Leaving a Vestige - Mixed Medium (11 X 14)

Leaving a Vestige -  Mixed Medium (11 X 14)

Petal Tips! Thiis painting is in a mixed medium. I took an old 300 # watercolor paper and added gesso for the design. I don't throw away my paper, I just take it into a mixed medium. With a watercolor, if you over work it, it looks overworked. If it doesn't work, I don't despair, I just get inventive. Since I use 300 #, it is like a board and can take a lot of heavy layers of gesso and acrylic. 140 # can be used and I have some old paintings I painted years ago and I don't like them, so I've done the same thing. If you use 140#, keep it small, it doesn't have the weight to take all that painting. Then I painted the finished painting in oil. I just love the blending of oils opposed to acrylic.

                                                             
The red spot in the nest is from the original watercolor. It is as if a red bird has just left and a red feather has been left behind.. Be careful about using round objects, make them interesting. I used the branches and things in the nest to shoot out from the circle, giving it motion and direction. The red feather is the focal point. Even though it is about the size of the tip of my finger, it still tells the story.

That's what art does.It records our history. It shows where we were. Every time we make a brushstroke across a canvas or paper, we are leaving a vestige, a mark or a print of what we have done.

Maybe that is why I am telling you my secrets. Many artists will not divulge their secrets and techniques. I feel like if I can pass them on, you will become better because I have passed by you. Some where along the way, I learned the technique from someone. Nothing is ours, we borrow from each other, ultimately from the great Creator.

Paint with Grace in your hands and on your heart.

Meanderings~~~~~~ I am always looking back and wondering if my footprints are showing. Just a habit, probably I need to break it, it probably is tied into a lack of faith. If we leave a trace of the red blood which we were bought with, we can be certain it will remain.

The nest could belong to any bird, but the red says, it's got to belong to a red bird and. I love that it came from the original idea. Isn't that how this whole history plays out, It is His story, we just land for a spell and have our young ones and then we go.

Leaving a Vestige 2 (11 X14)

I loved the idea so much I painted two of them. I placed them differently in the painting. The second has more detail, but the first has more artistic value. The second one doesn't have the same motion, but it has more depth inside the nest. Probably if I did again, I would incorporate the best of each. Also the red in the first is down in the foreground, so the second one I deliberately put it off center since that is where I wanted the eye to go.  But I am already on to another subject, look in tomorrow, my garden always looks different the next day. Maybe it is the love that lingers from our last visit.