Stringy

After many months of painting water and fish, I wanted something different.  I wanted portraits again.

There is endless interest in the human head and face, with so many people to choose from.  I thought I'd get some practice in with some people I know before I hunt down new victims :).

This is one of my husband's friends who helps out in the woods.  Brian, often referred to as 'Stringy' was a  neighbour when I lived in Pouch Cove and his children went to school with mine. Odd how people get nicknames, more so males, isn't it?

This is in oils on a 12" x 12" canvas panel completed in about 4 hours.

Sound waves

Don't ever throw away your rejects in paper or canvas, you never know how they can be adjusted and resurface as swans.

This was the case for this piece.  I was doing to printmaking, using repeating patterns as a theme and as with most printmaking, not every single piece will be a winner.  I liked the base colour which was in acrylic and the subtle patterning marks on the surface, but it was too faint to stand on its own.

I added some bands of texture using natural sand paste and once dry added watercolour washes, letting it seep into the crevices and highlight the texture of the paste on the surface.  once dry, I added strokes of intense colour using soft pastels.  These hit the high points of the textured surface and the whole reminded me of graphs of sound waves.

This is 8" x 10" on subi paper.