Drawing from my Woods Photos

I finally came up with a way to take my photos of roots and trees and such from my walks in the woods.  I take a portion of the photo and spherize it in Photoshop.  This makes everything look more three dimensional and gives the viewer of the drawing the same feeling of looking into and beyond the darkness of the roots and trees that you get when seeing them in real life.  Here's the first one that I've drawn:

"Womb of the Unknown" - 10" x 8" , varnished wax pigment on plywood.

When I say "varnished wax pigment" it means that I used colored pencils (usually prismacolor art stix) and charcoal pencils in a wax base (Nero Cretacolor).  In between layers I use matte acrylic medium and when the drawing is finished I seal it front and back with an acrylic varnish.  To smooth and blend the colors, lights and darks I use pressure and/or solvent.  It's especially difficult to get a good white so sometimes I use acrylic or water miscible oil paint, sometimes pastel, sometimes lines carved into the wood, paper or canvas and sometimes, as with watercolor paintings, I leave it uncolored.

Daughter's Commission

Here's the middle stage of a fun painting that I've been working on the last couple of days.  It was commissioned by my daughter and her roommates for their new apt.  It's almost done now so I'll have the finished picture up pretty soon. 

 

 Today the 4 Zeebs are finished.  This is my first hanging "scroll" painting.  It has a wood frame across the top and weights along the bottom, inside the hemmed fabric.  It's gessoed and varnished on both sides to keep the fabric from curling on the edges and to seal and better preserve the fabric.  The painting is less heavy and easier to transport than a regular framed canvas.
And here they are: