Sand Painting

I have always been intrigued by the many unique shades of sand in the deserts of the Southwest. Strikingly different tones of reds, golds and whites abound, all of which you can observe in a few miles Years ago driving a newly acquired van from Albuquerque we collected some deep red and golden yellow sand along the route. I thought I could use it for art projects and indeed I did use them as backgrounds for jewelry displays but recently I took them out of storage and began using them in a series of “Sand Paintings” – in “Mixed Media” on my web site.

 

At first i used only the red and gold sands then I incorporated a gray sand collected from “Hillside Garden” aka our backyard here in Fairhaven.

 

Inspiration came from my drawings of numerous rock art, petroglyph, sites and museum displays in New Mexico. After drawing the design on stretched cotton canvas i secure the sand with archival “pva” glue and spray varnish.

 

I’m pleased with how they are turning out. It has bee a fun challenge to work with a new medium. The finished pieces resemble painted stone which was what i was aiming for.

I had concerns that the sand would not hold to the canvas but after finishing one and dropping it on a hardwood floor – nothing came off !

 

I am thinking of combining the sands with polymer clay and creating jewelry.

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