Monday in the Studio - WIP

More bees!  More bees!  More bees!  OK, I'll settle down now.

I've been in the studio all morning, like a good little artist.  Barefoot and paint covered:)  I'm working on the third of my bee and flower series.  I started this ground last week, by covering the art board in gesso, then I collaged a piece of a new to me old German book page.  Why do I feel like bees and German language go together?  I don't know where I've come up with the connection, but I just can't shake it.   Ohhhhh!  Something is starting to come into focus out of the deep fog of my memories.  I think that in one of my German classes in high school, I had a text book that was sort of honey and black colored.  Huh.  I wonder.

Anyway, so I put down some really wet acrylic paint, and swished and swirled it all around with the paintbrush, then just left it to dry.  Afterward, I thought it resembled paisley, and since I really like paisley, I decided to go with it.

But first, I sketched in the bee -quite large.   I think bees are such adorable, fuzzy, little creatures.  I like a bigger than life size model.

Then I took a fine point Micron pen and sketched around - sorta - the paint pattern.  Like I said, I really like paisley, like to draw it, but seem to always find myself in a rut.  I tend to stick to the same pattern and can't bust out.  Doing it this way forced me to be different, because I was more or less keeping with the random pattern that was there.  But not completely.

Next, I went over the ink lines with some purple acrylic paint.  Over that I put a thin ochre glaze.  I intend to glaze it again, with just a touch of white in there to mute the pattern a little.

I have this idea in my head.  I can see it.  It's one of these mixed media paintings, but with a graphite sketched element left intact.  I keep trying to do it, and on this painting, I had every intention of leaving the bee in graphite, but every single time, without fail, it MAKES me go in and use ink or paint or colored pencil!  I added white out pen, white charcoal, sanguine pencil, and brown and ochre alcohol ink on the bee.  I will keep trying to do one with a graphite drawing.  This isn't it.

It's drying now, so I'll show you more soon.

I did another crow this weekend.  This one is a groovy, hippie kinda guy, who likes to spend his time out communing with nature.  He was a birthday gift for a friend of the same sort;)

I have to go see if my glaze is dry yet.  I have plans for this bee:)