I'm a big fan of Alphonse Mucha's artwork. My husband and I got to go to a showing of his work in Debuque, IA last December. I really wanted to work on a decorative, Mucha-style art project. so when my sister-in-law got engaged I began sketching out ideas and doing color mock-ups in the ipad. Here's my 1st go at it:
But in this concept my details were too tiny for the scale of my canvas so I started again.
For the new concept I tied in more details that reminded me of Mary. My sister-in-law said she might use curly willow and green lady slipper orchids in her bouquet so I worked that in. The little mushrooms and white trillium flowers are native to the Oregon forests. I remember her telling me that Trillium flower was protected and that reminded me of her too. The two rings that the portrait is framed in are their wedding bands. And the warm color pallet match her wedding colors.
For the new concept I tied in more details that reminded me of Mary. My sister-in-law said she might use curly willow and green lady slipper orchids in her bouquet so I worked that in. The little mushrooms and white trillium flowers are native to the Oregon forests. I remember her telling me that Trillium flower was protected and that reminded me of her too. The two rings that the portrait is framed in are their wedding bands. And the warm color pallet match her wedding colors.
I did the line work in Photoshop and then color mock up on my ipad. I stenciled the line work, you think that would be faster but actually making the stencil was pretty time consuming, but worth the effort.
With my sketch completed I began painting. I started painting left to right, background to foreground. It was really helpful to work this was to prevent smudging paint. Having the white of the canvas mostly covered before working on the portraits also helped me to pick colors with out my eye blending in the background white.
One of my teachers really saved me by pointing out I should use a wet pallet with acrylic paint. The portraits wouldn't have gone so well without it! I used a cookie sheet for my pallet. Lined the bottom with a wet paper towel and then wax paper. Using this method my paint stayed wet for an hour instead of 5 minutes! And I didn't have to use any acrylic retarder to slow the drying time. Here are a few photos of my progress:
And finished! I have to say, I really liked working with acrylics. It was so nice to have a finished piece without the long drying times. :). Mary and Tom loved the painting. I hope it always reminds them of their beautiful celebration of the sacrament of marriage. :). Love you both!
29" x 29" Acrylic on canvas
