One for Sorrow

This 12 x 12 canvas painting started simply as a color-block and line exercise and morphed entirely into its own thing. I'm always downloading color palettes and other artist's works for my sketchbooks, just as a catalyst to think about color in different ways or try a technique or use another artist as an inspirational springboard.  I think that's one of the strengths of Pinterest. I never want to copy someone's work, but ideally we learn from each other and inspire each other. If my work here inspires someone else, that's lovely.

I was unhappy with the color exercise and one day saw this pin on Pinterest. Like many people, I love the symbolism of crows. I also loved the top down perspective in the publicity shot for The Birds, so I made a stencil of the crow and started building up layers of paint.

I just finished a FANTASTIC online class from incredible Danielle Donaldson. I learned from her directly a method of building up a background with copious amounts of white acrylic paint; I love Utrecht's Studio Series acyrlic  medium body in Bright White, blended out with  acrylic glazing medium.  You can see here I used individual rub-ons letters to create a sense of stars in the sky and to work with my own iconography.

Using Golden's Airbrush Medium, I created cascading flows of liquid acrylics down the canvas. You have to be careful about using too high a water ratio with acyrlics because your paint can literally fall off the canvas; it's very unstable.  Airbrush Medium is a great way to get highly fluid runs of paint that are stable on your surface.

I've also used more rub-ons; I like them in tatters and incomplete. Here they suggest rolling hills and topography.

Although the painting began as an abstract, I felt like the Raven was flying over a landscape and hidden in his wings are the lyrics from The Beatles "Blackbird". I'll often have prayers, sigils, lyrics, quotes, etc. hidden in my layers. I made a teeny tiny castle stencil and a moon stencil. I love how the little castle glows at night.

As I mentioned in my last post, I try to work with lettering and numerals in my work to keep it unique to me.

I used my Copic Airbrush System to create the Raven's undercoat with a number stencil I made. Another bit of a rub-on on his head. Like many people, I'm very lost these days and I hope that this Raven is a totem to help me find my way. Or, it's quite possible I've been watching too much of Game of Thrones. But I'll always think of this old nursery rhyme when I see crows

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret,

Never to be told