Sustained Investigation #16

In my art, you can clearly see a place in the woods with lots of trees, flowing water, flowers, and a bird. The story told is I discovered a place in my woods where I thought I had never seen before. It was the same brook as the last one I painted but this time it's a different spot farther down right before flowing into the Androscoggin River. I chose to make this because I found this spot to be so peaceful and beautiful so I took a picture. I used the photo to get the placement of the sketch but then from there I chose my own colors and added more life such as flowers, a bird, green grass, and birch trees. This relates to my life because I painted a location that is close to me, a safe peaceful spot in my mind and used materials that are from this woods.

My work was made by first creating a sketch using graphite. I had a difficult time figuring out the placement of the brook. But I eventually drew a good enough brook which I knew I could fix with paint (It's all about trusting the process). First I painted a small bird that resembles a chickadee. I then went in with watered down acrylic paint (on watercolored paper) and painted random brown colored trees and some birch trees. I made the tree in front of a birch tree because I find them fun to paint. I used a brush with the bristles spread out to create random patches of grass and dirt/sand with green, brown, and tan shades. I add some snow as well but then I didn't like how bright it appeared so I covered most of it with green grass. I glued types of moss strands that I found in this woods onto the patches of land to make it appear more realistic and detailed. I also glued lots of shredded up leaves that are also from this woods and glued them around and sometimes over the moss to add even more texture to the land. Most of the land had leaves on it anyways in the photo so I wanted to mimic this texture using the literal materials. I mixed yellow, dark blue, brown, and tan to create the color of the water. I used less yellow and tan when I wanted the water to be darker in certain spots. I painted the rocks using grey and black with some green mossy parts. Using a very small brush, I painted tiny white strokes in the water to represent water flowing and crashing into the rocks. For final touches, I darkened up colors I thought were to light in order to add more contrast to the background. I also added bright flowers to add more color to this piece despite the flowers not actually being there in real life.

The process of creating my art took a lot of layering. I layered SO many materials of leaves and moss in order to have the bumped up texture I wanted. I also layered up the water with lots of acrylic paint because I couldn't get the color the way I wanted it to. I noticed the more acrylic paint I added, the thicker it was and harder it was to blend. My project evolved through all of the little details I added. It's really the small details in art that can bring a piece to life. Once I added every grey and black line to the birch trees they evolved into something beautiful. I named my art The Paridae in Spring because that's the scientific name for small birds like chickadees and it's spring. My next step could be to continue painting the woods behind my house. I took a lot of photos yesterday (April 5th) when I went four-wheeling. The photos turned out amazing and I may try to paint them exact next time.