Hummingbird in the Trumpet Vine

Hummingbird in the Trumpet Vine
Acrylic & molding paste on panel, 10x8

After two week of watercolor painting, today, I am mixing it up a little with acrylics and molding paste! I have only done a handful of these textural paintings, and three of those have sold!  With this one, I am trying to learn the different palette knives and how they can maneuver the light molding paste.  Each stroke is a lesson - some succeed and some fail, and those I resculpt into the shape I want with the knife.  It is challenging, especially when the petals have very distinct shapes!  Each time I switch mediums, it takes me extra time to get my head back into the right place to work whatever medium I have at hand.  When I do the same thing each day, I simply jump right in without thought.  But today, I had to gather the right paints, palette and brushes - checking to make sure I did indeed have all the matching stuff!  These trumpet vines have burst open in the last few days - right outside the bay window in the kitchen - and how the hummingbirds love them!  This painting makes 541 in 541 days.  I will be plein air painting in the morning in Raymore - I wonder which medium I will choose tomorrow?