and patterns until I was pleased with the look of the interconnected threads on the infants' blankets and within the womb formed by the negative space of the figure's arms.




Eventually I got the figure's hair on the right track (or is that the left track?) and now I'm painting out the tiny threads on the dress of the original figure and blocking in the community on her apron.

Sadly, I had to take a break to work my shift at the SAGA gift shop. I hated to leave the painting - when I'm on a roll in the studio and have to break, I feel a sense of unease akin to what one might feel leaving the baby in the bathtub to pick up a ringing phone. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but when I'm painting, the canvas becomes my baby.

The artist within awakens

Even before I awoke this morning to the sound of pitter patter on the roof (no, thankfully, not those pesky racoons but rather the third day in a row of rain), I was forming an image in my half-sleep and knew I was going to paint today. As I look back at previous posts, it is with not a little horror I realize it has been 4 months since my last go at a canvas or board.

I've begun painting over the 5x4' painting that was Concentric. I quite liked the concept for Concentric, but was unhappy with the painting itself, so had no qualms about recycling it. Unfortunately, my youngest daughter expressed her horror and is quite annoyed as she claims it was her favourite piece. I have agreed to paint her a mini version and hopefully when I do that I'll work out to my satisfaction the problem I had with the original.

As you can see, I'm keeping the basic shape of the largest original figure. By the time I'm finished the work I'll have repainted 90-95% of the canvas.

I'll keep you posted.