Tea in Mobile

"Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.” - Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty

Tea in Mobile  by Joan Terrell

Mixed media and palette knife

12" x 12" x 1.5" deep gallery wrap canvas

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Click here to purchase the original 

(1.5" deep gallery wrapped - the canvas that continues the painting wraps around the sides and creates its own frame)

Prefer a print? Click here and be sure to explore all the options.

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

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Mobile and New Orleans are cousins. Maybe not so much kissing cousins because of that "we were the first to have Mardis Gras" thing, but they can't deny their common heritage. So one morning while my friends were in training classes, I skipped out for a spot of tea. 

The painting started with a drawing in soft charcoal and later, the lines were brushed over with purple acrylic (why? because I love purple). 

Colors, colors, colors. In the real setting, everything was white, which would be nice enough and quite a challenge in itself, but after visiting the Mardis Gras museum, munching on some beignets, and listening to some jazz, this painting begged for hot colors. So I whipped out one of those Pier I napkins mentioned in a previous blog (click here) and went to work. 

Here is random use of glazed acrylics. Click here for more info. I'm really getting into the play of light and shadow now and seeing colors that are unrelated to the subject matter is firing up my imagination. H-mmmm, what if?

What if I took these neon oil pastels I've been dying to use and emphasized those shapes? 

Now it's starting get some zing to it. I'm going to finish the painting with oils and let you fill in the rest with your imagination. Here's the finished painting again. If you'd like to see photos of how the painting wraps around the sides, let me know.

More beignets? Mais oui, Monsieur.