Art in the making

Here is a peek into how I make a work of art.

First, I take a piece of canvas and send it through the sewing machine. Sometimes it's random, other times very deliberate. Then, I stretch it over a wooden frame and prepare the surface with a special glue. This prevents the paint from leaking through the other side.

Then I stand back and wait to see an image make it's presence felt. I like to allow the random chaos of stitched lines suggest a place to start.

Then I start to pull an image out of the canvas like this:

As you can see, I am following the random lines as well as filling in areas I would like to develop more fully. This process can take a while. As I work more on each piece with color and line, I turn the canvas in all four directions, studying each angle. Sometimes I end up developing the end result based on a new direction that "works" better. 

Here is the final result:

 

The name of this painting is "Sorceress." She is the inspiration for many of my new paintings I'll be showing at Shakti in Ballard, November 14th - January 7th.