Highbush Cranberry - Original Oil Pastel

About The Work:

While walking the trails in Riding Mountain National Park, there is such splendor and I can’t resist taking photographs, turning a short walk into an afternoon of visual adventure. We have highbush cranberries growing along these trails in the park, and so it is one of our favorite places to wander with our cameras and our dog. The bears in the park eat these and other berries, along with acorns and whatever else they can find, to fatten up before going into hibernation.

I executed this work using a sgraffito technique with oil pastels. Practiced in Italy since the 1730’s, Sgraffito is an old and beautiful “subtractive” method of creating images by scraping away a surface of medium in patterns and shapes, creating an image by exposing the underlying layer of color(s). While in Italy I became captivated by this art form and had to explore this technique. In my studio, I design my image, transfer it onto paper, block in vibrant colours of oil pastel - the first layer. I then add a top coat of dark colour, gently mark my image back in and start scraping away the dark top coat. I love the creaminess and the smell of the oil pastel while working with it and the whole process of “revealing” the image in the undercoat, the transformation from dark to light.

Size: 8 x 11 inches artwork, matted to 11x14 inches

Medium: Oil Pastel on acid-free paper

Year: 2013

This work is matted to fit a standard size frame and enclosed in a protective clear plastic sleeve. A Certificate Of Authenticity is also included. Frames are not supplied.

Please note that colours may appear slightly different on screen than they do in person.

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