I took an enormous risk when painting the loon pictured on the left. My goal was to show the difference in head versus body color. Instead of the common practice of applying iridescent powder at the end of painting a common loon, I applied a base coat of phthalo green - an extremely strong color. Most carvers would say I was nuts. My plan was to create different colors by covering the green with black as I added layers of black on the body. The green was too strong after several coats and I thought I'd ruined the carving. There was no turning back so I kept layering black. At the same point when layering the body was complete, the green head dulled to the point where it was exactly what I'd hoped for - a different black than the body with just a hint of green. I was lucky the experiment turned out well. It was clear that I needed to learn much more about how colors interact so that my attempts at creating the illusion of life are grounded in understanding rather than hope. I kept reading about color theory, kept experimenting, kept learning. The going has been slow. |
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ABOUT AUTHORJanice has been a bird carver since 2002. She carves basswood with knives and tupelo with power tools. Her favorite is which ever wood she has in her hands at the moment. Archives
April 2020
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