Correction Needed!

If you look at the bottom of the painting in the last post you will see that the lower rabbit is cut off mid way down the body.  That's because when I did the original drawing I intended that that would be the bottom of the piece, but when I arranged things on the board I didn't like the rabbits being quite so low down, so I glued them on with a gap of about 3" at the bottom.  Now I have to do something with that gap.

I had three thoughts - I could put a band of something across the bottom, or I could finish the bottom of the rabbit, or I could put something in front of him.  I decided to finish the bottom of the rabbit.  I thought I was done!  But I put it up beside the TV to study it and immediately decided that the lower left was just too empty.

More rabbits!  I thought I'd need two more.  But I began with just this one with her back to use and looking back over her shoulder.  Once I put her in place, I was happy with the composition.  So now on to finish the piece.

By the way, this photo shows the difference between the drawing to the graphite and colored pencil stage (lower left rabbit) and the drawings with light washes of acrylic over them (all the other rabbits).

Begining the Collage

The photo quality is pretty bad, but hopefully you get the idea.  I painted the background - antique white at the bottom a few light blues and light blue-greens in the middle, and soft white at the top.  I used opaque acrylics and roughly blended the colors together.

After that I began the collage.  For the collage papers, I made several sheets of tissue paper.  I used stencils that I made with my Cricut machine and designs of blossoming almond branches and falling petals.  I stenciled the white tissue paper with gesso, then painted over it with watercolor.  The watercolor doesn't stick very well to the gesso, so the stenciled parts remain light.  For some of the pieces with falling petals, I mixed a bit of red into the gesso then used blue watercolor over it.  I really enjoyed this part!  By the way, I used Liquitex mat gel medium to adhere the tissue paper.

For the petals around and below the rabbits, I cut shapes from scraps of this tissue paper and glued them on with mat gel medium.

I've also cut pieces of 1/4" thick hardboard to back the upper rabbits and adhered the drawings to them.  The corner pieces are just taped in place for the photo.

Fallen Petals - the Layout

I also wanted two rabbits for the top of the piece.  Once I had those drawn, I could decide how big the overall piece would be and construct the cradled board.  The large piece is 1/4" thick hardboard and the edges are 3/4" pine.  These boards are pretty easy to construct and, for large boards like this one, well worth making as they are expensive to buy.

I sprayed the board with primer, then applied the main group of rabbits with Liquitex matte gel medium.  The top rabbits are just taped on for the photo.  Later I'll cut corner pieces from more 1/4" thick hardboard and attach them to those corners.  But I want to finish the background - at least at the upper part of the piece - before I add the corner pieces.

A New Technique for the New Year

I'm starting a new piece.  I'm inspired by a memory from several years ago when I was visiting my parents in Arizona.  They had a small cluster of almond trees in their back yard.  The trees were full of blooms - the air was full of falling petals, and the ground was pink with almond petal "snow."  A group of cottontails were feasting on the petals.

So this will be another piece in which I will experiment with using drawing in a collage.

Here's the drawing of the rabbits.  I used HB, 2B, and 4B mechanical pencil.  then lightly added bits of color with Derwent Drawing Pencils.  I have a nice set of 24 pencils in natural, muted colors.

My Christmas Card for this Year

Here's the painting I used for my Christmas card each year.  I was going through and old magazine and ran across a photo of two squirrels.  In the photo, both squirrels were on a log that was standing on end.  The squirrel on the left was on the side of the log and the squirrel on the left was on the cut end.  Their paws were in slightly different positions.

I imagined it rotated to the right to the composition you see here.  So I changed the paws so that they would work on the branches and added the mistletoe for a holiday setting.  I actually sent out two different cards from the same painting - the landscape orientation above and the portrait orientation you see below.

I began with a pencil drawing then added acrylic and finally a bit of ink.  I spattered the snow on with a toothbrush.  Since the snow has just started, it hasn't accumulated yet on the branches.

The Completed Goat Icon

I'm very happy with the way this turned out and so is my sister (it was a gift for her).  Plus, after a little trepidation and something of a lost feeling at the beginning, it was a lot of fun.  The original inspiration was the little resin goat at the top that I got at a flea market last year.  Then I saw the photo of the goat in a catalog and was smitten by her sweet face.  The third goat piece was the little acrylic painting I did.

I started to do a collage of magazine pieces behind the photo of the goat but was initially very unhappy with it.  But once I went back over it with slightly tinted gesso to push the whole thing back and subdue the color contrasts I liked it very much.  Then I put the word "capra" - female goat - on and added the little sprigs of foliage by painting them in.  I will use this technique again as I like the aged feeling it gives me.

Since this goat is so cute, how could I resist giving her a rhinestone collar?  That's part of the attraction of collage for me - it's liberating...

Shelley's Goat Icon

I wanted to make Shelley a little piece of wall art - an icon with a goat theme.  She's been talking about a companion animal for her horse Merlin, and a goat is one possible candidate.

In the photo, I have all the various elements tentatively arranged on the backing (a piece of primed and painted wood) and then I took a photo so I could remember where they all go when I am ready to assemble it.

Most of the elements are polymer clay tiles.  I rolled sheets of polymer clay, then stamped them with a texture and coated them with mica powders.  The little bird tiles along the right edge are polymer clay that I pressed into a mold that I made from an old button.  The little lamb is from a mold made from a small figurine.  The copper-looking rounds are polymer clay from a mold made over an old metal embellishment - the copper mica powder looks so real!  Some of these elements I've had around from past projects.

The bird is a metal stamping.

The round piece at the top is polymer clay with a Swarovski ravoli in the center.  The leaves are also polymer clay - I pressed chrysanthemum leaves into the clay then peeled them off.  Chrysanthemum leaves are small and have pronounced vein structures, but you need to press them into the clay back side down because the veins are bulgier on the undersides.

The dark green tile with the writing says "volubas capram verum dei equum donebant" - "you wanted a goat but the gods gave you a horse."  Latin.

The large goat at the upper right is torn from a catalog.  The goat lower down is a painted I did on Strathmore mixed media paper with acrylic.  There is also a little resin figurine of a goat that will go on the top.  I coated the goat figurine with Ten Seconds Studio's copper emulsion then their patina.

Ready to assemble!