genesis parts 2 & 3

My crap digital is throwing in the towel. The only settings that work now are scenery and night. Sounds like the perfect excuse to cash those Air Miles in for a new one that has more than a pathetic 2.0 megapixels. Saw a tasty digital SLR today for a tidy $2000. sigh. In any case, I can't take proper pictures of my paintings right now, so improper ones will have to do for my "genesis" project.

In phase two (just above) I add any texture elements that I like, in this case a piece of lace (wrapped around the side) and two skeletons of hydrangea petals (those two little beige "smears" above the lace). I dip these elements in a 50-50 solution of acrylic medium and water to adhere them to the canvas. Eventually they will be painted over and appear merely as added texture.

Phase three (above phase two) is a very fun phase. This is when I cut out acetate stencils and stick them to the canvas wherever I want, and either use sponge or brush to "colour in" the stencil. In this one I've done scarabs and arrowheads along the bottom and various seed images farther up. To show you what the stencils look like I've attached the used one of the scarabs to the canvas with a piece of masking tape. That is not part of the final product!

But on to more pragmatic things. Today was Open House day at the gallery. One "fan" who'd been in the gallery earlier in the week came in to meet me. The rest were pretty much family and friends and a few stragglers. Posh, dignified Kerrisdale was a dead zone. Everyone's on holiday or at the beach. The best part was finally meeting Martine Gourbault, who I'd invited. I'm a huge fan of her work and the minute I get some spare cash I'm buying one of her paintings. But the most affecting experience of all today (and strange, as it was the opening of my first solo show and should've been about the art) was meeting an old friend's little girls. This friend now lives in northern Wales (Rhyl) and has adopted two little girls from China. I was all set to scoop them both. The older one had me completely hooked when she took my hand and said "Let's go look at your fish paintings."