Folk Art Mary

Glenora Family Cottage, Starting to Carve

I start to carve the Glenora Family Cottage Commission, beginning with the wind swirls. This will be the hardest part of the piece for me, making these swirls work. So I want to get a sense right away of how the wind swirl shapes will fit into the rest of the piece.  In general I take on the boldest parts of the carving first, leaving the smaller details until last. There's a real reason for this. The small details are always vulnerable to being cut off by mistake as one carves the wood nearby. So it's best to do the big carved shapes first and the smaller ones last.

folk art mary

 

 

Canoing in the Adirondacks - Gold Leaf Doesn't Help

I thought maybe putting on the gold leaf would make the Canoeing in the Adirondacks art work sing for me. But I'm still bothered by the empty space at the bottom, and now I'm even beginning to be bothered by the empty space to the left of the canoe.

 Usually a piece comes together at the end for me, but not so this time. What am I going to do? I've got to think about this for a few days.

folk art mary

 

Canoeing in the Adirondacks with Islands - Discouraged

I've painted more but this just isn't working. I'm still bothered by the bottom of the piece -  too much empty space there, it distracts me from looking at the canoe which is where I want to look first.

folk art mary

Canoeing in the Adirondacks with Islands - Dark Outlines

In this next version, as I look at it, something is starting to not work for me. I've made a number of small color changes including dark outlines around all the major shapes, but I'm starting to get bothered by the large expanse of water that lies between the boat and the bottom of the inner frame. My plan is to keep working with paint to make this piece sing.

folk art mary

Canoeing in the Adirondacks with Islands - Rusts and Yellows

Adding the rusts and yellow plus some dark grays really helps the Canoeing in the Adirondacks with Islands piece to take on life. This is starting to become a night time scene. When I first started to paint it I wasn't sure if it would be a day or night time scene.