Friday, February 4, 2011

Birth of a Painting


this is my latest work- bluebirds of happiness.  i am asked all the time "how long did this take?" it's a difficult question to answer because it's taken a lifetime to get here but there was one magical moment in which the creative spark ignites each piece. i decided to document the process to we can see how this works~


first is the matter of finding the right subject matter- it's crucial to have something inspirational and design appropriate.  these flowers are from the local farmers market- we have the best in the world, year round bounty.

 

 google searching for just the right winged creatures that seem to fit~






cutting my paper to just the right size and sitting for awhile- centering, contemplating, feeling, entering into this fantasy i am going to channel, this world i will be inhabiting for the next several days~




next is a contour pencil drawing- the bones of the piece and hard to see here because i use a very hard pencil and it's light. i take my time paying close attantion to all the details. this first session has been 3 hours~




now for the fun part- get the yummy colors laid out~




and begin with the flowers painting alternate petals~




round and round til there all complete.  this session: 5 hours~




next is greenery and stamens. didn't mother nature know what she was doing when she made green the lush backdrop for all this color?  this part is always so satisfying. this session about 3 hours. here are some close-ups~










i love the color on the purity of the white but i want a more fanciful quality than this botanical look and i know i will have to decide upon a background color, but first the focal point, my lovely bluebirds of happiness,  all the more so since they are a mated pair~


i had to set that stem up just right so they'd have a viable place to perch and be in harmony~



background color- a geeny gold with lots of blends.  a mix of 3 blues and 3 yellows. this session about 3 hours~


signature- i picked blue to match the birds~


the paper is a bit buckley so i wet it down with the toned water from painting and sandwich it between sheets of paper ~


and weight it down with books to dry overnight~


bring it in to my guy at samy's to take a high res digital file and voila, my painting is complete.  well, almost.  i still need to select a frame, order it and put it together, but that is a whole post in itself.  see what i mean about the time question.  i still don't have the true answerand ultimately it doesn't matter to ths right- brained person. it's seamless, like life~

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Erin--that was fascinating and so informative and inspirational. Thanks for sharing!!
Nancy