Start to Finish Part Four

A Very Productive Morning
This morning I set my alarm for 5am so that I could start my day with some painting. I know this sounds a little crazy, but I find that I get the most work done when everyone else is sleeping. I brew some coffee, gather up the dog and some water for my brushes, and head out to my backyard studio.

This morning I felt like I was ready to make some serious progress on this piece. Yesterday morning I made a visit to Home Depot to buy some bracing wood for it, lucky for me The Depot opens at 6am! Anytime the size of the piece exceeds 24-inches in any one direction the wood panel wants to warp, if it is not supported. Since this piece is 20x30 inches, I decided that before I made any more progress I needed to get some strips for the back. I cut, glued, and clamped them into place yesterday and let it dry overnight.

The above photo shows my progress from this morning. I am loving the layering of the papers and I am very very happy with the way this piece progressed today. I have worked in personal ephemera from my collector and she told me just yesterday that she was thrilled with the placement of the Sweet-n-Low packet when I ran into her in the grocery store. I just might be finished with this collage in one more session and then we will be ready to talk about framing artwork for galleries with some tips from my framer.

Stay tuned.