HELLO 2012!

Because I spent the last several days of 2011 cleaning up my studio, I was raring to go on the first day of 2012.   I am going to document my process better in the upcoming year, and give each completed piece a "story" - meaning I'm going to keep up with the materials used in each piece.

Today I started with a piece I have been working on and experimenting with.   I had ALOT of texture on it, but wasn't pleased with it.  So - I spent some time burning the texture off with a blowtorch, as well as gunpowder.   As a result, I burned through the canvas a few times.

The piece I'm experimenting with - with my new hand sander!

Below - you will see a sequence of pictures, beginning with the back of the piece to illustrate how much fire I used on it.   I sanded it down and it lightened it up a little bit.   I then added red to the areas on the painting that appeared to be bubbles as a result of the fire.    I started to see a pattern emerged.   I continued to play with it.

the back of the 12x12 canvas

While the piece isn't 100% finished, i think the progression is working nicely.   It started out today very dark, and actually it was looking a little burnt because I was overzealous with the fire!   A little sanding,  finding patterns in the texture to emphasize, spraying alcohol back into it to dilute the paint has made a big difference.  I would welcome any suggestions on how to proceed!

Next post will be about the mixed media online workshop I am playing around with.   This is where this piece is beginning: