The Cow Jumped Over the Moon

I've said before what an inspiration Liz from primoriginals has been to me. I love the idea of painting on wood so framing isn't needed. Layering gives such depth and interest to her paintings. After chatting with her, I ordered some wood and took a stab at my first mixed media painting.

I had this idea rolling around in my head and the finished painting actually closely resembles what I imagined. It's a big change for me, since I'm usually so literal in my paintings. This includes paper, acrylic paints, oil pencils, glitter, metal stars, and stamping and is finished with beeswax. The beeswax was definitely a learning experience, but thanks to Liz, I had a small quilting iron handy to smooth the finish. It goes GREAT over acrylic paint, but it's not so great over the paper. I may have to do something a little different on future paintings because it made the cow look slightly transparent. It gave it a little more visual texture, so it's not bad per se, just not what I anticipated.

I love the cow's expression and I'm really happy with how the moon turned out. I also really love the background with multiple layers of stars and the rich colors. Once I put a hanger on it and get good photos in the sunlight, this one will be up in my Etsy shop. It's going to be difficult to sell because I keep picking it up and admiring it. Even though I painted the silly thing, I keep finding new things as I look.



I had SO much fun with this and would have finished it earlier except that my work area is my kitchen table. I had to put everything away so I could have company for Christmas. One of my New Years resolutions is to be more artsy in 2009, and a sub-resolution is to set up a dedicated work table in my office/studio so I can go create whenever the mood strikes.