Size: 15x19 inches
Medium: Watercolor, ink, metallics, leafing
Detail closeups, and prints ($16.95 & $26.75) available here
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The original painting will be on exhibit and for sale at Krab Jab Studio during the month of February for the Faery themed group show.
I feel like I've been wandering through this forest in various paintings in the past few months. I've skirted the borders of these woods, catching glimpses in one painting or another of the golden core tucked in the boles of the trees. So it was time to explore further under those tangled dark branches.
One of the inspirations for this piece was a photo I took of a sycamore at Gilroy Gardens earlier this year. It's actually made of 12 (I think?) grafted trees.
Some initial brainstorming sketches I did while away from my desk over Christmas. At first I was planning to have other nymphs bathing in the pools as well.
The finalized sketch prepared for painting.
And then the tortuous early stages. It's terrifying to meticulously sketch out a piece filled with fine details, and then to pour paint and ink all over it in a big ugly mess. The pencil lines are still there, very faint, buried under the ink. When I do this technique, I have to spray fix the pencil ahead of time or else I run the risk of completely obliterating all that work and ending up with no guidelines.
After letting the large splashes of ink and watercolor dry as a base coat for an hour at least, I can go back and work in details, pulling shapes and forms out of the mess of texture. I use a variety of mediums at this point.
Doing this stuff is my favorite part. I love finding the textures and pulling out form from the random chaos of separating pigments.
I use gel pens to do some finer white highlights and details.
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