Mixing it Up

Currently unless I'm working on altered books I tend not to mix media (ie. gel media, papers, copper or gold leaf, etc.) but rather mix the methods I use to apply acrylics to canvas or paper.  I'm currently working on a large triptych, three 30x40 inch canvases, which I hope to turn into three separate paintings that can work together or apart.  I decided to work on them vertically so in the end the piece will measure 40 inches in height by 90 inches wide.  I've been missing our van as I used to be able to haul large paintings but these days I have to work in diptychs or triptychs if I want to go larger than 36x60 now that we have an SUV instead.   

Anyway...with these pieces I decided to play with monoprinting using my gelli plate, then moved onto layers of translucent drippy washes of colour in warm tones and then brought everything out to the garage to utilize spray paints and stencils.  I love incorporating the hand cut stencils I created and decided to use both positive and negative shapes to create the feeling of cave painting (petroglyphs).  Since my work focuses heavily on pictographs and petroglyphs, I found that this has been a terrific way to include these images in my work.

Last year as I created the 52 WEEKS PROJECT I wrote about buffalo as a symbol of abundance (here) and swallow (here) so it was nice as I worked to be reminded by these messengers to continue to work diligently and with determination in order to find my way home.