Tethered

This is my very favorite painting in a long time. These heart balloons make me so happy! Whenever I get a helium balloon, I want to let it go. To watch it rise. Why do parents teach their children that the most important thing is to tie their balloons down and keep hold of them? I have even seen parents yell at their children for letting go and "losing" balloons. Bah! These hearts in this image are tethered, but only so that you can cut their strings and let them go whenever you are ready.

How Tethered was created..... This piece has lots of exciting stuff going on. The underpainting was all done with palette knives creating some great organic textures and lots of movement. Then I used a paint roller and stencils to create all of the cool patterns. I think I used my giant stippling brush for some of the background stuff, too. Once all of that expressive painting dried, I used tiny detail brushes to paint those lovely hearts and also the rocks that act as anchors.

Tethered was painted on a rough wooden board primed with black gesso. There is a saw-tooth hanger on the back of this piece so that you can display it unframed if you like. The image continues around the sides of the board.