In the summer of 2012 friends hosted me for a few idyllic days at their vacation home off the coast of Massachusetts. This summer I’ll be returning to the island to share in their wedding celebration. As a gift, I thought that I would paint one of the inspirational scenes from the island. I chose the subject matter, worked on the composition and began to paint a very straightforward rendition of the scene. My work looked OK but lacked the energy that I felt during my visit. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I needed my carefree textural painting style.

For many years, I had thought of the textural painting style as a way of cheating my transparent watercolor expertise. I began using the painting method as a way to salvage paintings that were not progressing as planned. My first discovery of this technique was when I had an expensive piece of 40″ x 25″ watercolor paper fastened to a large board. The painting on which I was working wasn’t developing the way I’d hoped. I decided to wash off the paint so as not to waste the paper. I took the 48″ x 30″ board into the shower and scrubbed. Some paint came off and some had stained the paper.  Thinking that I had nothing to lose I mixed media, scraped paint, added handmade fiber-filled paper and generally had a grand time! The painting was a great success. Over time, I did this more frequently. I stopped waiting for accidents and began paintings incorporating these techniques as part of the overall plan.

I used the traditional rendition of this island scene as a study and restarted on fresh paper using the textural technique.

When the painting was completed I scanned my large work table and dirty fingers to assess all the materials involved in the process. I’d used traditional watercolors, gesso, acrylic paint, thai unryu paper, mat board scrapers, sponges, button thread,a stiff bristled oil painting brush, traditional watercolor brushes, my fingers, a toothbrush, and spray water bottle.

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To view more recently completed work using this techniques please visit. http://carenhackman.com/portfolio/blue-heron/

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