Lollipop Trees
2007 - 11"x12" Acrylic, colored pencil, charcoal, oil pastel, on wood.
Finished with two coats of Krylon Kamar Varnish #1312
(Private Collection - California)

This painting is sort of a follow-up to "Mushroom and the Pink House" but with a calmer happy mood. The background paint was applied with water so it would absorb into the wood and have a bit of a watercolor feel. I periodically scraped areas with a razor blade to expose previous layers. I used an eraser to remove something I didn't like, and discovered it created a nice weathered look. I continued to use the eraser in other parts of the painting.

Here are a few pix during the creation of Lollipop Trees.

I was actually happy with the painting at the 4th photo, but since I was trying to get away from the chaotic look, I simplified it a bit removing the tornado in the lower left corner, and much of the doodling in the lower right. The black connected circles were part of the chaos too, but I decided to leave those in since I like the way they disrupt the painting. They are a mix of crop circle inspired art, and the atom groupings you learn about in chemistry. A final varnish brightened up the colors a little.