"Secret Message"...can you find it?

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Saint Michael's Mount


                                           Can you find my secret message?

This summer my family visited the United Kingdom. As guests of good friends from nearby Marazion, a tour of St Michael's Mount nearby was a favorite. I was inspired, and I hope you will be too, by this castle fortress, St Michael's Mount, off the coast of Cornwall. Not only is it isolated high on a cliff on an island but no doubt has a long history which I will be exploring. But for now, in a peaceful time period of its life, with tourists climbing its colorful landscaped rock path, it looks like it could last many more lifetimes and tell even more stories. I immediately wanted to paint it and, in keeping with the Medieval customs of secret passages, secret messengers and secret alliances, I have painted a secret message in my painting, too. Let me know if you can find it.

As for my techniques, I used a tablet sheet ( 24"x 18") of Strathmore 140# paper and designed the path in a lighter color to guide the viewer up to the top of the steep slope. The greens were also intended to be a secondary path. I love negative painting so used some of those shapes within shapes to describe shrubbery and grasses, especially in the foreground. With some creative license on the colors most of them transparents, I repeated them throughout the twisting landscape.
This painting titled "Secret Message" has been entered in the Waterloo Watercolor Fall Show which will take place in September. I also had 11"x15" prints made at Coastal Giclee. Contact me if you are interested or check my Etsy store, Watergirl Art

Some steps in the process:
           

If you are in the Austin metroplex and want to take an in person class, please consider this one day Saturday work shop on Oct 8th:





Print your own merchandise including note cards, prints and more from my Fine Art America website or visit my Etsy store, Watergirl Art. Coming soon....my 2022 Holiday card!


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