'ulma' ~ colored pencils, graphite, tracing paper, cold wax and shell

this post is about my tracing paper/vellum/waxed paper experiments... i decided i needed a focus.  : )

for ulma, i first drew her on a piece of tracing paper, then i 'glued' her to the shell with cold wax, which i realized later isn't a good idea because i'm pretty sure that cold wax dries through an oxidizing process, but anyway, that's what i did.   then i put two layers of cold wax on top of the tracing paper. 

colored pencil and graphite on tracing paper

i have a manila envelope full of pieces of translucent papers, about this size, waiting to be used.  usually i draw on three or four pieces at a time;  it's nice to have a supply ready to choose from...  

the reason i haven't done a post about this sooner is that they're not easy to photograph, and these pics are particularly bad because the light was way too harsh. but, we don't have much sun these days so i quickly took them before it went away.

colored pencils and graphite on unknown paper - maybe freezer paper or baking parchment?

a washed out pic of the face that's under the one above it.  in person, it's always as if two layers somehow capture the whole person; inner and outer...

colored pencils, graphite, watercolors and waxed paper in my daily book

the bird, the flower and the sun are on pieces of waxed paper that i glued to the page.

oil paint, colored pencils and graphite on unknown paper over gouache and watercolors

i got one of my favorite papers in the mail as wrapping paper, and i don't know what it is.  i used oil paint on it here to paint the skin white, and when that dried i used colored pencils  for the lips, hat, eyes, etc.   instead of gluing just the edges down, i glued the whole thing, which i don't like - it's really hard to get all of the ripples out.

colored pencils and graphite on tracing paper over watercolors

 colored pencils and graphite on vellum over photograph

basically i like to cover stuff up with thin paper!!

colored pencils, graphite and oil pastel on tracing paper

i used oil pastel for the skin on this face - it's over a jewelry advertisement from a magazine.

colored pencils and graphite on tracing paper

i glued the tracing paper down only at the top so i can lift it up to look at my color mixing experiments underneath.

just in case any of  this might give you some ideas... 

* * * 

Tabitha Vevers - 'Pearlmaker VI', oil & gold leaf on oyster shell

and now for something really wonderful!  this is an oil painting on an oyster shell by tabitha vevers...  there are more paintings on shells here if you'd like to take a look.  a friend sent me a link to this painting this morning, and i've been thinking about it all day...