Another 18 x 24″ cradled wood panel. This time with a walnut stain! I really love the natural patterns and visual texture from the wood grain, so I made sure to preserve some of that through til the end. The sides are also stained, and this piece doesn’t require framing!
I am adding some work in progress pics to this post, just to give you an idea of what went into the layering process.
Here I added 5 hymn pages and some gel medium over top of the middle section for texture. It has dried clear (so you can still see the pages!) and you will also notice the white modeling paste that I pushed through a stencil for the pattern at the top and bottom of the hymn pages.
Here I painted large background areas to give some color and depth and added splotches and sprays for visual interest. Starting to underpaint the branch I want in the center area.
This is after adding several layers of knifed-on highlights to the branch to give it that bark-like texture, as well as underpainting flower petals and starting in with a second layer on the the top half.
As I added petals, it just seemed to want to expand bigger than the space I had allotted, so I took a risk and floated some blossoms across the borders of texture. Started throwing in some leaves as well.
Finished piece. Added in a bird and some more red in the textured bands. More depth of color in other areas too.
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This is lovely!