"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!

"Gemini"

A Few weeks ago I posted a sneak peek of this piece, now entitled "Gemini".

It is made mostly of torn watercolour paper, and painted with fluid acrylics.

To begin i machine sewed 6 sheets of watercolour paper together in an accordion fashion (alternating sides- so i could still reach behind each sheet, but they were still all joined together).
I cut out the silhouette of the entire heart from the top sheet, to create a folding edge for my successive layers. Each layer after the first was torn from the middle to the edges, leaving the torn bits behind. The last two layers that i tore (i left one layer whole to form the back or there would be holes through the piece) were torn from two points (rather than just the centre) to create the chambers of the heart.

Once i was happy with the general layout of all the torn pieces, i went back with my hot glue gun and glued each and every little flap, and glued around each layer so they were all firmly joined. I glued around the unsewn edges of the watercolour paper, and then gessoed everything (ruining several paintbrushes in the process trying to get into all the little holes between the flaps!).

Once the gesso was dry, i covered everything in gel medium to let my paint move more freely. I started with a wash of azo gold, and then started building the heart up with washes of reds and crimsons and some more azo gold. I added a wash of azo gold and dioxide purple to create shadows and depth to the background, and wiped back some of the lighter areas with rubbing alcohol to add more light. I added some purple to my crimson wash and painted in the shadows of the heart.

Meanwhile, I carved my two little guys from a 1" square of wood i sawed in half diagonally (thus two right angled triangles). After they were sanded down and smooth (and one little guy had his head and foot glued back on-working so small can be tricky!), I stained them both with a cherry/mahogany colour, and when i was happy with that, i lacquered them with a gloss.

My little people were glue gunned into position inside their chambers, and I added some wire pieces to the heart ventricles (again glue gunned-love that thing!). I added some more paint here and there were i thought it was needed and then i was done!

This piece stemmed from the idea of "twin souls", two souls who share one heart.

All the little people...

Here are a few pics of the carvings together.

Little People #2

Here is the second little guy, this one is kneeling.

Little People #1

I have been working on "micro"-carving this past week, to complete my heart that i posted earlier. I wanted two little people to sit within the heart cavities. This is the first, as you can see it is only about the size of my thumb.

I stained them both with a cherry colour and then finished them with a gloss varnish.

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.

First carving for 2010!

This is my first piece for 2010. A little angel :). It was my first attempt at hair, and i think it turned out alright!
I have a few more carvings in process, so ill post them soon too.
Yay for a finished piece!