Mexican Box

Click Photo to see & print a larger version
Wendy Shortland, 1999
Newtown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
wendy_shortland@bigpond.com

Level: Beginners to Advanced

This piece was inspired by Mexican Bark Painting. You can paint in any colours you like, but for Mexican themes, bright colours are preferred. Avoid red.

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Palette: Jo Sonya tube colours: Jo Sonja Sealer Titanium White or Warm White Cadmium Yellow Mid Sapphire Blue Cobalt Blue Hue

Brushes: Various round brushes between No 2 and No 4 One-inch flat brush Liner brush Other Supplies: J W Right Step Satin Varnish Papier Mache Box Cotton buds Sea sponge Stylus

Preparation:

Paint the box inside and out with one coat of Jo Sonja Sealer. Paint the box inside and out with two coats of Sapphire Blue and Titanium White 1:1.
Allow to dry.

Wendy's Sloppy Sponging.

Ensure your work area has plastic down, or some protection for your work surface. Use gloves if you wish. Put out a very small amount of sapphire blue and of white, and an even smaller amount of cobalt blue. Flick some water onto your palette with your palette knife. Mix the colours a little in some areas but only a little. Mix some areas to be very watery. Put your sponge in the water. Squeeze it a little. Pick up some paint from your palette. (Your sponge should put more water in the paint as you pick it up - you didn't squeeze it THAT well.) Turn your sponge as you pick up the paint and cover three sides with paint picked up from different areas. If your fingers haven't got paint on them you're doing it wrong! Start to sponge your box. Keep turning your sponge. If you get a regular pattern, or if it is too distinct, sponge that area with the clean side of your sponge. If it runs, that's GOOD. Let it dry. If it's too distinct, or too repetitive, make up a watery mix of the base colour & sponge sloppily over those areas. Allow to dry.

Trace your pattern.

Painting the Flowers

Central Large daisy

Paint the large circle in at least two coats of cobalt blue. Commas are white, painted with a No 3 or 4 round brush. Large dots are made with a cotton bud and Cadmium Yellow Mid. Small dots are made with white and your stylus.

First small daisies

Now use a No 2 round brush. The first small daisies on either side of the large central flower are Cadmium Yellow Mid commas tipped in white. The central dot is white with a stylus. Outside the daisy are three white commas with Cobalt Blue Hue dots with a stylus.

Fern-like leaves, daisy and berries.

Continue with No 2 round brush, except as advised. The fern -like leaves are painted in Cobalt Blue Hue on the right side. The left side is cobalt blue hue tipped with white. The central vein of each leaf, and the stem of the next daisy is Cobalt Blue Hue painted with a liner brush.

On the side of the fern leaves away from the small daisy, the two commas are painted in Cobalt Blue Hue, and the dots are white with a stylus.

The next daisy is Cadmium Yellow Mid commas, with a cotton-bud dot of the same colour in the centre. You may need two coats or you can mix it with a little white so that it becomes less transparent. Small dots on the outside of the petals are white with a stylus. A white ring is painted round the large centre dot with white using your liner brush.

The two groups of berries are Cadmium Yellow Mid, using a cotton bud. Small white dots on top of them are done with your stylus. The stems are white with your liner brush.

The two commas past the berries are white.

Large leaves.

The large leaves are based in with your No 3 Round Brush using at least two coats of Cobalt Blue Hue. When dry, load your liner brush in watery paint of the same colour. Tip into white and paint the comma strokes on the outside of the leaves. The trailing dots at each end of the pattern are in white, using your stylus.

Varnishing:

Leave the paint to cure for 24 hours. Rub out any tracing lines. Varnish with several coats of gloss varnish.

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