Crashing Wave

"Crashing Wave"

Image size 15" x 22"

Watercolor

I painted this as a study for a large encaustic that I want to paint in the near future.  I need to cradle the board and then I will be ready.  I've always loved the visual power of a crashing wave and wanted to reproduce the photo that I took many years ago. 

Spring Growth

"Spring Growth"

Image size 8" x 9"

Monotype

I was experimenting again this week with printing inks.  I left too much ink on the glass and it turned out really dark.  I had planned to use colored pencils as I had with last week's print, but the print was too dark for that medium.  I decided to use pastel but the paper I used is very fragile and it started pilling and getting very fuzzy.  Even with the pastel I still couldn't get the onion to feel light enough so I added some gouache as a final accent. 

I need to find a better printing paper to use in the future if I want to add a lot of color.

Seaside

"Seaside"

Image size 4" x 6"

Monotype

This is a print using Akua black ink and then adding color with colored pencils.  I really like the graphic look of the soft color with the black image.  

Lone Lily

"Lone Lily"

Image size 4" x 6"

Watercolor on TerraSkin

I haven't worked on TerraSkin for a while so I got out a small piece and played around with watercolor.  I played around with the colors and layering and once I decided that I was done adding paint, I lightly spritzed it with water to add some texture.

Distance

"Distance"

Image size 6" x 18"

Encaustic

It really felt good to paint in encaustic this week.  I haven't had space on my worktables in the garage since July for my waxes.  I was attracting bees again after about an hour.  I had forgotten that they are attracted to the smell of the wax.  I'm looking forward to painting something big in this medium very soon.

Tile Mural Finished

"Tile Mural Finished"

Image size, 12' x varies

Ceramic clay and glazes

I can't believe that this project is finished!!!!  Well, it's finished except for installing it, which is another big project.  It feels so good to be able to put my garage back in order and to be able to use my work tables again after 8 months.  I actually enjoyed cleaning my garage yesterday!  I've packed up all of the pieces in 8 boxes and will wait for the concrete base to be poured. 

This picture is pretty dark (rainy day here) so below are some closeup pictures that show the true colors better.  

The glass gems aren't shown in these pictures.  I can't wait to see them in the mural once it is installed.

Late Afternoon Eucalyptus

"Late Afternoon Eucalyptus"

Image size 19" x 7"

Pastel

The surface for this painting is a piece of dark blue mat board that was coated with pumice gel to give it some tooth to grab the pastel.  I like the specks of blue peeking through the pastel.  It doesn't show that much in the photo but adds a lot of interest in person.  The sun was setting in the reference photo so the bottoms of the clouds were hit by the light, which is unusual.  As I'm looking at this now, I see that I need to flatten the shape of the lower part of the cloud and make the top more rounded.  They look like they are upside down because of the shape and the lightest part being on the bottom.  I guess I could just say I did that on purpose to make it a more surrealistic painting! Haha 

The large side of my ceramic mural is about halfway fired.  I'm looking forward to installing it.  I'm still waiting for the rains to stop for a few days so that I can have the concrete base for it poured.

Tile Mural, Small Side Fired

Koi Mural, small side fired

I've spent this week putting clear glaze on the tile pieces and fired them.  I've finished firing the small side.  It really feels good to be this far along on the project.  Here  is a pic to remind you of what it looked like before it was fired.

The rust color in the water has now turned green, although it is very subtle, and the gray had turned a dark blue.  I'm very happy with the result!

I have found someone to do the cement base for this project.  It is supposed to rain for a week so I should be getting that done about the same time that I finish firing everything!

Koi Tile Mural

Tile Mural

Image size, huge!

Glazed tile

I can't believe that I've finally finished painting this project!  I'm so excited (and scared) to start firing the pieces.  The large side is 12' long and almost 4' wide at the widest point.  The small side is about 36" x 30".  The colors are very pastel now but will be darker and more intense once they are fired.  The rust color in the water is actually a translucent green and the gray color is dark blue. I don't know if the green will even show up once it is fired.  Hopefully, I will like the total effect of the mural when it is finished!  

My next step is to add a clear glaze to each piece and begin firing them.  I think I will need to do about 15 firings because my kiln is small.  That's assuming that I like the outcome the first time.  Each firing takes about 6 hours to get up to temperature and twice that long to cool down so I can do 1 firing a day.  I only run the kiln if I'm home so I'll see how long this takes.  If I need to re-fire any pieces it will take even longer.

Below are close up pictures of the mural.

Small side

This should look very similar to the practice mural I posted a few weeks ago.  The fish and lily pads are in the same place but I made straight sides so that it can be hung as a painting.

The following pictures are of the large side going from left to right.  

Local Wave

"Local Wave"

Image size 4.5" x 8.5"

Pastel

I love painting waves and I am enjoying working with pastels.  I used a small piece of mat board coated with pumice gel.  That gives such a nice tooth to the surface.  I'm happy with the more subdued colors in this painting.  Usually, when I use pastels, the colors in my paintings are really pure and bright.

I'm almost finished painting the ceramic pieces for my mural.  All of the pieces are laid out on my worktable in the garage and I am adding a variety of different blues and some greens to the water and bits of blues covering the fish to push them underwater.  I'm pretty sure I will finish the painting portion of this project this week.  I need to start interviewing concrete guys so I can pick someone to create the base for this mural.  I thought about trying to do it along with my handyman, but decided that I really don't want to take on that part of the project.  Ten years ago I probably would have, but I'm getting more selective in the projects that I choose to take on now.  I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age.