Autumn and Bubbles

Its hard to believe that these two subjects could have any links, but much to even my surprise, they seemed to!

A few weeks ago the subject at Avon Valley Artists was 'Autumn' and I opted to use one of my precious doilys to create an autumn landscape.

I carried out the work in the usual way, painting the doily with lovely oranges, browns and greens and let it dry completely.

I then applied a wash to my paper, using much the same colours, having in mind a sort of circular design. I painted puddles of dark pigment in the corners and made them into trees and blew through a straw to produce the finger-like twiggy bits. I then used the doily, torn into little pieces to create the canopy and some of the undergrowth.

On the RH side of the painting,at the base, I found that watercolours were not enough to cover the base of the trees, so I used Indian ink to create some shapes which I made into fine grasses etc by again using the straw.
I felt that the canopy of leaves was a bit thin, so I added more paint in splattery blobs to hopefully simulate more leaves.
I was quite pleased with the result and refrained from too much more as I wanted it as fresh as possible.

So what has all this got to do with bubbles?

When I paint each doily, I place it onto a piece of plain white paper and the obvious result is a painting of circles formed by the negative shapes of the doily. When I lifted the doily from off the background this time, I saw that the pigment had bled under the top layer and  formed a lovely pattern in its own right!

When I showed this to a couple of painting pals, there were lots of surpise and the inevitable 'What are you going to do with it'

I had no real idea until two weeks later, the subject at AVA was 'Water' and I thought of my bit of accidental patterned paper, and it reminded me of bubbles, so this seemed like a good idea to try.

I was anxious to make the most of the paper print, and not being really sure how it would turn out, I photocopies the sheet so that I could use the copy and retain the original.

I did not do anything clever with the painting, just a lovely wash, some lines to suggest water, and the cut up printed paper, and lots of blobs and spatter.
Knowing when to stop was difficult, but it still looks fresh and although it is quite abstract I hope there is a feel of water about it.

I did not have the time to do this at the art group, and I needed more equipment than I normally take, so it was produced at home in the studio, so now I need to think of something else for the 'Water' topic!

PLEASE if anyone reading these posts knows where I can find doilies like the ones I use, can you let me know. I am down to my last few! I keep searching but these days they are all flowery and flimsy!!!