Edits

wash of Hookers Green over the original gourd color
 

There was something that bothered me about the nearly completed painting. It is the same problem that I had with the first house. Not enough black. And, while inspired by the work of Antoni Guadi, I had rather missed something in my work that I appreciate in his.


India ink detail above the green base

Chiefly, I did not have my spaces broken up quite enough. And the undulating lines of his work were missing in mine.When I washed the Hooker's Green over the gourd and gave it some flowing lines I realized the that eaves were what were missing in my gourd. I also realized that the stained glass transom over the entry was just hanging out. It wasn't really tied into the design for the entire entry in any sensible way, though it is tied to the entire aesthetic by virtue of its motif. So bring out the India ink. AGAIN!
And what I like about how this turned out is that it now more closely resembles the spiny ornamental gourds you see out for the holidays. I also enjoy the fact that the lines are more serpentine and less abrupt than my hand usually draws. Not sure if that is fatigue in my hands or just the nature of being heavy handed with the pencil. Though... now that I am blogging and only looking at the picture on the right instead of the whole thing I see that the spires in the valley are not as smoothly transitioned as I would like. And I could join the eaves to the doorframe...

You'll also notice that at this stage I have removed all of the masking fluid and the formerly white spots now have an eerie green appearance. Later in this session the top of the gourd got a good dose of Indian Yellow that really makes everything pop. And that sloppy swash of green is now fully integrated. I have an idea of how this is all going to work out so that I have a great holiday ornament for a desk or childs dresser that uses my rubber stamping techiniques.


cut from the background with more details added though that
bat on the door is still giving me fits of pique. I may have
the problem solved, but it is going to require some trickery.

 

Once I have the mechanics worked out I should have a marketable item. The first one is going to Jesse with another for her to auction at her kids' school fundraiser this year. The third one is going to go to etsy. We'll see how that goes before I get crazy about building these things enmasse. Of course, with the way the Internet works and the fact that we "live in the future" I can always build on demand and not worry about the overhead of stocking product. So now that I have some of the bugs worked out of this one I feel a bit more confident about that Venetian Peacock house.

A bit.