Journey Of A Painting

I thought I'd take you on a little journey this week. Kinda like a staycation.

I'm preparing for an art show in October, and I need to complete nine 12x12 canvases.

Which, if I begin to look at the calendar, could be a daunting task. OR, it could mean I will be painting consistently.

I began this canvas thinking summery colors and thought I'd work around that for the next layers.

Then I added more color in the light spaces.

After that, I wondered what had been in my coffee that morning.

This I chalked up to layer number one, and possibly not enough sleep.

Next came another layer of house paint. Isn't it pretty? It's called pale honey.

Too pale for my kitchen, it's now used on canvas.

There is nothing quite like putting paint over something I've done that I don't like.

It gets harder the farther along I paint and I know I need to add more paint, and the decision of what to keep and what to paint over needs to be a thoughtful process.

As in, I need to be patient.

In this step, I have added more paint and now paper.

I put a wash of housepaint over paper. The paper I found at Aaron Brothers, sold in single sheets called Flora and Fauna Bird. It's beautiful paper, and while I would love to keep it front and center, I know it's bound for layer number two. Plus there are always copyright issues. Who knows what will come from the lines and colors? That is all decided in process.

What's really fun is to put (green) paint on the canvas and then spray it with a spray bottle and clean up the aftermath. But I like the effects, so it's worth it!

The third layer begins with some free motion sewing on vintage pattern paper, water color crayons and some doodling and more paint.

There are some aspects I really like here-the lower left corner, the loopy blue in the upper right and some I'm not thrilled with like the pink on the right side and the way the pattern paper cuts off the canvas in the middle.

More on the fourth layer and beyond later this week-stay tuned!!