Still at It

This past week and over the weekend I dedicated quite a bit of time to my current art project that I described a couple of weeks ago. I have completed six of the projected twenty-three pieces. I'm pleased with the results and am looking forward to displaying them soon. 

Bagged, acrylic washes on watercolor paper
by Phillip Hoyle

I've been messing with these petroglyph designs for many years and have never tired of them. I'm working with some designs that are familiar and others new to me this time. It has been fun to try a few different colors and shades. The great breakthrough for me was when I began to use masking medium in the process. By building up washes close in color and texture to the "exposed" rock (that that has weathered less than the face of the rock) and then applying the design in masking medium, I create the effect of the subsequent washes being the weathered rock. The design can look like color was removed. At least that is how I have learned to work. 

By not using flow enhancer in the acrylics I get a more rustic look that seems compatible to me for the look of sandstone. Anyway, I love working with these primal subjects and ever changing artistic ways and always seek to treat the designs in a manner respectful of the people who made them in some cases many hundreds of years ago. 

Hope your art projects are bringing you the same kind of buzz.

Denver, 2014