"Fertile Ground" (sold)

(sold)


In today's culture of social networking and tech devices as close as your pocket...a state of silence must be planned with intention. It is so worth the effort as it provides fertile ground for inspiring thoughts, actions, and prayer. Plan for silence in your life today.

The first layers of this piece were created with walnut ink and water soluble oil paint. I resurrected it from my archives, knowing that at some point, I had written a quote in Spanish that included the word silencio (silence). So here it is with a new line of lettering. The basic format (division of space) was created with horizontal bands going from edge to edge. The band at the bottom was created with a commercial stamp used in an unconventional way. I first mixed some walnut crystals with enough water to resemble melted ice cream. (The crystals produce a richer color than the premixed kind.) By brushing this ink on the stamp and applying it to dry paper repeatedly, some very interesting texture appeared. Dry this with a hair dryer, spray with acrylic coating, and then stamp again with white water soluble oil paint or Speedball printing ink. The technique involves using a brayer on a smooth surface to roll out the paint and then brayer onto the stamp. This process creates wonderful layers with elements of the stamp appearing throughout the texture. You can also remove parts of the white stamping with a damp paper towel to give it a "less contrived" look. Just something to think about.