EQUILIBRIUM, my latest acrylic painting, was inspired by a healing poem that I wrote, Tame Your Fear, which aims to help women heal their traumas, recognize their strength and reach that fine balance where they are in equilibrium with all elements in their lives. It`s a work meant to empower women and lead them to serendipity.
Equilibrium is a product of my imagination, thus no reference photo for it. I made a sketch directly on the canvas an applied some colour on the outlines of the woman`s face.
While I was working on this painting, I realized that a big chunk of my paintings are female faces (portraits or profiles) and most of them embody a feeling or an emotion. In addition, the heart shaped red lips seems to be my repetitive signature trend in my works. ;0)
For the skin tones I mixed burnt umber, red, yellow and titanium white to obtain different hues. As I moved on to the details, I noted that the semi-circle looked like a watermelon, hence the idea of having a fruit in her hair.
Lately I have been working on huge canvases (40" x30") and painting on a smaller one (18"x24") was quite enjoyable as it allowed me to place it directly on my kitchen table and not have a huge mess all over the floor.
The frame was meant to give the idea of a 3d image, a painting in a painting, a glimpse of one`s life at a certain moment in time. The poet within me goes for a deeper meaning and says that even life is a game of chess, happiness always prevails if the right conditions are met. For your soul to bloom, you need to be in peace with all the elements in your life.
For the background I used a first layer of blue, light pink and yellow, followed by different hues. On the lower frame I added a layer of aquamarine glazing medium to create the idea of depth.
On the upper frame, I mixed blue with white and red to get some cloudy sky colours. Using black I outlined the hair and added white as well for depth.
Then I used some stencils to paint more details on the frame. Note the white leaves in the photos below, the clock slipping out of its case, and the 3d flower on the right side of the frame.
The yellow background got some white highlights and some more stencils were applied, followed by one more layer of yellow (mixe of citron yellow and light cadmium yellow).
Once it all dried, I applied masking tape on the frame`s line and added two layers of aquamarine glazing medium to create a contrast between the face and balance the elements.
After I added a few more highlights, I decided to create a weaving pattern on the frame. Thus I added once more masking tape and then applied the paint to create the outline. For the bottom I chose black, while for the left side of the frame I selected a mix of green and white.
You can see the white covering the areas where the paint leaked under the masking tape. Once I covered it in yellow, it created a nice warm effect. Only the left corner of the frame shows the gradual transition to the darker colours.
The last touch ups included adding some more white on the clouds, yellow on the stem crossing the bottom frame, some highlights on the neck of the woman and a light coat of black on the right side of the frame, mixed with some glazing medium.
After a week, I varnished it, took a photo of it and registered it for an international painting competition. Fingers crossed until I found out the results in August!
Drop me a line in the comments section below if you like what you read!
Here are some other art related posts that you may enjoy reading:
SERENADE - MAKING OF
WHAT MAKES ONE AN ARTIST?
RAW MINDFULNESS
CORONA CHAOS
LOST BOY, MAKING OF
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF DOODLING
JAMAICAN MAZE
THE WORLD IS MINE - MAKING OF
DRAGON STEPS, MAKING OF
THE POND - MAKING OF
FLUID ART
BLAZE - MAKING OF
VANITAS SERIES
LET YOUR INNER CHILD IGNITE YOUR CREATIVITY
UNDER THE BLUE -MAKING OF
DRAGON - MAKING OF
ART THERAPY, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?
FUN WITH ACRYLICS
MAGICAL UNICORN- MAKING OF
MUSHROOM TABLE- DIY
OTHER PAINTINGS
WHAT SPARKS YOUR CREATIVITY?
If You Are Interested In Purchasing Any Of My Works,
check out my Saatchi online art gallery page HERE
or visit my website: lavipicu.com.
@2020 Lavi Picu aka Lyme Poet. All rights reserved.
