The first lines of Longfellow's poem "Evangeline" have stuck hauntingly in my mind since high school - a very long time now! So I decided to do a painting inspired by them - one that would include my script of those lines.
I settled on another watercolor on masa paper for this project, partly because I enjoy the medium and partly because I can always use more practice with this tricky medium which, for me, usually morphs into mixed media before too long!
The board is actually two boards, one glued on top of the other. The back board is 10" x 12" and the top board with the deer is 6" x 8". Both have dampened, crumpled masa paper glued to them with a 1:1 water and PVA glue mixture.
Here's the first pass. The background behind the deer is inspired from a photo I took when I was in England last year. I was walking along a path with the woods on either side and the way the light fell was captivating - I'm so glad now that I snapped it!
I drew the deer first and transferred it by tracing my drawing, re-tracing the lines on the back side of the tracing paper with #2 graphite, then placing the tracing paper over my prepared masa paper/board and going over the lines AGAIN with a stylus. This is a tedious process, but I find it worthwhile for subjects where the drawing really matters.
The rest of the painting, though, I didn't draw first. I had an idea of the scene I wanted to create, so I just went for it. Plus, some of it will be covered, eventually, with script.
No comments:
Post a Comment