The Fertile Continent

Like a cross between a verdant island and a peculiar fungus- or amphibian- or perhaps 🤔

The starting point-

For this piece I started by slathering on a thick layer of Golden Open Acrylic Medium and then poured and splattered batches of leftover paints from previous pieces and wiped it all around with a wide brush. Then I pressed cloth into the wet paint to pick up some of the excess. after that I mushed wadded up wax paper into what was left. The wax paper left interesting dendrites and the voids left by the cloth gave some initial form to this potential painting. I also liked the patterns of dots created by my fingers pressing through the cloth.

After the initial mess dried I began building up the image layer by layer with thin glazes of transparent pigments. It rapidly turned into a map-like form surrounded by a deep blue sea and the dots left by my fingertips developed into peculiar fruits budding up from this lush, green continent.

After the initial painting was done a thin glaze of Nickle Azo Gold really made the greens pop.

With the dark ultramarine of the sea around it the bright, grassy greens of the continent really make it pop out at you.

I had a lot of fun with this- it was kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle and a welcome distraction for my anxious mind. I hope it provides the same relief/release for yours!

*Stay Safe- Stay Productive *