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30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 23

2/23/2018

6 Comments

 
Picture
​"The Call of the Wild" - mixed media on cradled wood, 16" x 20".  Ready to hang.  Inquiries.

Humperdinck: You don't seem excited, my little muffet. Buttercup: Should I be?
Humperdinck: Brides often are, I'm told.
Buttercup: I do not marry tonight. My Westley will save me.
[scene: chapel]
Impressive Clergyman: Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam.
       
   from The Princess Bride

​
The stress is too much!  They are at the altar!  Where is Westley!  ACK!

Tension.  It's what makes movies (and books) extra good.  It is also what gives us ulcers and nervous tics and high blood pressure, if we have too much of it.  Too little, on the other hand, and life is simply dull.
Finding that balance....the tricky part.

After a long bout with a nasty virus, I needed a little extra tension to boost my art mojo.  So I dove into a jar of crackle paste.  I've never used it, had no instructions AND the jar had been purchased at a flea market, so the contents were dried out and old.  If you add some water and a LOT of mashing and smashing, it will revitalize into something really pasty and satisfying.  The undercoat of this piece is a heap load of crackle paste, scored to smithereens with many texture tools.  This is what gives the trees their lovely lines and grainy grooves, which are quite 3-dimensional in real life.   It is probably the most wonderful group of painted trees I've ever made.  I will be doing this again and again.

Here in south Florida, it is difficult to get a real nature fix in a hurry.  I am feeling the call of the wild...a desire to hike amongst tall trees and listen to songbirds while crunching through leaves and blazing trails through undergrowth.  In lieu of that, a suburban hike over to the neighborhood park to peek at the burrowing owl nests will do in a pinch.  I hadn't seen them since Hurricane Irma.  But there they were, peeking out of their holes.  I didn't get close enough for a pic (Pongo is not a stealthy owl viewer), so enjoy this video of burrowing owls in nearby Cape Coral:
6 Comments
Dotty Seiter link
2/23/2018 08:43:58 am

Jen, those trunks and branches! That little profile peeking out from inside a capacious cloak hood! That skinny spindleshank of an arm! WOW!

Fun to learn about the crackle paste's magic in making the trees. But I still have questions. You say the undercoat is scored crackle paste and that it gives the trees their lovelinesses, but the trees appear NOT to be the bottom layer … ?

---
Thank you for including the burrowing owl footage. Oh my gosh! Had to laugh at myself, though: I was at once grateful for the cameras that captured these minutes of owl life AND wishing that one of the owls would march up to a camera and knock it to the ground!

Reply
jen
2/23/2018 08:57:42 am

Spindleshank! My new favorite word

The tree trunks and branches are the bottom layer. Which was the entire piece at first, until I masked off the trees with blue tape and added painty foliage. Removed tape, added figure. But the visual impact is the trunks coming forward, I think because of the texture (it's there in the foliage, but not obvious once painted).

The owls are amazing...we stood watching them for a while as they watched us. Little heads peeking out of the burrow, turning back and forth to scan the area. Eyes blinking. So cute!!! Was thrilled to find the video - but I know what you mean about the camera!!!

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Dotty Seiter link
2/23/2018 12:21:57 pm

aha! I hadn't thought of your taping the trunk and branch shapes; I just knew you hadn't created them by painting negative space freehand : )
striking outcome : )

jen
2/23/2018 01:15:31 pm

I am all about the shortcuts, Dotty!

Carol Edan link
2/23/2018 11:23:24 am

So first you put on the paste and then you paint? Amazing! Didn't see that profile till I read Dotty's comment! Now it pops out... at first it almost looked like some sort of cat! I would say balance on the slight side of tension. No tension and our viewer goes back into its hole!
Thanks for the video!

Reply
jen
2/23/2018 11:33:32 am

yes! It's fun stuff! You plaster the board with the paste, score it to your heart's content, then let it dry. It crackles and splits as it dries, leaving even more texture. Then you paint over it. Or, in my case, I mixed the crackle paste with black gesso so that the entire first layer would be dark. It is mad fun!!!!

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Here's the blue wild, where
tiny dreamers ride beasts, speak
​ birdsong, hold the moon.

(by poet Mary W. Cox)
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  • Home
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