Work In Progress

Today I experimented with burnishing the painting below. I used a stainless steel spoon and applied it in a circular motion to the dried surface of the painting. This process makes the pigment shine, giving the painting a lacquered effect, which creates a rich luster and warm glow.

The paint must be completely dry before burnishing, I used this process on the plant pot, the womans eye, and the darker background areas. It gave the dark area of the eye a mysterious glow, which my camera did not capture. However, you can see the effect on the plant pot.

Tomorrow I plan on adding more layers of color and detail to the background, etc.

The image below is a close up photo of a portion of the painting.

Lady & Nature – Acrylic & Watercolor – 9 X 12 inches

“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.” – Linda Hogan

“Everything in nature contains all the power of nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

Old Friends

My paint brushes are like old friends, and I hardly ever retire them. After each painting session I clean them thoroughly, gently shape the hairs back into place, and set them out to dry.

There are some which have lost their elasticity and frayed out from their metal ferrule. These are ideal for dry brush work.

Yesterday our favorite art store had a two-for-one sale on brushes and I replaced a couple of my older brushes with new ones. The brushes I replaced were over 25 years old. They are oldies but goldies, and they still have some life left in them before I move them into the dry brush bucket.

I just love these old brushes!

My Old Friends

Acrylics & Foil

I spent most of the day working with Golden acrylics and aluminum foil. The painting I am working on is a mask sculpture, three dimensional, mixed media on canvas. I tried to photograph a portion of the butterfly wing to show how I embossed designs, symbols, lines, and such on the foil.

After finishing the embossing, I mixed the golden fluid acrylics right on the foil surface, and using enough water to keep the paint thin, I brushed them lightly over the surface patterns.

The next photo shows a detailed image of the textured portion of the canvas. I used Gesso and heavy weight Golden Gel medium, along with tissue paper to achieve this look.

The Butterfly Maiden – photo of foil detail

The Butterfly Maiden -photo of texture detail

Out & About

Today, I went out to lunch with a close friend, which was wonderful. We also window shopped and visited our favorite book store. It was so relaxing to sit, laugh, and talk, instead of worrying about time constraints.

Herb Garden

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
– Marcel Proust

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
– Anais Nin

“My friends are my estate.”
– Emily Dickinson

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

Painting Another Heart

I started another heart painting a couple of days ago. This is my third painting with a crystal heart as the main focal point. I can’t help myself, I feel drawn to paint this ancient symbol.

Throughout history, the heart symbol has been considered a religious icon. The ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the center of all consciousness, the center of life itself. For the Christians the heart represents hope, charity, and forgiveness.

For many others the heart was the center of thought, emotion, the soul, the center of one’s very being.

Celtic Heart – Combined Media – 12 X 12 inches