Mama Tembo

For those of you who know the John Wayne movie 'Hatari', you will perhaps be familiar with the name Mama (Mma) Tembo and her elephants.  'Mother Elephant' seems to collect elephants and once upon a time I did too.  I don't really recall when it started but for as long as I can remember they have fascinated and called to me.  Gifts through the years often consisted of elephant somethings - soaps, salad servers, knick knacks, you name it I had it.  Around 1000 at last count.  Then, after being sick for so long they became a burden to me.  It was just more stuff to look after that I didn't have the energy to do so I boxed them up, saving a few very special and rare pieces and donated them so others could enjoy them.

But, time passes, my health continues to improve and the elephants are calling again.  It started when I stumbled across a random article that touched my heart.  Then there was a documentary on tv, and then the yearning came inside.  When searching for inspiration for a painting to do during our 'free choice' classes with Don, I found an elephant image that spoke my heart song and I somehow feel complete and whole while working on her. Strange as I didn't feel empty or incomplete before but she is bringing me such a lovely feeling of joy and 'rightness' as I work on her.

I am just in the very beginning stages at present but I wanted to share.  I am doing a gray scale underpainting first and am going to glaze in colour over the top once I'm done with the detail.

I'm roughly adding blocks of tone and starting to create shape with a large flat brush.  No being delicate or working on detail, just getting paint on the canvas (1m x 76cm I think). 

I keep adjusting tones, adding paint and smoothing out. I need to work a bit more on the tones, creating the shape of her head and then I will work on the detail.  It's a hot, hot day today and windy too so the paint dries very quickly and becomes hard to manage.  To help counteract this and give myself more working time with the paint I use a few little tricks.

A pressure sprayer filled with water and a small amount of bleach (to help stop mould forming).  I liberally spray the back of the canvas to keep the canvas wet.

Once I had wet down the back of the canvas, I liberally covered the front in a 70% - 30% mix of clear painting medium and slow medium.  I let it sit for a bit and once it is sticky like honey or that sticky feeling left by all toddlers I paint into it and this helps to keep the paint moist and workable. I will apply clear painting medium to my brush and mix it into the paint also.

Finally I use a mister bottle that I have filled with distilled water and a few drops of bleach.  I spray this on the work surface and on my palette frequently - although Don will tell you NOT ENOUGH.  But who listens to mentors and teachers - right! :)

I am still working on the rose and will share it's progress at a later date.  It irks me putting the posts our of order but I just had to share Mma Tembo with you.  I hope you like her and I can't wait to share the finished piece with you.

Thank you for sharing my art journey.

Sandy xxx