"Aubade"

This is my second piece using the torn watercolour technique (i had so much fun making my heart my brain just started buzzing with new things to tear into existence!).

This one is called "Aubade", which is a cool word i stumbled across which means a song, instrumental or composition that concerns the dawn. I thought it made for an interesting idea to make a visual composition (the term usually applies to music) that might hint at the idea of the music of greeting the dawn.

To begin I used the same basic structure as i had for "Gemini", except i ripped only downwards after the first layer. After i had the basic shape in, i added torn pieces of watercolour paper inside the nest.

After layering my paint washes, I drew a bird (originally a sparrow) and its wing onto two pieces of watercolour paper and then painted them with "dawn" colours. I cut a slit into the body of the bird, and slipped the wing through and glued them. I added some copper wire to the back of the wing, and a small piece of wire to prop the wing up and then glued the body to my back ground.

I carved the small baby bird, with wing details. I then painted the baby bird to look like its parent. I made the eggs by dipping bits of sewing patterns into gel medium, and them rolling them into an egg shape with my fingers (very messy!). Once they were dry, i painted them with a thin wash of white paint. I then coloured them using blending chalk.

I glued all the eggs and the baby bird into the nest and voila! A greeting of the dawn!