Kapiti Island Wooden Board
During the lock down last month I was able to complete a lot of unfinished pieces, including this one of Kapiti Island - Gouache on round wooden board. Available upon request - amycherieart@gmail.com
Posts
The production line and the final product
The past two days have been so busy, painting from morning till night, but I couldn't be happier with the results 😊 (Check out the 'Available Work' page for close ups of the individual pieces). We got into a pretty good rythym of painting the design, giving them a few coats of lacquer, then attaching the magnets at the back. The more of them I make, the more ideas I have and the more I want to do, but tomorrow is the the craft fair, so I will have to make do with what I have. A part of me is so nervous that no one will be interested, and another part of me is sad that if someone does buy them they'll be gone.. I guess I need to learn not to be so attached to everything I make! But they look really neat on the fridge, hopefully I will get to take my favourites home :)
More wood slice paintings and learning the limitations of gouache
This post is going up a little late, and I have done many more paintings at this point. But until I can get pictures this will have to do for now. Painting these pieces has been super fun, and a really good learning experience for me. I am discovering what my favourite subjects to paint are, and also what doesn't inspire me. I am finding out how I cope creatively under pressure (or not as has sometimes been the case), and I am learning to accept constructive criticism. Also, I have found that I am strong enough to continue to paint what I want to paint, rather than take "suggestions " from others to heart, and potentially end up doing something that doesn't make me happy. I am very pleased with what I have done so far, but at the same time I have become a bit frustrated with my materials. Even though this is just a fun project, I still always try to do my best, which is more difficult with restictions such as paint quality. I haven't tried many gouache pai...
Concept art and first wood paintings
As per usual I had to plan everything out before I started... 😅 I made these paintings using the dimensions of the wood pieces to see how much detail I could get in to the space. They were supposed to be quick sketches, but I've really never been able to just do a quick sketch! So they ended up taking a bit longer than I wanted... I really enjoyed painting in circles though! My first painting ended up being done on a piece of a broken chopping board that I found. I wanted to test how the gouache would react over the primer that I had sprayed on it. I think it turned out really nice, and I ended up giving it to my grandfather as a gift. After I finished the bird I was pretty excited to start on the wood slices, here are my first few... There's really nothing quite like changing up your materials and your work environment to help start feeling inspired again!
New project!! Behind the scenes and trying new things.
Wood painting is something that I have always wanted to try. The texture of the wood and the smell of the bark lend themselves so well to painting natural subjects, and I LOVE to paint nature. I flew home to surprise my parents a few weeks ago, and it just so happened that my dad had been cutting down trees around the property. This was the perfect opportunity! Within a few days we had a production line going... We rushed out and bought a sealant and some gloss varnish spray. I already had my paints and brushes with me, (they seem to go everywhere with me lately). All I needed to do now was dry them out. Since the slices were so small and thin this didn't take long, the problem was drying them without warping or cracking. I thought I'd be clever and just leave them in the sun.... and some cracked. I did a bit of research (yes I know I should have done it first) and found that I could put them in the oven. So a few hours later at 90°c and they w...