“For Love of Rwanda”
I always feel very priviliged to take part in commission pieces. I love the challenge of incorporating provided information and preferences into the piece of art to make it truly a personal keepsake. I have been working top secret up until Christmas, but now I can share some of the pieces that I have been working on. I always love art that involves elephants, so was excited to make two large 24 x 36 elephant pieces. “For Love of Rwanda” was created on a background of selected strips torn from National Geographic magazine pages, then treated with Citra Solv. I rubbed away ink in a sort of reverse painting method to create the elephant. Coordinating papers were used to create a tribal look pattern that serve as top and bottom borders.
This is the priliminary concept sketch from my sketchbook:
As you can see, I made some changes from the sketch as I usually do. But I find it really helpful to get the basic idea down in a quick sketch so that I have something tangible to work from.
I also did a second elephant piece:
“Elephant Stack”
The preliminary sketch for this is barely there. Just some quick lines and a note to remind me what the concept was. It doesn’t take much to quickly record an idea. I think it might be interesting in the future to note where I was, or what I was doing when I made the sketch. Ideas hit me anytime, anywhere, so I need to be prepared to capture them wherever I go!
This piece was based on the idea of overlapping layers of elephants created by painting the negative space around them. I had lots of fun creating a juicy mish mosh of high flow acrylics, powdered charcoal, and inks on a gesso covered wood panel. I discovered that I really love Golden’s Neutral Gray color, a warm, earthy looking gray.
I love how the grays, black charcoal, and earthy colors comingled.
Again I made border areas of the ends, defined by a painted pattern and a couple of trees.I hope the recepients of these enjoy them.
These pieces are both sold, but prints can be requested.
What is your favorite animal in artwork?
Do you carry a sketchbook/journal with you to keep track of ideas that come to you? I keep a big one at home, but I keep a little banded Moleskin in my purse for those on the go ideas. The band keeps it from getting a mess in the depths of my bag, and it has a little pocket in the back to stuff in any little interesting bits of ephemera.
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