I Wish I Was In Thailand .....

Yesterday I finished a new painting.  I haven't titled it yet but am really happy with it.  It is only the second piece I have done in some time.  As cold as it has been here (and almost everywhere) the colors alone have been cheerful.
The bird is a very rare creature; as far as I know, he is the only one of his kind.    So without further ado ...

I felt rather tentative until the last session (yesterday).  It's been a long time and  while you don't entirely forget, rustiness enters in.  First day  starting on a canvas which I had painted with a turquoise ground (mistake: should have only done background) ....not that it couldn't be overcome, but the one thing I had known from the beginning, was that the bird would be essentially yellow, and all yellows, even the cadmiums, tend toward transparency so it is easy to lose luminosity.    On the left is end at session 2; right session 3.  Sessi9on 1 was just ground color and sketching bird plus two of the flowers ....

 

The piece is 14 x10 and done in acrylic on stretched canvas. 

 

 

 

 

 

April 18 Thai Mural Fragment Transfer

April 18 Mural Fragment ,
originally uploaded by pati b.

Happy Me! Spent several hours working with clay today...had wanted to experiment with a torn edged transfer. The middle bit didn't quite pick up, but given the subject matter and that fact that many of these murals are in fact weather and time damaged and worn, the 'flaw' works quite happily for me.
The image is a small detail from a Thai wat (temple) mural.
I haven't yet decided whether to use this on a box or a mixed media collage/assemblage on canvas.