The process behind the FULL MOON FROG POND paintings
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Presenting ...the making of the three original paintings inspired by Gregory Rosa's deep listening CD release: FULL MOON FROG POND. In this blog I'm taking you 'behind the scenes' into my studio to see the process of creating the pond triptych paintings..enjoy!
I started this triptych of paintings with a walk with Greg around the Frog Pond near Jericho beach where he originally recorded the frog sounds that inspired this compilation. During this walk we formulated the idea of creating original art work to go with the CD release as a special edition for collectors and also to raise money for the Wilderness Committee.
I began by asking Greg for any paperwork on this music project that I could use to formulate the content of these paintings. He gave me images for the CD cover and back as well as an aerial view of the frog pond, a sketch of his music score notes "FMFP thinking", an image of a frog and a copy of the music itself. My content was clear: frogs and my focus the frog pond - both interlaced with the music that Greg created from this.
My next step was to get clear on my colour. I chose to follow the greens used in his album cover along with an analogous suite of colours including green shades, blues, whites and blacks.
I began by laying out the three Arches 300 pound water colour paper and sketching out in pencil the layout of the frog pond, based on the aerial view and through it the lines noting where Greg made the recordings of the frog sounds. I used a T-square ruler to make the lines and drew triangles where they intersected.
I drew an outline of the pond and I then used clear tar gel to outline the pond and for later when I would put in the "water" so it wouldn't go outside of the pond borders. I used white gesso around the pond to prime the marshland for painting of the analogous greens.
I wanted to keep the aerial image of the path around the pond where we walked and talked bout this project to begin with. I used Artist Safe Removal tape and GAC 500 to delineate the path around the pond.
I used wet on wet india ink for the ground layer of the pond and its black edges. The effects created where similar to what we saw in the aerial photograph which was exciting and gave the pond some nice features and characteristics. The ink and water stayed within the boundaries because of the clear tar gel surrounding it.
The black and white painting really resembled the aerial photograph!
This part was so fun! I love wet on wet india ink on paper!
I then painted the green marsh land - the frog's homes- surrounding the pond.
After the india ink layer was dry I began to layer the lake with liquid acrylic paint mixed with gloss medium polymer to give the lake its glossy sheen. I applied several layers like this, allowing each one to dry after the next one. when the paint began to puddle or pool in one area I used a large sea sponge to remove excess paint and the action of moving the sponge over the lake reminded me of frogs hopping around which was fun and resonance of the theme.
Once the lake and the marsh land were dry, i took the papers Greg had given me and reverse transferred them into the painting. Look closely and you will see image of frogs, the album cover, the music score.
I then added scratch marks denoting the foldable surrounding the pond with pencil and lyra pencil crayons within the green marshy area and also did some loose sketches of frogs…as well as writing in with india ink (PITT pens) the titles of the scores on this album. These markings are all hidden beneath a final wash of titanium white i used over the green marshy area.
To complete the paintings I painted them with a gloss medium water mixture isolation coat and varnish them with museum quality archival varnish. greg and I will then have them photographed as their full 3 pieces and then tear them into 27 individual abstract pieces of the pond which will be available to collectors as a limited edition with the FULL MOON FROG POND CD.
To buy a piece of the pond, and own an original limited edition copy of FULL MOON FROG POND CD click here to see what's available, please note that CD's are only available for art collectors:
Come and see the paintings in the flesh and party with us all weekend long, here are ALL the details: /debchaney/2010/11/its-comingcanadas-biggest-open-artist.html
You want the music but you don't want to buy any art...no worries.. you can download the CD here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gregoryrosa
Yes, we have a facebook page: click here to join us: http://www.facebook.com/pages/FULL-MOON-FROG-POND/104171339656435
You want to interview Greg & Deb because you think this is so way cool! Please contact
Press Contact:
Naomi Dayneswood
604.322.37057