Majestic Mixed Media, 28” H by 38.5” W

“Majestic” is a mixed media work on fine art paper. I use both traditional media and digital media in my work.

Spending as much time as possible in the natural world... I was fortunate to have grown up in a time and place in which it was safe for a young child to roam around in the woods alone... Inspiration & Influences

I have always admired the meticulously detailed work of the 15th century German artist, Albrecht Durer. He has been described as “the greatest mind that ever expressed itself in line”... Inspiration & Influences

The British illustrator Alan Lee is most influential in his creation of the living things found in nature... Inspiration & Influences

The expressive twisting trees in Gustave Durer’s incredible engravings which illustrate Dante’s Inferno... Inspiration & Influences

The amazing texture German artist Gerhard Richter achieves in his abstract work... Inspiration & Influences

I photographed my subject, then using Adobe Photoshop I adjusted the brightness and contrast. When I liked what I saw I printed it as a visual reference. The Creative Process

Keeping the print out close at hand I started by drawing a rough outline of my subject. I used a mechanical pencil and kept a lead sharpener close by. The Creative Process

After the outline had been sketched in, I created the texture and values by utilizing line shading. The Creative Process

The drawing portion of Majestic was completed in just one week while I was visiting artist friends in The Netherlands during the first week of March. The Creative Process

I worked in this studio for 3 days in Leeuwarden in the Province of Friesland. The Creative Process

And another 3 days in Hooghalen in the Province of Drenthe. The Creative Process

The drawing portion of Majestic took 18 hours to complete. The Creative Process

To get to this stage I prepared a painting using tusch (used in lithography). And then created texture on another surface using thick applications of oil pastel going over it with a metal brush. The Creative Process

I scanned the drawing at 1600 ppi on my large format scanner. I did the same with the tusche painting and the oil pastel texture painting. The Creative Process

I used Photoshop to combine the 3 high resolution scans together utilizing layer modes and layer masks. Because the images were scanned high resolution I could increase the scale of the image once it was completed. The Creative Process

I printed out proofs and put them up in the studio. I needed to look at the image for several days. I made revisions when I saw something that I realized needed to be changed. The Creative Process

Because of Majestic’s large format I sent the completed image file to a local service bureau to be printed on fine art paper and dry mounted onto gator board. When I had it back in the studio I started adding the encaustic. The Creative Process

The encaustic applications included mixtures of white beeswax and damar resin. I also added small brush strokes of black encaustic. The Creative Process

“Majestic” is a reminder that we are all elementally tied to the world around us and that as such it must be cherished and appreciated. Landscape should be respected as a living thing. The Finished Piece