Medium:
Objective:
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Oil on small edge canvas
designed as gallery art
I wanted to encourage my valley neighbours to explore their environment after dark so I placed a Post on the local Facebook friends page about firefly season. Well, newcomers were excited and older residents told stories of their encounters with fireflies over the years.
I asked if they would let me share their secret through painting and so I was invited to explore Camilla's 'Fairy ground'. We entered the ground just on dusk with Camilla's family and I was able to take sketches until the fireflies appeared. There were not many but they appeared out of the gloom in silence and went along their pathways around the fairy ground before disappearing into the shrubs and trees. We were all delighted. Well the image sat in my mind for 12 months. I was so busy I only got the background moon done in that time but finally the way opened and I painted the rest of the image in a week or two.
I chose oils on canvas as I had used the waterbased oils and wanted to see if oils and medium worked as well. I really like the layering of this ancient technique, but I got caught in a technical trap when I tried to use the medium the same way I used the water. |
