Phoenix

She's rising from the ashes of her old life, casting off the shackles. She's ready to take on the world.

Phoenix represents a part of me. I'm reaching back into missed opportunities from my youth and taking a new artistic direction. It's time to take more risks, to tread where the timid fear and grab more of life. It's time to believe in what I can achieve (note, I actually wrote 'might' there first then resolutely deleted such a negative word). When I'm painting I feel so euphoric - an emotional rising!

This piece really gives definition to the term mixed media! She began as a sketch on cartridge paper - just a face. She took form with prisma colours then was cut out and glued onto some prepared tougher acrylic paper. In the meantime, I made my collage texture sheet brayering colour onto some watercolour paper then cutting up the result into 'feathers' which formed her headdress and gown. Black pastel gave some depth, then I glazed and painted her face, added some inktense, more prisma colours and just kept playing!

She is for Mixed Media Monday - 'warm it up'. This is the textured sheet I made to cut up for feathers.