led zeppelin, phish & a little birch bark

I finally finished my "Going to California" painting. Whew! I needed to fix the eyes and I decided to add "California" above her head. This painting is actually a relatively small piece (8x10) so I'm thinking of making it into a poster. It has a poster feel, no?

I also started working on my second music painting (I decided to branch out from just Classic Rock, though most of the series will likely be Classic Rock). This painting is inspired by Phish's "Theme from the Bottom." I've only laid down the first layer and need to think about which direction I want to take it. For the non-Phish fans out there, the lyrics that I am seeing in my head are:

I feed from the bottom, you feed from the top

I live upon morsels you happen to drop

And coffee that somehow leaks out of your cup

If nothing comes down then I'm forced to swim up

On the way upwards, the colors come back

But all along the bottom is blue, gray, and black……

And swim toward the light source or fly like a moth…

from the bottom

from the top

I also repainted the sea turtle in my first Children's painting…..I think the painting has a much better flow to it now.

Last, but not least, my work-in-progress birch tree painting (sort of impossible to photograph this and have it look true to life). This painting has proved to be quite difficult for me. I am currently 7 layers deep in it and still cannot find a sense of satisfaction. I opted to paint an up-close piece of birch bark rather than the row of birch trees I intended to paint when I bought this 16x40 canvas to hang over my bed. The painting does have a lot of texture to it that is not evident from this photo. I experimented a little bit with crackle paste, which was cool but didn't give me the type of texture I was going for. We'll see what happens with this one….