Journal of art & handmade goods by Tree Pruitt including acrylic & oil paintings, assemblage art, using found objects, handmade jewelry, techniques & methods, plus artist inspirations.
Title: Guarding Monk Mummies ACEO Original Gargoyle Art
This image began as a digital print from one of my sketch book pages. Though there may be other printings of the drawing, this version is unique and one of a kind. The digital print was then hand colored with acrylic paints and quality Prismacolor pencils. Printed on acid free card stock paper, plastic protection sleeve included. Signed as "T P", lower right.
*NOTE; Image shown is a scan of the actual card for online showing; card will likely be considered as looking much better in person because the printed card has a better resolution than you see here.
A special ACEO image, of an original pastel and acrylic on canvas painting by Tree Pruitt, is now available. Depicting a mysterious feather wearing shaman like figure and the Full Moon. An expression of the magic and mystery of nature combined with devotion of humanity.
Protective, clear display sleeve is included. The official standard size of an art card is 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89 mm). ACEO's make excellent contemporary framed wall art with over sized matting.
An ACEO is tiny artwork, reproduction or original, in the format of an art trading card. My newest ACEO involves collage again, but a collage of hand drawn images rather than magazine cut-outs. A scan of the drawing stage is included here.
In the center of the card stand the famous Minoan Poppy Priestess, or Goddess. The small statue the figure is based upon holds two snakes in her hands with the heads pointed down, (see image at left). I can't explain quite why, but this feels wrong to me, so I have drawn my sacred serpents heads up. In the sky of my drawing, on the right hand side, hovers a Mediterranean bee in flight. The bottom left shows an upright dolphin, splashing out of the waves of the sea. The lower right corner sits an octopus, referenced from recovered Minoan pottery, and fitted curling into the tiny scene, (shown at right).
When working with paper, it's important to be careful with the graphite. Too much graphite from the drawing pencil, and eraser marks, can stop later paint layers from sticking to the paper, often causing a blurb or muddy looking spot. A spray fixative will stop all migration of graphite, but textured papers can still be difficult to get a clean erase. Pressing too hard when drawing will leave indentations, so a light pressure was used. Notice on the left hip of the figure is out of alignment. Due to the heavier amount of graphite, and the small work space, I'm going to need to correct those lines with paint later. This would have been avoided with better planning before getting started, but this was one of those instances inspired by doodle play; I didn't really know what the picture was going to be when I began. Anything in art can be "fixed" with skill and an open mind, knowing the inward mental picture must be altered to the action taking place.
The first layers of thin paint will pull on the drawing lines and mix with the graphite. With care this can be used to create under-painting tones of shadows and highlight. Fellow artists may find it interesting to note that Prismacolor Pencils also mix slightly into the paint. Notice in the background I've lain in a light color tone of blue and green pencil. The paint softened the pencil strokes and filled in the bumpy textured areas of the paper surface. This was achieved by thinning an already thin bodied acrylic paint 50/50 with clean water. A small medium bristled paintbrush is loaded and white paint floated onto the paper. Working a small area before it dries, the paint is lightly scrubbed into the pencil pigment blending it about; this works with all water media. Each layer after that will be more opaque, and the graphite will mostly disappear to the eye. By keeping early paint layers thin, paper buckle will be avoided, and later thicker strokes will stand out (pop) giving greater depth.
These are methods I use for any sized image on paper, and indeed often when painting my Spiritkeeper Stones too. I wouldn't have considered myself, in the past, to be a painter of miniature art because my Spiritkeepers are something just outside of art to me; being closer to a spiritual experience. I don't think much about size when painting on rocks, but it is obvious the tiny world of art collector cards isn't all too different. Hopefully you'll enjoy seeing how the Minoan Priestess ACEO turns out.
Edgar Allen Poe Raven ACEO was fun to put together!!! I love collage anyway, but the challenge of the tiny collector card format is over the top! The main body of this piece is from a Smithsonian Magazine snippet about Poe, a color scan of a vintage funeral photograph, with a touch of a Van Gogh (magazine cut-out of course). It's really art about love, and self torment. The background is a dark gold paper and it's filled with text about Poe -- a wordy ACEO is perfect for a poet -- nevermore!
I'm excited that one of my new items is getting some special attention! I'm painting original designs on professional quality Remo hand drums, and my Sol-Luna design (Sun-Moon) is featured in TWO special places!
A member of an artist group, Sharon K. Shubert, hosts a daily themed exhibit of great handmade items to buy from Etsy sellers. WWAO stands for Worldwide Women Artists Online. Today's theme is indeed showing WWAO members artful creations. Sharon has a good eye and always chooses fun and skillful art to show on her site. It's well worth it to stop by each day to see what's new!
The other location my Sol-Luna drum is currently featured is also an altogether honor for Etsy as well as myself. A fab new magazine is popping up called The iEmporium Sizzle. It's terrific to have one of my pieces chosen to be in an Etsy feature in the first publication of this online magazine. The article is cleverly presented by "the scenes", in that you'll be sure to find something pleasing to shop Etsy for all of the body's senses. Being that my contribution is a drum, it is rightfully found in the sound section, page 25 to be exact, with other lovely artistic musical instruments. The magazine also features recipes, craft instructions and plenty more. Take a look at the mini version, or go right to viewing the publication.
"Playin' Around", an acrylic painting of Minoan dolphins fresh off of the easel.
The title of this small painting speaks for all aspects of its making. My computer is off and on the fritz and won't be fixed until later in the week, so I've have plenty of off line time to play with the paints. I thought I'd take this chance to show a quick couple of snap shots of the results of my own playing around. The photos are a little dark because I didn't wait until the daylight, but there will be much better images soon.
The Minoan dolphin fresco of Knossos has been a strong image in my mind. I'd been working on drum heads painted with the dolphin and really needed to take a break from the tight, tidy lines of decorative painting. I have a new selection of colors in yummy thick Liquitex and was happy to give them another testing out. This 11" x 14" canvas board painting has five different blues, (which I think is ironic because the subject matter is so "happy" yet the piece is painted with the "blues"). Liquitex has an Unbleached Titanium that is a very nice neutral tone, yet holds warmth, and I enjoy it as a shadow to Titanium White and also as a highlight to Raw Sienna. I have some old bright brushes that give off a nice large round stroke, so I started hacking in the shapes with Payne's Gray; there was no actual black used, only implied with red and Payne's Gray. Bouncing around the board with various paints, I finished with a favorite round bristle brush (size 1000) for smaller strokes. The whole piece was painted mimicking the motion of dolphins in water... darting, quick paced, sharp movement with graceful turns. I had a good time painting it and I certainly hope that comes through to the viewer.
Title: Guarding Monk Mummies
