Three Scoops on High

Three Scoops on High   watercolor  mixed   14.25 x 6

 Summer=ice cream.  No doubt.  

...and while we are experiencing a bit of mixed media fun, here is the result.

My idea revolved around realistic and highly textured scoops of varietal ice creams as well as a wrapped waffle cone.  The colors needed to be FUN!  This work was begun as a monoprint.  (see "It's The Berries") After printing, I began my first pass painting directly with paint on top of the monoprint.  I realized that the intense opera pink background, while super fun, completely upstaged the more subdued color palette of the cone.  Woe is me.  

My first corrective pass involved neutralizing the background with green.  No pizzazz.  

Time to take some risks.

As an all-out effort to save my idea, I created a template of tracing paper that was stuck to the top of the cone.  I used an old checkerboard linoleum plate to print on top of the watercolor ground.  As it was so very sharp and so very intense, I used a brush flooded with water to create some areas of mushed-together blandness and, at the same time, allowing some of the original pink to peek through.  Edges were then refined to conjoin the cone with the ground.

I am happy.....it was fun and gave me an adrenaline rush similar to the partaking of the luscious cone itself.