Don't build your world around volcanoes melting down

This 20 x 20 canvas is one of my favorite paintings.  I'm constantly fighting against myself creatively because I love very simple paintings with a minimum of business. Rarely do I achieve this because ultimately my paintings tell me what they want to be.

This is a case where I was trying out a technique, made some "mistakes' and ended up loving the end result.

I began with a very light palette; multiple layers of pale hues and titanium white washes.
Over these paint layers I used several commercial stencils, Stencil Girl is a great resource, and Dreamweaver translucent embossing paste.

I spread the embossing paste with a spackle knife over the stencils onto the pale painted under layers.
Lifted the stencils off and immediately sprinkled it with Distress dry glitter in clear rock candy.
I let it dry thoroughly over night.

You get this great sugary translucent texture that immediately made me think of the sandy beaches of Hawaii. I went back and sprayed the dried glitter/paste layers with Dylusions Ink Spray. 

I -thought- it would pool in the non-stenciled areas and leave the sugary parts untouched, but it ended up dying the glitter itself in beautiful ways.  

I just really love the reflections that sparkle in the sun. The aqua's and blues spoke to me of the oceans of Hawaii so I added Golden's Micaceous Iron Oxide to give the feel of the black sand beaches and the lava fields of the Big Island where my mother and brother live, and punched up the lava flows with some reds and oranges in honor of Pele.  The texture of the peace is gritty and sandy and really lovely in hand. 

It makes me think of this beautiful song that's been running through my head lately, 

Volcano sung by Phillip Phillips