In this work, my goal is to cause the viewer to investigate what they are seeing. By using multiple media and found objects in this large piece, I created a 3-dimensional space resulting in a visual scavenger hunt.
Overhanging the canvas is an actual dried branch from a holly bush. I stitched it to the canvas through gold-painted watercolor paper.
Underneath the branch, I stitched the continuation of the branches ... like arms reaching the edges of the canvas.
Behind the blackbird is a acrylic impasto panel where faint musical notes from a Mozart score can be seen. Old parchment letters form scrolls hand-tied to the trunk of the branch with rafia.
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"Here again, the storytelling is through the blackbird. What is he trying to tell us about the key, the padlock, the letters? Why does the blue sky peep from behind gold windows?"
Concept
Starting with an opaque white acrylic painted canvas, I stitched two handmade black papers and painted a mid-section background using acrylic modeling paste overlaid with transparent white, raw sienna, quinacridone nickel azo gold and transparent yellow Iron oxide acrylics. I embedded a torn musical score from one of Mozrt's concertos in the paint.
Auditioning the elements
After preliminarily sketch painting the blackbird in position, I painted watercolor paper with fine gold acrylic and, when dry, tore it into strips. Stitching it to the canvas with gold thread, I cut windows at the top of the strip.
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Coffeegrounds
The antique papers were inscribed (by me) in archival ink and rolled into small scrolls and stitched. I soaked them in coffeegrounds overnight to achieve an a deepening of the colors and staining of the paper itself. The scrolls dried for three days.
I added piece of old lace partially hidden under the gold panel.
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Blackbird
To give the blackbird visual emphasis, I rubbed the painted modeling paste mid-section with a neutral grey wash and painted the bird a deep midnight black. Its eye and beak were painted with reflective fine gold acrylic, adding a spark of life to the bird.