"La Nouvelle Orleans", Continued..... (and Welcomes!)

So, how do you sort leaves and keep them in place? The ubiquitous foam plate with double stick tape on it! I had certain ones that needed to stay sorted from the rest that I had on the table, there was a fair amount of fitting to see what worked and I carefully stuck them to the underside of the plate, which proved to be a great way to manage them! (because even if it got knocked off the table....not that THAT would happen in this clean studio.....haha.....)

I had found an old engraving in one of my numerous files of all things New Orleans, and printed it out in sepia onto tracing paper. Actually, I printed a couple until I had one that fit precisely and allowed some of the unique characteristics of the gesso to show through. I did not change the size of the printed pieces much, but there was a world of difference when placed atop the circle.

Originally, I had planned for an image that was perfectly centered, but St. Louis Cathedral was off center in this piece, and it meant I was going to have to consider some shifts from my original vision.

I did color the piece with prisma color pencils and part was on the back, and highlights on the front.

This is a close up of the paperclay Fleurs after the paint, gilding and crackle coat had dried. Still, it was brighter than I felt they should be, sooooo.......

I coated them with a very thin layer of the soft black paint and immediately rubbed it off. Now they appeared aged, as the rest of the piece would be as it moved forward. I apologize for the quality of this photo; for whatever reason the auto-focus did not like the crackle finish.....go figure......

And here I have laid out the paperclay elements (to get an idea of how much more color the background would require) and I have also torn the edges of the tracing paper print, laid it where I wanted it and it is ready to be applied with heavy gel medium. Using the heavy with tracing paper allows for less wrinkling of the paper due to the smaller amount of liquid in the medium itself. Using a soft gel would have produced many wrinkles.

The background color has been intensified, as with the color in the circle. The image is now adhered, has a few paint highlights here and there, and I mixed some budgie grit with heavy medium for the texture in the corners, which also holds the paperclay pieces firmly in place. Normally I would use Golden's Pumice medium for this, but what I had left had dried, and being the impatient sort, I figured budgie grit would work as well.....and it DID. (and it saves me from having to purchase another product!)

This gives a better idea of the rough texture in the corners, and you can also see the depth of subtle colorwashes on the background. I assure you, there are many layers on there. I like bringing the color up slowly until it is *just right*.

Also, it is easy to see how the torn edges of the paper blend gently into the blue background.
The next installment will show the medium in the corners dried and painted.....
It's just like a soap opera...you don't get it all at once! I have to drag it out some! (so I can get the work done and the photos taken! LOL!!!)
And though this is at the bottom of the post, there are new WELCOMES on the followers list and I am delighted to have you here! Good golly, I am getting sooo close to 100 people....
I never would have dreamed.
Thanks to you all for reading and keeping me writing.
I bid you.....

Pax.

Bringing It All Together--or--Dirt, Stain & Aged To Perfection

The second part of that title is NOT referring to your blog-mistress, despite what you might think, or how much paint I am wearing at the moment......
Even through the visit from M. Migraine, (for three days....the lout!) I kept some focus when I could and started pulling the diverse elements of the collage together. This is the slow part of a design, and requires getting in the zone and staying focused long enough to *allow the work to guide the hand*. It is truly the almost unseen details of any piece that make it become more. There is always a point where I know I could stop, and the work would be good, and acceptable.
But it is that next step....the slow work....the attention to minute detail---that is what I think I do best.

Firstly, I discovered a wonderful eye-to-eye-socket dialogue going on between the serpent and the skeleton, and it was caused by sheer luck on how the gesso laid down in the final application. It gave a very subtle direction for the paint I was rubbing on to stick in, thus bringing a diagonal into the background that was just PERFECT!

I was working over the staff and snake with colored pencils and a colorless blender, bringing more contrast and definition to them when I noticed it. At first I though I was just imagining the link was there, but with a bit more color added, the connection was obvious. These are the moments of serendipity in art that I love; the reason I choose this painstaking method of collage over something quicker.
If you look long enough, you find what it right before your eyes. And this never ceases to amaze me.

(although most of the time in life, I miss most of what is before me and someone else brings it to my attention.....)

After rounding out color with the central object, and bringing up the background texture a bit, I decided to apply some fluid acrylic on the top side of the skeleton, making it a more defined figure in the composition. The extra white brought it forward (putting it down with the gel made it lose just a bit of the punch it had before) and I was able to highlight certain parts of the bones.

This should not be overly obvious....it should just feel right when you see it. I also felt that the *ground* the figure was standing on--the drawn earth and grass--stopped too abruptly so I continued them to the left with marker and colored pencil. Neither looked right alone; the combination of the two worked well.

This also connected the strong right/vertical element with the bottom horizontal, which then flows more organically up the left side.

Yes, I really do know something about proper composition, though I love pushing bounderies....  ;-)  .....or ignoring them altogether if I think I can get by with it!

I also had the sides that needed attention, so I went back in with a dark color and my finger and pushed paint into tiny crevices and along edges, increasing the look of the piece having been stored in less that pristine conditions. It is much easier to simply use a finger to apply paint at this point than to try getting the right touch with the brush. With your finger, you know, precisely.

There were also tiny areas that I took the colored pencils to; things too small to take a photo of but that added a slight more bit of depth to the over all composition. Always remember to use all tools at your disposal, as long as you know they will work together.
Finally, I opened the small jar of gel with black mica flakes; the one I had mounted the rubber stamp on.

I admit openly this was given to me by my friend Vicki, and at first I had no idea how I would use it. It is not something I would go buy. And it was EXACTLY what was needed for the final touch of age! Thank you Vicki! Which goes to show that having other artists around to try different mediums is a great way to broaden your own horizons.

So now, I am at a resting point before final varnishing. I am sure I have missed steps; this was a long, difficult post to put up and I hope I have covered all areas of question. If not, you know the routine.......ASK!

I am very happy with this.....I have brewed this piece in my head for ages and finally, finally it has come to life.

Well, you know......more or less.....as much as a skeleton can be!

Pax.