If you could watch over my shoulder, what would you see? I’ve told you how I build physical layers, how I count my layers, and how I adjust them. Let’s put it all together, shall we?

I’ve had rocks on the brain — a childhood memory of family outings, looking for treasure, so I’m exploring different versions, shapes, and concepts along that theme to see where it leads. First, here are the separate elements I’m working with:

• A photograph of rocks
• A paper collage composed into strata
• A textured colour combined from several painted elements
• A monoprint created with masks and drawn elements: boulder-like, perhaps?

And here’s what happens when I pull them together:

It’s really a process defined by hunches: the rocks might be a great base for texture to peek through, that pink layer might add to the bits of pink in the collage — I never know til I try. For now, I like the values and texture here, and I’m encouraged to keep building more elements to play with.

If you’d like to see more of how I work like this, I’d be happy to share my workflow in a virtual studio visit. See the Contact page to make an appointment.