Mixed Media on Canvas-Give It To God

I came across this painting that I had done several years ago while I was cleaning out my studio. I called it done, set it aside, and forgot about it. I painted it during a dark time in my life, during which my aunt died, and the preacher, who held her funeral, made the most awesome talk about giving everything to God. Whatever is going on your life, good or bad, give it to God.

What he said stuck with me, and I created this mixed media 18" x 24" canvas, using some of the techniques that I had been learning in some online classes. It's been a while, so I don't quite remember what all I did, and I'm sure there's a blog post somewhere showing step by step, but for my purposes here, I'll just give the highlights, because I'm basically trying to make it better.

I think I covered the canvas with a layer of acrylic paint, then I know I collaged the whole thing, and probably added another layer of paint to tie it all together. I used stamps and other stuff all over it to give it interest, made a photo of myself in this upright fetal position (I was feeling pretty forlorn at the time), sketched and painted the figure, and glued cut out painted doves over the background. The large letters were stamped on with sponge stamp alphabet stamps.

I don't know why I chose these particular colors, except they seemed to match my depressed mood at the time. The upper right corner still needed something, so I used a brush to paint a spiral, representing the sun lighting the darkness. The doves were also leading me out of the darkness.

When I rediscovered the painting, it didn't seem finished, so I decided to work on it a bit more. However, I couldn't get to my supplies, due to everything still being in boxes to be sorted from the decluttering/organizing process, plus nowhere to work.

A box of Posca paint markers was within reach, so I sat in the recliner, held the painting on my lap, and touched up a few things, plus I added the words "Good or Bad" in the upper left corner to kind of balance things out. The spiral I'm still too happy with yet, so I'm sure at some point I'll work on it some more. In the meantime, I'm enjoying it as it is, kind of folk artsy, and it's a good reminder for me that God is always there to talk to.

I read somewhere that one of the famous artists said that a painting is never really finished, that the artist just finds a good place to stop. I guess that's true, because of the number of paintings in history that have been painted over, added to, or re-worked over time. I've done a few of those myself!