Smile

Smile by Bobbie Powell

Today I created this abstract as my ninth  day entry in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge.  I decided to cover up a vase and fern painting I did years ago and didn't really like.

I used Leslie Saeta's process and selected an image of a room (porch) that really inspired me.

With that palette, I envisioned a painting that is to go on that wall.  I began with a the darkest color all around the edge of the wood,  then some collage pieces of black and white lines and zig-zags went onto the piece.   I used the remaining 3 lighter colors to layer in washes over the whole piece. Somewhere in here, I placed the word "smile" random-like on the painting.   It actually turned out too dark at that point.  See!

I decided to do a white gesso wash over the top to lighten up parts of the work.  I lifted off the parts of the wash where I wanted it stay the dark.  When that dried, I still felt the need to lighten parts of it so I did another white wash over it.  Last step was to go back over parts of it with a light orange wash for a result with which I am finally happy.