Doodling, feeling the itch

I haven't done any serious painting for quite a while. I passed my time working on my calligraphy piece with back-lighting while I was gravely ill.  It was mechanical and did not involve too many art cells.  I did some monkeying around with the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't fish piece just to amuse and humor myself.  I needed to pick up the brush again before it becomes a stranger to me.

I decided the best way to get my feet wet again was to not take things too seriously.  Doodling would be the ticket.

I had planted some water lilies in the pond behind my house.  I housed them in a container and put mesh on top of the container to keep ducks and geese away from the bulbs.  Thus, waterfowls and flowers were my favorite subject matters.  Unfortunately, my containers were all dug up and disposed of when the pond was dredged to make it deeper. I decided that I would do my doodling on flowers and perhaps a blue heron, since the heron had been visiting the pond for the bull frogs lately.  Lotus would be an interesting alternative to water lily to paint, since it is a favorite subject matter in Chinese painting and I had spent quite a few pieces of Xuan on them, upon the insistence of my teachers.  Learning by rote!  Lotus flowers symbolize the ability to rise above something that might be noxious and not pleasant (mud and dirty water) and still stand tall and blossom into something really elegant.

Different ways of painting the lotus leaf,

The blossom/bud, 

Incidentals like a dragonfly,

Definitely brought back memories.  

Framing my fishes

Instead of the traditional paper on paper mounting, I shall be mounting my painting on clear plastic pane.  The gist of this painting is to play with light.  Had the painting been mounted on paper and presented in a regular picture frame, the work is denied the interaction with any light from behind the painting and therefore defeats my purpose.

Dry mounting with silicone paper shall be the chosen method this time. This is done by using heat to attach silicone paper to the back of the painting.  The silicone acts as a bonding agent in this scenario. 

A mat cutter is used to trim my painting.  This setup assures a straight line and square up cut. 

The exact placement of the painting on the plastic pane is marked on blue protective film that came with the plastic.  This film will be peeled off and discarded after the mounting is done.  It is a convenient way of marking the lines without defacing or having to clean the clear plastic afterwards.

I have remnants of silicone paper that I can piece together to cover the entirety of my painting. Hate to see them go to waste.  My hobby heating iron supplies the heat needed to melt the silicone.  The protective wax paper is removed after the heating process.  A thin film of silicone is revealed on the back of my painting. 

With the silicone ironed onto its back, the painting is now placed face up onto the plastic pane, using the marks that I made on the blue film as a guide.

My heating iron now goes over the top of the painting to melt the silicone that's on the backside.  The discarded wax paper is a used to shield the painting from the iron.  

A couple coats of spray urethane are applied to the mounted painting to help protect it from the elements and also make the transparent border translucent.  My painting will not have a cover glass.

I have made a frame with a slot such that the plastic can be inserted.  It should assume the appearance as a float.

With a light source from behind the painting, it reveals what's behind its back.  Otherwise, it is just a painting of water with a hint of something beneath the surface.

Now you see it, now you don't.

Do you see what I see?