DREAMING ITALY

Morning Song

Pictured above is a finished painting of a series I have been experimenting with for some time. I have named the technique, Organza mixed-media acrylic. I named this particular painting "Morning Song" because when I finished it, a story I have written and included in my book, She Who Whispers, came to mind.

Morning Song

She woke up this morning feeling different. She heard the sounds of this morning and yet the sounds of many other lifetime mornings were returning. She heard the infinite sound of distant runic bells, a call to alms, merchants' voices echoing over the river Nile, sheep bleating on a pastoral hillside, roosters, guns, flutes, chimes, laughter, weeping..for she had lived all of these mornings and she had heard all of these sounds before. It was as if they were all becoming one great sound...one great morning...this morning...and she knew that all the returns of mornings purpose was to teach her the uniqueness and significance of this morning….of now…

I started with a canvas I found at the flea market. I covered it with gesso and then painted the face of a woman who looks as though she is deep in thought. I wanted her to look as though she were remembering a trip to an ancient land, a past life, or even many past lives.

Step one

While the face was drying, I copied pictures from a recent trip to Italy onto organza fabric I had purchased online. I then positioned the prints on the canvas until I achieved the composition that I felt was was pleasing to the eye.

Step two: positioning the organza photos

Positioning the photos on the canvas

Step three: Painting the canvas

I then painted the canvas colors to coordinate with the photos.

Step four: Final positioning

In the next step, I cut the organza to fit and then fixed the final positions of the photos. The latter entailed glueing the canvas with Modge Podge and laying the photos over it.

I then used stencils and oil sticks to complete the design

I plan to create a video tutorial soon to show my technique. First, I'm going to experiment with some larger paintings and see what develops. What I find astonishing about art is that it allows you to loose yourself completely in the realm of exploration and creativity!