This is an image of a mixed media painting that I created in my art journal. I prepared my surface with green acrylic paint long before I knew what I wanted to draw. Doing this ahead of time allowed me to have a fresh green surface to work on, when the need arose. This skull reminded me of a Georgia O’keefe painting and the added flower created a nice contrast.
To prepare my surface, I used an acrylic brush to paint both pages of my (open) journal green. I then scraped a little bit of the paint off to add a few translucent areas and texture to the paper (rather than having a perfectly smooth green surface). I then sketched the skull and flower lightly, in pencil. After roughing in the sketch, I began to add value and tone through layering the crayons. I thought that the pink and red would be a nice contrast to the green background. I even added a little bit of reflected pink/red color into the skull to tie the piece together.
Cool looking! What skull was it?
I think it’s a cow or horse skull in the studio at J. Sargeant Reynolds. Although, one student thought it was an antelope and I think that sounds much cooler, so I’m going to go with that.