green heart.

i knew you wanted to see the whole piece of art after following me for two days. well, here it is in all its wonderfulness. it gives me such pleasure to show you and hope it adds a smile to your face as well. did you notice how the design is placed into the lower part of the composition? yes, it was put there on purpose. i liked the airiness of the top with the drips running off the canvas and it is totally unexpected. who knew when i started that this is what i would end up with? not me and that was part of the creative challenge i gave myself. hope you let yourself have a little fun and create without thinking today in the studio. i know i've got a couple more backgrounds to do before my day is over :D

pinkalicious.

you saw the beginnings in yesterday's post. i wanted to keep him almost transparent so applied each layer of color with a lot of water and a loose touch. the darks really brought him to life and well, i absolutely love the finished moth. he adds a lot of charm and detail to the canvas and brings a part of who i am as well. hope you are tempted into the studio to give playing with backgrounds a try. you just never know what you will get in the end and isn't that part of the fun. i know for me it is a perfect way to just let go and enjoy the process of putting paint and paper to canvas. love it!

the beginning.

i was playing in the studio and made a few backgrounds without thinking about what would go on them. it lets me be a lot freer about the process of just putting paint to canvas. i tore a simple strip of scrapbook paper not caring about the pattern or color, just something i had on hand. stenciled over a paper doily and voila, background finished. now, the hard part. what should i add to this lovely piece? hum, a flower, a bug, some words - decisions, decisions. i really liked how the pink of the scrapbook paper stood out amongst the greens so looked into my butterfly files and there he was in all his mauve glory. i just had to put him in. so i started by sketching the moth in and filling the space with one coat of gesso...