Hoop Hole Creek

Located in Atlantic Beach, NC, Hoop Hole Creek offers some interesting compositions. It is not a beach scene, but has marshes, dunes and twisting trees that one might fine on the southern east coast.

This painting consists of 12, 10x10" Gessobord panels mounted to an oak board,  My goal was to create one composition, but each panel would use a different painting technique.  The following are some of the techniques I used:

Row 1 - Middle Panel - Using glaze as a pourable paint 

After painting much of the sky and some of the tree using traditional heavy bodied acrylics, I created an impasto barrier about 1/4" high.  From there I poured a mixture of paint and glazing medium.  The impasto "wall" confined the liquid to the panel.  While still wet I dropped some chips of dried glaze in the liquid to represent the leaves and branches.

Row 3 - Middle Panel - After applying masking tape on the panel, I used an exacto knife to cut out the shapes of different tree branches.  I then layered a mixture of impasto medium and pant into the cut out area.  With the impasto mixture still wet I inserted some pieces of dried glaze.

Row 4 - Left Panel - Before applying any paint I used a generous amount of gesso on the panel. From there I used a palette knife and some other instruments to create different sculptural effects. The background made for several peaks and valleys which added to the painting process.

Row 4 - Right Panel - Being this was the sand part of the composition I mixed in actual sand with the paint.  The texture is very subtle, but up close it helps convey the beach effect.

Comments and criticism are always welcome.