The Snow Child

After a very long time of non painting I am finally joining Paint Party Friday again. Painting was put on the back burner for a long time because I was really busy with making Valentines for my Etsy shop - both regular as well as custom orders. But now that Valentines is over - I sent out my last rush order on Sunday - I have a bit more time for painting since business is very slow again.

I had actually started this painting at the beginning of this year when I had just finished reading "The Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey. If you haven't read it - it's a really good read, although a bit sad. However, I was fascinated by the idea of the snow child who in an old tale was half girl and half snow person. In the book she also has a little fox as her companion. Her "adoptive" mother sews a blue coat for her that is covered with little embroidered stars. The girl lives in the woods and is a true child of nature who remains mysterious throughout the book.

In order to give the painting a heavy texture, I covered the 8 x 8 wooden cradle board with molding paste and pressed bubble wrap and the inside of a Starbucks paper sleeve into the still soft paste.

Masking tape helped me to position the aspen trees.

Everything was covered with acrylic paint then - I used Paynes Gray to create an Alaskan winter night.

After I had my "base" I painted in the little scene - this actually took the longest. This is the first time that I tried a painting that was inspired by a book, and I quite liked this little experiment.

The original painting is now available in my Etsy shop.

Please hop over to Paint Party Friday and Studio JRU to see the works of many very talented artists.