Reworking a mixed media painting

It's my local church summer fete and art exhibition at the end of June. Given that this is only 2 weeks away, I decided that it was time to rework one of my local subject mixed-media paintings, ready to offer for sale. It is of a path through a bluebell wood on the land next to the church. I know that the composition is good, but the painting itself is definitely lacking pizzazz!

Here is the original work, finished two years ago:



Pale, washed out and the bluebells are non-existent! 

The original was painted using watercolours at the end of my first year of a two year watercolour course. Tissue paper was applied using watered down PVA and then some gesso was painted over in a random way to give the watercolour texture. A very fine technique and one that I will try again someday - but it didn't work in this case. I was too afraid of the colour, and didn't create enough contrast.

I could have tried to add more watercolour, but with the greens already laid down in the woods I would never be able to achieve the vibrant blues and purples of the bluebells, so I chose to rework the whole painting with acrylics.

I'm sure you'll agree the end result if very much improved!






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4 comments:

  1. Beautiful re-do, Stephanie. Too often we don't take time to venture back and rediscover where we started or recognise our growth. Great exercise!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Leslie. I was never really happy with this one at the time, I really struggled with getting the purples of the bluebells to stand out against the greens. I only considered adding acrylics after reading one of your blog posts and thinking: what the heck, why not give it a go!

      Of course I have much more experience now so would probably do a much better job in the first place ;)

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