Night Owls

I just finished my piece commissioned for the Knoxville Symphony House! This painting will hang above the dresser in a boy's room designed with a camping theme. I can't wait to see it all put together... old quilts, lanterns, bug nets, stuffed bears, and carved wood in the shape of trees to frame the windows. What little boy wouldn't want to camp out with this type of decor? This was such a fun project for me to work on. I love camping, and I love that the interior designer gave me free reign for the piece, encouraging the creative process.

Here are a few photos documenting my process. I experimented a little bit with this piece using more layering than usual, a new type of glue, and figuring out how to work on board without dealing with mat boards and glass for framing. I like the outcome but will still experiment more with ways to hang board in a casual manner like canvases, i.e. no glass! The YES! paste worked well for my collage technique. It is easier to work with than my usual mix of water and matte medium / Elmer's glue mainly because I wasn't mixing it with so much water. However, because of the thicker application of glue I went through quite a bit of it for just one piece. It does have a nice flat finish and is very easy to work on top of, with paint and pastel in this case. I also didn't have as much bubbling up of the paper, again probably because of less water being used. Anyway, I vote yes for the paste and will most likely be buying more soon.

Phase 1: Some nice green grass paper I've had a while. This paper was actually a drop sheet for painting some green tissue paper, but I loved the wrinkled effect of the by-product.

Phase 2: Painted over the nice wrinkled grass so it wouldn't be too distracting and added some trees and water, with the mountains in the background- a few staples for a camping scene.

Finished! I was tempted to add more flowers, but it is for a boys room. And, if you ever have a chance to see the synchronous fireflies in the Smoky Mountains, it's more magical than could ever be recreated in an illustration, though I like the quiet effect of their presence in this piece too.

Close up: Night, Night.