No crying over spilled milk!

Now you never have to cry over spilled milk again - just turn it into art! 

I have begun experimenting with milk. It works a little bit like invisible ink. Paint it onto paper and when you paint over it - voila! All sorts of interesting shapes start to show up. 

I've already totally ruined about half of my test subjects. It's clearly going to take a bit of work to figure out how to use effectively (look forward to some more interesting experiments in the coming weeks,) but it certainly seems like it could have an interesting batik effect if used properly.

The piece above only has a background wash at present, but you can start to see some interesting things happening back there. On the right there are some more random practice brush strokes. High contrast definitely looks good with this stuff.

Female Whooping Crane

Continuing with the cranes, I have been working on this new pose. I think this is a female whooping crane, but I can't really get a look under the hood, so we'll just have to leave it at that. 

I can't really describe in words the sort of feelings it evokes in me. There is just this sort of calm and rounded sense of presence that words don't really do to describe. You might even say it was like calm abiding.

I haven't decided for sure if I will add some red to the composition. There's a computer generated preview of what it will approximately look like. I'd love to here your thoughts on the matter.

I am also trying to work larger. This one will be nearly 3 ft tall when complete.

Rocky Mountains foothills

If I recall correctly, this was done looking at a picture of the Rockies somewhere in Colorado.

Whooping Crane 1

I just finished this sumi painting last week, and it is one of my final selections to enter in a sumi paintig contest which will start Nov. 15th.

I started out wanting to paint a more lackadaisical crane but soon realized it didn't suit my current mood at all, so I went back to basics. I looked at pictures and remembered what I knew about cranes. And I thought of a National Geographic episode that showed whooping cranes and remembered how heart-breakingly beautiful they are, and this is what evolved.

This is in essence my archetypal crane, the one that sort of lives in my head. If I imagine cranes, this or it's mirror image is pretty much exactly what's in my mind. So this crane is also me. I feel it's very me-ish, anyway ;)

And the winner is....

Our Contest winner is Blythe! Congrats to Blythe and thank you to everyone who participated. You have helped me pick the best dandelion (d), and Blythe, you can contact me about your prize.