Piecing Life Together – A Picture + Word painting (Work in Progress)

 Detail of Piecing Life Together

18 x 24 inches acrylic paint on gessoed masonite

My photo references and imagination

This painting is a bit of an experiment for me. True, it does have people in it, and it's an acrylic painting on gessoed masonsite,which is nothing new for me, but...... I've decided to add words to the mix. In the past I've often come up with titles for my paintings that add something to the meaning of the image......so I finally thought I'd go ahead and actually insert the text IN the picture. As it's often done in another of my jobs.....children's picture book illustration.

I decided for my painting, Piecing Life Together, to show parts of an everyday scene and add in the text as a graphic element. The detail below shows a Saturday morning breakfast table, with cereal circles falling from an overturned box, the falling treat eagerly awaited by a gleeful puppy. 

 I painted the individual details with Golden OPEN Acrylics, that stay wet and usable for a lot longer period of time than standard acrylics. This gives me a welcome amount of time to mix colors both on the canvas and pre-mix them on the palette, either of which is a change from my usual working methods. It also allows for a pleasing amount of blending, which is great for skin textures. I'm really enjoying seeing just what a difference an itty bitty nudge of a dab of paint can make.

I worked on other areas of the painting then planned out the kind of text I wanted to use.

I printed it out and traced it off onto the painting. Then I carefully painted the text in changing bits of the letters as I went along.

 

Even tho' I've signed this painting, I still consider it a “Work In Progress”, and I may yet make some changes. But I do really like the bits I've got so far.......and the total concept.