A few nights ago I was given the opportunity to talk about my work to about 30 people at Bridge Gallery (Shepherdstown, WV) where my work has been on display for the past few weeks. It was a casual gathering and was mostly a Q & A session. I was asked a bunch of fun and interesting questions; one by my friend, Nancy, who wanted to know if I ever have an idea of what I'm going to paint before I start. I gave her an emphatic "no", because that usually is the case. I rarely have an idea of what a painting is going to turn out to be and I'm generally surprised!
However, for this painting, which is 20" X 26", I had scribbled and scraped in the background to start, and before long I knew I wanted to do trees with little things hidden here and there. I've been asked to put up some work at a local library for the months of June and July, so I want to fill the space with paintings that kids might get a kick out of.
I used acrylic and charcoal for the trees, then added details with charcoal pencil, highlighted with dabs of paint. There is some chalk pastel on there, too, to adjust background colors that weren't working.
The details were fun. There are some recognizable things, but also some made-up critters, and fish hanging from the branches (living fish...swimming in the air, I guess). I hope the kids have fun exploring. The rest of the pieces in the display will have other animals and whimsical scenes.
