The Curiosities Within

My home now has a mini cabinet of curiosities (It's really just a box). Here is my finished collection of painted found objects from nature. Each collector's card is hand-painted with acrylics. My exhibit includes bird eggs, a lunar moth, blue butterfly, and a bird's wing. For each item there is a museum tag with description. These curiosities are imaginatively labeled with dates and locations that are precious in memory. 

Traci Huskamp taught how to use mid-tones, shadowing and highlighting with acrylics. Being a student of watercolor painting, she has applied watercolor techniques to acrylic painting.  I learned to apply thin water glazes of acrylics to add highlights and shadows. Using this painting trick makes my painted images that look as if I just picked them up from the forest trail. 

Depth has been added to these images through folding, cutting, and even shaping with a spoon. The eggs were shaped by curving them within the belly of the spoon.

Have I ever told you about Ashley? Ashley is my 12 year old neighbor. We get together once a week to create, dance to her music, laugh, drink herbal tea, and pray for each other. 

 

This is a picture of Ashley learning how to paint an egg. Do you see the real brown egg on the table. She is so cute. She thought we were going to paint eggs. Indeed we were...just not on the egg. As she practiced her shading, by blending a thinner hue, she became a natural.  

Now, Go paint an egg!