Just a few photos of what has been going on lately in my studio. I've been keeping a large piece of paper up as a sort of brainstorming piece.

Here are a couple details:

Keeping a large drawing going is something I've done a lot in the past. I use it both as inspiration for new paintings as well as a way to draw from old paintings as a form of investigation. I've been keeping with the bird theme but am trying to get further away from forming actual birds but rather capturing the fluttering of wings and different atmospheres. I'm really using the material to find where the birds are.

Here is the latest painting in progress.

I started with raw canvas with a ground of acrylic medium. I used some dry pigment and ink on the wet medium to try and find new space, mark, and color.

This weekend I've gotten a bit further on the painting. I've continued to use ink- even rubbing it over and into some of the places in the painting- as well as wax medium.

I hope to update again very soon- I've been full time at my job this summer and I absolutely love teaching art to children and being part of that kind of creativity. But wow, it's hard to carve out a time to paint- I just want to be with my son at the end of the day.

Be well!
Melanie