Painting of a Dragonfly on the Fence

Dragonflies

We have a backyard pond complete with a waterfall and lily pads and dragonflies are frequent visitors. Frequent but they do not rest for long. Almost never long enough for me to run and get may camera and get back down the stairs.  And my camera is by the door when I am home!

On the Fence

But I have gotten lucky a few times. One summer’s day a dragonfly landed on my friend Jackie’s belly. And I had my camera right there.  I just had to convince her not to swoosh him away until I got the photos. The photos were really over exposed as her top was white but, as an artist, I am pretty good at improvising.

I went on a recent visit to Johnson Mills to see the flocks of migratory seabirds and was so surprised by number of dragonflies. So many varieties. So many really big ones. They hover doing the helicopter flight thing. I spent the entire day there trying to get a great photo of one and you know?  They are super fast. Just as soon as I would have the camera on the ready they were gone.  Every single time.

On a recent trip to Arizona as I was strolling down a path in the 100 degree sunshine (melting) when I spied a dragonfly resting on a fence right beside me.  Actually resting.  My camera was actually around my neck.  So,  I got some pretty cool photos.  The result is “On the Fence”.  This is a 9”x12” acrylic on Ampersand Claybord.

Product Review – Claybord

I know you have heard me talk about Claybord previously   I have a love hate relationship with it. Almost always the acrylic paint does not behave as I expect it to making for some stressful moments and multiple do overs.  What I love about it is that when you mess it up you are able to scrub off most of the paint and start over.  What I hate about it is (and all acrylic paint for that matter) is that the layers of paint have to be completely dry between the layers or the bottom paint will lift off.  Uncool.  This is particularly bad on Claybord.

The background of this painting is a really good bad example of this   Blending is particularly challenging especially on the base coats.  Once you have your base coat down it does get easier to work with.  The smooth surface allows for highly detailed paint application.  Love this.  Then I had to draw the dragonfly on the painted layer.  This is nerve wracking as you really do not want to erase on paint or have to correct your drawing with paint (although this works really well trust me).

This painting is scheduled to hung in the upcoming shaw at the Saint John Arts Centre “Stained Glass Revisited” in September