Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Early May work


Don't let this scare you... it's just midway through many, many layers of undertones. Someone admired my work and asked if I could paint a Black Madonna, Saint Sarah, preferably. So here she is in her early stages. I'm starting with a purple backdrop, painted on one of the fabulous framed wood canvases that Bill made me. Her skin tone is a joy to work with... purple, blue, yellow, crimson, all added in transparent glazes. This will be fun to unfold. She's going to have a red mantle (hooded cape) and a brilliant blue dress. We'll see about the embellishment. Overall, I plan to darken the edges and corners, and to have many layers of glazes, maybe antique crackle the corners. I'm LOVING THIS!!


Here is how my Native American Black angel turned out. Her wings have tons of fiber medium to make them more feathery. I had fun with the beading. Could have gone on adding more and more... but wanted to be done so I could start on my Black Madonna. I do love her long, long braids. Leaving heavy brush strokes made the braiding look real.