New Works in Wax

I'm still trying new things.  These build on the idea of using photographs mounted on cradled panels.

My friend fell from her bike today when we were out for a ride.  What really bummed me out about it was that she was just starting to ride again after 20 years of not.  We'd been on a couple of rides previously and she was starting to build some confidence and actually looking forward to really doing more riding this summer.  Well, until this morning, anyway.  She fell and really nailed her shoulder.  The Dr. said several weeks before she can really get back at things.  She told me that she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be getting out on a bicycle anymore... ever, was the feeling I got.  The worse part is that this happened on my watch.  So, I made her this painting in hopes that she would consider riding again. 

I was giving my neighbor, Kathy and lesson on how to mount paper to the cradled panels.  She is an excellent watercolorist and I thought maybe she might like to have an alternative way of showing her work.  This was my demo photo.  I really wasn't happy with how the photo looked when it was on the panel - so I cropped it with wax.  I was much happier with it in the end.  I experimented with using the hot wax pen and going over the petals of the flowers with wax.  I was liking how that turned out, so I think I'll work a little more with that idea.

This diptych is a study for a larger painting I want to do for our family room.  This is just two 4x6 cradled panels.  The family room one will be 20x30 each.  The photo is taken with my iPhone with the Toy Camera app using the over exposed b&w.  I like the concept but I'm worried how the quality will look when I get them blown up to size.  Also, I felt it was a little too overexposed for what I wanted.  So, I will take out the "big girl" camera and go take some city pix once the sun shines again in Seattle.