Cay Denise

This is primarily a journal piece done on 12" x 18' art paper.  There is a lot of layering in this piece, and it reminds me of the old RCA channel sign-off icon. The way this turned out, is very different from the lesson which was actually to cover everything written below it, and I like the translucence that hints at the journaling below and uses the highly decorated and colorful background to generate a sense of energy with the bands of white paint and the yellow tentacles. I like this alot and would never have done something like it without the lesson prompt!I also used many Copic markers that I don't often work with and that was neat too. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org .

This video short consolidates several process photos of the last piece posted on this blog.  At the point before the trees were added, I felt stuck.  Some of the questions that were arising were: Is the face over-painted?  If so, does that mean the piece is complete?  Why does the overall piece feel so bare?  How do I keep the central image 'popping' if background work is added (to prevent eye distraction)? What kind of background would complete it? I had one idea, not fully formed, of adding in the background--shadowy trees in the style of Eyvind Earle.  So, I had to go back and research his work, because I knew I wanted the dark trees and to add depth (e.g. with trees in foreground and in a distance).  It was a week or two before I started the background...still unsure if that was what would really complement the image.  Well it seems to work.   In the Earle paintings I reviewed, it was clear that his tree work evolved over the years to an incredible level.  I se

This piece took about two weekends to complete.  The first part to be painted was the face.  Then I got stuck for a while on what to do with the background.  I eventually added my interpretation of Eyvind Early trees to the background and have kept it dark so the figure pops (or at least hopefully it does).  Comments welcome!