ART EVOLVES — IN TRILLIUMS
Everything you do today will inform what you do tomorrow.
I’m inspired by wake robins, the quintessential flowers of spring, as they bloom in the woods where I live. The trillium tell me spring is here — or at least the promise of spring. So I sketch and paint them.
Here’s an example from my journal pages:
And this one that started as a demo and evolved into a painting I just love! It started on 140 pound watercolor paper, treated with matte medium. That technique allows paint to puddle and form oozle “gems” as it dries. It is sketched with a Lyra water soluble graphite pencil.
Then I marbled it… and it virtually glows. Look how the colors in the marbling both hide and highlight the painting color.
So now that the trillium are blooming again, I dug a couple from my orchard to bring in to paint.
I want to go BIG! And LOOSE!
Here’s the painting that resulted, — full sheet and still unfinished. I may marble over this one, too!
Everything is connected and one thing leads to another.
With trilliums in mind, I glanced at a Sockeye painting, and that started me thinking about salmon. Now I’m imagining fish painted in the style of these trilliums!
But first, more trilliums. I’m making four paintings on 6×6 inch canvases for Village Gallery’s Art Challenge fundraiser that opens Saturday, May 9th and trillium seem like the right subject for the technique I want to use.
You are invited to the opening celebration of Village Gallery’s ART CHALLENGE
on Saturday, May 9th, 2-4pm.
MORE ABOUT THE ART CHALLENGE HERE
Village Gallery is off Salesman Road, just north of Cornell, next to the Cedar Mill Library.
There will be lots of bargains but be advised, they can go fast!
These are $60 each or $225 for the group, an exceptional value considering the time and love in each one. Only because it’s a fundraiser for Village Gallery — and you can only purchase through them.
I love how you’re using the wake robins as a seasonal anchor for your creative practice—there’s something really grounding about letting nature’s rhythms guide what you make. The detail about the matte medium creating those “oozle gems” sounds like a happy accident that turned into a technique, which totally captures that idea of each day’s experiments building into tomorrow’s discoveries. Spring sketching goals unlocked!
The matte medium technique sounds fascinating—I’ve never heard of it creating those “oozle gems” you described. I can just imagine the paint pooling like you said, especially on the 140 lb paper. Do you find the Lyra pencil holds up well under the watercolor washes, or do you sketch after the medium dries?
I love how you captured that sense of anticipation with the trillium—that “promise of spring” really comes through. And the matte medium technique sounds fascinating; I’d love to see how those “oozle gems” actually look in the finished painting!
Love that you’re sketching the trillium as they come up—there’s something so intentional about painting what’s right outside your door. And the matte medium treatment on 140 lb paper sounds fascinating; I had to look up “oozle gems” because that visual of paint puddling into jewel-like shapes is incredibly appealing. Definitely trying that technique with my next spring sketch.