"Ashes to Beauty"

($40.00......6" x 6".....mounted on a 1/8" depth clayboard panel)


"When life turns to ashes...focus on beauty." A ton of beauty can do a lot to lift the human spirit. So when life seems to bring you to your knees, it is quite time to focus on beauty and in abundance. The image in this piece is the bougainvillea flower which typically grows in tropical areas. I grew up with these flowers so they have a special place in my heart.

One of my friends calls the look in this piece the "grunge" look which is quite appropriate. It begins with an image (or not) and gesso. I typically make gestural marks in the gesso while it is still wet. Just use the corner of an old credit card, look out the window, and pretend you're writing something. No one needs to read it because you're only doing it to create texture.

The green color was added after the gesso dried overnight. It was applied with a brayer and softened with a brush and a bit of water followed by blotting with a kleenex. Soft pastels and lettering came next. Now if you like smudges and texture, this is the technique for you. There is so much that can be done with gesso...and if you don't like it, you can gesso over the whole thing and start over. I did focus on connecting the image to at least (2) sides of the design space. The connection is the green color. By adding a "grayed purple" pastel color, a haze was created which adds to the color vibration. (red and green are direct complements.  Green and purple are split complements.)  It's fun and generally goes well unless you try to include too much. Keep the main thing the main thing. Just a few more things to think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.