"En Mi Corazon" (final)

($125.00)....8" x 8"....Mixed Media Mounted on a Gessobord Panel....Presented in a Custom Frame)

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119: 11...NIV) So here is the final of this 8" x 8" piece presented under glass in a frame with a balsa wood spacer between glass and art. It is a spectacular way to present this kind of work rather than using a shadow box with a 2" depth.

If you like ethereal and aged looks, you will love this way of layering. In essence, it is alternating layers of white gesso over color which was dried and sprayed with spray acrylic coating and prepared for lettering. Brush lettering was added followed by soft pastels. It was then sprayed again and prepared for the next layer and another layer of white gesso (diluted) was applied with a credit card and then brayered. But the next step will give you some nice texture. You end up by spraying alcohol onto the surface and then brayering in all directions and many times...spraying again with alcohol....brayering....etc. until you're satisfied.

The final lettering was done with a Leonardt Principal nib and Winsor Newton Bleedproof White gouache. The only caution I would give in creating this type of collage / assemblage is to keep the main thing the main thing and don't add anything that is "cutesy craftsy" and don't add too many things. Simplicity is the hallmark of elegance and subtlety.

Hopefully, you have seen another way to create a piece with handmade paper inclusions. One last pointer...papers are a definite part of the book arts. So think of inclusions that go along with that category. You could include a small antique book...part of a book cover...marbled paper...wax seals...an old pen...text pages...etc. Keep it simple and get ideas for dividing your space by observing well done pieces that are elegant. If handmade papers are treated as an elegant inclusion, more than likely, it will be "gallery worthy". And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"En Mi Corazon" (draft 2)

(image 1)

(image 2)

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119: 11) The title of the piece in English is...."In My Heart". Of course I love to write it in Spanish and you can actually see it vaguely written with a pointed brush at the bottom of the piece. You can also see that I have now cropped the piece to an 8" x 8".

It will be presented in a frame with a balsa wood spacer to allow room for the dimensional inclusion of rolled up papers. In fact, all pieces that include handmade papers will look better if there is a spacer in the frame. It is a much better plan than picking out a shadow box that has a 2" depth. This type of presentation is very subtle and allows for a piece that is in between mixed media, collage, and an assemblage.

Since yesterday, I have added in this order....the brush lettering...a thin layer of white gesso...brayering after alcohol was sprayed on the surface....and then an application of dark purple pastel, brown pastel, and black charcoal powder. I also placed the frame around the piece to make sure I had enough brown tones that would also be picked up in the frame.

All of this was then sprayed with spray acrylic coating (2x). I then rolled up some text from the Psalms taken from a very small bible. I then found a piece of interesting yarn in an ecru color and wrapped that around the rolled up text pages. The papers are held in place with a liberal amount of gel matte medium.

The next steps are important so as not to paint yourself into a corner. The handmade paper has not been adhered to the support or the whole piece to a gessobord panel. So today I will be removing the handmade paper and adhering the piece to my panel and weighting it down with wax paper, book, and a rock for the remainder of the day.

I will then prepare the piece to receive lettering and after writing the text, I will spray it again with spray acrylic coating (3x)....drying thoroughly in between. I will finish with one coat of Golden Spray Varnish...dry thoroughly and then attach the handmade paper and allow it to dry overnight.  It will then be ready to go in the frame.  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.