The obvious thought was to use recycled or "upscaled" materials. Initially I wanted to use some of the wood and panel scraps I've accumulated as part of my painting and framing process. I had a rough idea for an oddly shaped piece using footprints and silhouettes of birds, but didn't really take off when I played scrap wood layout Tetris. It just seemed overly simplistic.
I'd been hanging onto a reference photo of a Great Egret for quite a while. I have memories fishing with my grandparents on Wetappo Creek as a kid. The surroundings would be all manner of tropical greens with moss swaying in the trees as the breeze blew. In the middle of all this would be a large, white bird perched on an overhang. An interesting fact about the Great Egret is the lore (the skin between the eyes and beak) becomes neon green during mating season and long plumes called aigrettes grow from its back. These plumes were why it was hunted to near extinction during the 19th century.
I was reluctant to paint it partly because I wanted it to be a large size and my confidence is tested when it comes to large paintings. My comfortable working size is around 11 X 14. With this challenge I thought the risk might be low enough to give it a shot. I like the wood scrap idea so it was time to harvest!
The planks I used were actually recycled from a homemade compost bin I made 12 years ago from pallets I got from a local business. So essentially they've been recycled twice! I tried to select planks that had similar texture and interesting personality; splits, knot holes and nail heads. I was lucky to find four that had a faint green stain over parts. The boards also forced me outside a comfort zone of uniform smoothness.
I sketched out the Egret and transferred the image to the boards. I applied sealant to just the interior portions of the sketch so as not effect the natural coloration of the unpainted areas. Its the same polymer sealant I use on the birch panels I normally paint upon. The sealant prevents any extraneous color contained in the wood from staining any part of the painting especially the white of the Egret. I used Windsor & Newton professional grade acrylic to complete the painting. I also utilized sterilized Spanish moss as decoration to complete the piece. Spanish moss is essentially a recycler. It has permeable scales it uses to "catch" moisture and nutrients from the air. Where I grew up it decorated all the trees.
I named the piece "Low Ebb, High Tide" and it has it's own "green" relationship. The piece has a remembrance aspect so I was drawn to the song "I Remember California" which has various stanzas starting with "I remember..." and one of the lyrics is "Low ebb, high tide." The song is off an album by REM called GREEN. REM provided the soundtrack for most of my teenage years.
