Shadow Box #16 ~ Inside and Outside Series ~ "Morning and the Leaning Trees"

Number 16, 10" X 10". Started with the drawing of the trees, which I did on a beautiful spring morning, before anything had leafed out very much. I was sitting in our field with my friends Stan and Judy, who were also sketching. We all did different things. The arrangement of these trees is what caught my eye. It's a graphite and charcoal drawing which I later boosted a bit with acrylic.

The frame around the drawing is watercolor paper painted with acrylic. I painted the reverse side blue before cutting and folding the window opening. The sticks, painted black and gathered with a wrap of fabric and thread, are resting on a piece of rice paper painted with ink. There are some touches of gold paint and two beads tied into the thread. The rice paper is adhered to the watercolor paper with acrylic gel, which coats that whole surface.

Just behind all that is a piece of canvas painted blue and behind that is some natural tone Thai banana paper on the surface of the box.

Around the inside edges are drawings of trees in colored pencil on the Bristol board that lines the shadow box.

Carved wood pieces, with, in each corner, small pieces of watercolor paper, painted with acrylic and edged with gold, frame the opening. The surface of the frame was sanded after painting. It and the carved wood is coated with polyurethane.