Saturday, June 8, 2013

Taking the Leap. . .

"I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday."
           - Eleanor Roosevelt
Started with a pencil sketch on a piece of 6" x 18" balsa wood that had been primed with clear gesso and sanded smooth.
Love using Adirondack paint (I rarely use the dabbers on top - just paint right from the jar) because of the great matte finish it leaves.
Started the hair with India Ink blown all over the place with a straw.
Added a background of flowers and vines to finish her up and then attached the balsa wood to a 10" x 30" canvas.  This is one long, skinny piece!
The graphic effect of adding solid stripes of paint at the bottom helps to ground the girl and looks modern and clean to me - 
Linking to Sunday Sketches and

22 comments:

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

This is a stunning piece. Blessings!

ASHISH BARDHAN said...

Very Impressive Artwork.
I'm really amazed with this kinda work.
Meanwhile Check out my Work http://ashbeezone.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/the-life-of-an-engineering-dude/
Happy Sunday Sketches !!

Unknown said...

Love the step by step. She is gorgeous and you are right about the strips. love her :)

PaintingWrite said...

this is stunning. I love how you did the hair by blowing indian ink - that's really quite ingenious! The final effect of the wood on the canvas with the bold colour stripes is stunning and you're right it totally brings it together.

Unknown said...

Love this wooden canvas!!! what a wonderful piece....

alarmcat said...

this is so beautiful!! yes, the solid stripes at the bottom are a perfect touch.

Silke Powers said...

Love her! And my visits here - your blog is totally inspiring to me... xo Silke

Joni Nickrent said...

Gorgeous, bold and beautiful! Love it!

Janet said...

I love this one! She might be my favorite so far. The ink hair is fantastic!!

Lynn Cohen said...

beautifully painted on wood!
her hair gives an Alice down the rabbit hole effect I think. ;-)
Lovely.

Ginny said...

She is beautiful. I loved reading about each step. Thank you.

Melanie said...

She is so pretty.
Liefs, Melanie

Tammie Lee said...

wonderful to watch this come to life, it turned out stunning.

Clare Lloyd said...

She is really great and fab idea working on wood.

Unknown said...

Very cool... Better & better... I love the hair- great tip... Going to try!

Sandy said...

Oh my goodness golly gee - do you have any idea how good you are. She is beautiful and you are super talented. Do you think I love what you do!!!!!
Sandy

Linda Richardson said...

Beautiful! And love the idea of the balsa wood on canvas :-)

Alexandra MacVean said...

Michelle,
I'm not sure what balsa wood is but this is an amazing painting! Well done. LOVE her hair. :)

Zena said...

Wonderful piece

veronica said...

I love the way u did her hair! Great texture!

DJ said...

i am who i am today because i ate a lot of cake - me

denthe said...

This is amazing. I love how you put it on canvas and added those stripes.