Latest Artwork: Camino De Santiago
Despite triple digit temperatures and no central air conditioning, I spent much of the weekend working on my Santiago de Camino commission for my artist friend. He's going to be biking the old Spanish pilgrim route later this year and wanted an artwork to represent his trip.
The Camino de Santiago (or The Way of St. James) is an old pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.
For the commission I made my friend a personal icon of St. James (whose appearance is from imagination rather than any historical research). St. James is traditionally represented with a Scallop shell, which has various symbolic and mythical connotations. The icon also holds a stylized cross, also associated with St. James. On his breast is pinned a feather, which has meaning for my friend, as, with his last bike trip, he found a feather on the first day of the trip, and kept it with him for the duration of the bike trip.
I used Claybord for this picture, but don't know if I'll work with it again. I generally like a surface with more tooth to it, but Claybord is very very smooth. I felt a bit like I was painting on top of plastic. I may use it again but not with acrylic paints, perhaps with ink drawings though.
I also made his hand a little bit bigger than I should have. I was originally aiming to have it larger to make a forced perspective, like the hand was coming out closer to the viewer, but in the end, I am not sure how successful that came out. Other than that, I am fairly happy with the piece: the colors look much more rich in real life, and I like the expression the icon has on his face.
"Camino De Santiago"
20 x 16 inches
Acrylic, Ink and Collage on Claybord
The Camino de Santiago (or The Way of St. James) is an old pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.
For the commission I made my friend a personal icon of St. James (whose appearance is from imagination rather than any historical research). St. James is traditionally represented with a Scallop shell, which has various symbolic and mythical connotations. The icon also holds a stylized cross, also associated with St. James. On his breast is pinned a feather, which has meaning for my friend, as, with his last bike trip, he found a feather on the first day of the trip, and kept it with him for the duration of the bike trip.
I used Claybord for this picture, but don't know if I'll work with it again. I generally like a surface with more tooth to it, but Claybord is very very smooth. I felt a bit like I was painting on top of plastic. I may use it again but not with acrylic paints, perhaps with ink drawings though.
I also made his hand a little bit bigger than I should have. I was originally aiming to have it larger to make a forced perspective, like the hand was coming out closer to the viewer, but in the end, I am not sure how successful that came out. Other than that, I am fairly happy with the piece: the colors look much more rich in real life, and I like the expression the icon has on his face.
"Camino De Santiago"
20 x 16 inches
Acrylic, Ink and Collage on Claybord
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