Last Fall, in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic, I signed up for an online workshop with Wyanne Thompson. The workshop was called Big Bold and Brave.  Since the largest I've ever painted was 42" x 40", I was unsure what Wyanne meant by "big".   Well, I was soon to learn.

Wyanne had given us a list of supplies, including canvases. The largest was 72" x 60" and I -- at 5'1" -- thought this is BIG -- about a foot taller than I am.  I went online to Jerry's Artarama during one of their sales looking for canvases this size.  I found them and ordered three, thinking I could probably use at least three.  A few days later, a delivery truck -- not FedEx or UPS or the USPS -- arrived with three huge boxes.  When I saw them, I thought that Jerry's had certainly packed them well.  Much to my surprise, when I opened the boxes there were THREE canvases in each of them.  So now I had NINE!!

What to do with them?  I didn't have any fellow workshop artists close by with whom I could share these huge canvases.  Megan, our daughter and fellow artist, helped me carry them to the basement to store.  The thought also crossed my mind about where in the world would I be able to hang these canvases once they were finished.  We have one wall in an upstairs hallway where I could hang ONE.  That was it!!

For this first large canvas, we covered it with all kinds of mediums: absorbent ground, heavy body molding paste, soft gel, glass bead gel, and sequins and crystals mixed with gel medium to make a paste.  After this was dry, we used artists bleeding tissue, sprayed with water to make patterns on the absorbent ground.  Then came the pouring, using Golden's High Flow Acrylics, flourescent acrylics, liquid watercolor -- even house paint -- mixed with water and Golden's Air Brush Medium.  There were many layers of paint, lots of which dripped onto the  floor beneath the painting.  The thinned paint flowed into the texture, creating wonderful and unexpected effects.

This whole painting project took place over a two-month period.  One day it was painting, pouring.  Then two days for drying.  Another day pouring another layer, and then drying time.

At first, I tried painting with the canvas flat propped on four sawhorses.  I soon realized that I could not reach the middle, so ended up painting on the floor.  Needless to say, I protected my studio vinyl plank floor with large plastic drop  sheets.  There was lots and lots of paint that dripped over the sides of this canvas.

I must confess that when the painting was about three-quarters done, I didn't like it at all.  This I considered the "teenage" stage.  And I was ready to cut it up into small abstracts as there were some areas that were just gorgeous.  But certainly not all!!  With encouragement from Wyanne and my fellow artists, I continued working on the piece and grew to love what was happening.

The best part of all is that my sister who has very big walls and a very tall ceiling in her lake house has decided that she can't live without it!! "Earthsong" now is hers and I can visit it.

PS:  Painting on the floor caused a flare-up of tendonitis in my hips.  I'll have to alter the way I paint the next large one!!