New Work! (Finally)

I have finally finished my first mixed media and carving art-piece.

I actually started this piece as a simple mixed media painting/collage, but could never quite get it "finished" it always looked semi-finished.

I finally had an "AHA!" moment, and thought it would be a good place to start adding carving to, so i carved the "frame" pieces. I wanted a distressed look, so i blocked the general shapes out, and then layered lots of paint and crackle medium, heat gunning, sanding and chipping back to add age. I then washed everything with some nickel azo wash to distress.

I glued the pieces on (i did toy with the idea of using rusty wire to secure it, but i dont have any wire at the moment and i didnt want it to end up too busy). At this point i was supposed to have a finished piece, but again it wasnt quite right. The humming bird was originally painted onto the background canvas, but because of the new depth the carvings added, the hummingbird looked like it was falling through the frames, rather than hovering in the foreground as intended.

The hummingbird was now a problem. So I cut it out, canvas-board and all, sanded the edges of both the bird and the background, and painted the cut edges black. I added a second canvas-board, painted entirely black behind the first. I added a small block of wood (also painted black) to the back of the hummingbird, and secured it within the hole from which it was cut. The hummingbird is now slightly higher than the carved pieces, and "hovers" appropriately.

So yay! My first mixed media-caving amalgam! I think im going to use the fairly generic title "Spring-time" for this one.