Hittin' The Road With My Little Painting and Going Over To The Friday Paint Party

I'm going over to participate in the Friday Paint Party.  I wanted to share a little paint project from this last weekend.  Of course, I just can't show you the painting, there is a story to tell as well!  So here goes.....

I was to attend a good guy friend's birthday party who has everything in the world and needs nothing.  What to do for a gift? Something more than a bottle of wine.  Wine is so, well, average. It's become so impersonal.  Everyone brings wine.  But he does love his vino.   How about a super nice bottle wrapped nicely with a little bit of 'artwork' attached?!! 

I have been toying around with a new process in the studio. I decided to experiment with this process using a cool, vintage image of him that he recently posted on his Facebook page. This is an image of him many years back on a mule in Haiti. Yes.  It is kinda humorous.  My friend has a good sense of humor.  There were the expected Facebook jibs and jabs.  My friend even jump in and participated in a little poking fun at himself! He said something about posting it so he could remember that he once did have hair! It was not your average image, so I wanted to use it.

I took the image and placed it into PhotoShop and altered a few things, including the exposure and shadows. 

I then printed the image onto high grade watercolor paper and added a little color into the sky, ground and saddle using watered down acrylic paint.

I use a deckle scissor to trim the edges to give it a little flair.  Added to a fine bottle of wine. TADA!  Now that is a thoughtful gift for someone who has everything. 

As I am writing this blog post, his Facebook status update reads: Enjoying a glass of wine with friends.  I wonder if he is drinking my bottle of wine?   A girl can dream.

-The End-
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