A friend collected sticks covered in moss and lichen for my booth display last weekend. Now that the bustle of Renegade is over, I am putting these sticks to other uses: lichen covered stick studies with sumi ink on 5x7" and 8x10" paper. Looking at this growth in black and white pulls attention to the shape and texture in a new way. The drawing are piling up and I must say, they look quite delightful grouped together!
I popped-up at a local venue in San Jose over President's Day weekend and it was suuuuuuuuper sloooooow. (Seriously, I sold 2 things and made $11... which is made worse by the fact that I paid nearly triple that to participate). [insert sad trombone sound] Thankfully, I had packed my paints so I was able to turn my sad pop-up shop into a happy pop-up studio. Busted out a bunch of lichen inspired abstracts. Here they are drying after getting sprayed with fixative:
Some of these are pretty fantastic and seem finished. Others, I want to rework a bit. All are gouache and oil pastel on 5x7" paper. Here are some of my favs before getting scanned + a sneak peak into how they'll look when I post to my webshop:
Developing pieces inspired by pioneer species: moss, lichen and fungi bring life to inhospitable environments and make it possible for new growth to arrive. Beginning to translate this concept in various media. Also, ecological succession is magic.
