The Magic of Moonlight - ATB by Julie Ann

Hello Everyone! Even though we humans have journeyed to the Moon and back, there's still a mysterious quality to the moon and moonlight. My daughter and her boyfriend love the Moon so much they even named her their pet lizard Luna and as my husband taught astronomy for many years our family spent happy summer evenings gazing at the moon through the telescope! For a long time I've wanted to bring the moon into some of my art work. I had been playing with portrait paintings based on photos of our daughter lately and I thought I'd create a fun project using these reference pictures and maybe explore moon imagery at the same time.

Because I wanted the project to be fun and relaxed, I chose an Artist's Trading Cube and decided to create a miniature portrait on four sides of it. Each one would be an experiment in moon symbolism and painting on MDF. I wasn't too worried about getting a likeness and I used the photos of Matilda as a reference only, allowing myself to not look back at them too much after I'd done my initial sketches.

Each of the 4 sides was to become a mini canvas so I created frames with masking tape. Because this project was something of a 'fun' experiment, I didn't worry too much about keeping the frames the same size on each!

Next step was a light coat of white Gesso...

To add texture, I mixed some white Gesso with a touch of black and applied it thickly to my surfaces with an old store-card. I sketched my mini portraits in charcoal, before beginning to add acrylic paint.

Now my mini moon girls were ready to be assembled into a cube and to have some symbolic embellishments added.

Here you can see how the texture in the Gesso stood out when it was painted. I wanted to give a more finished appearance to my project, so I placed my masking tape very carefully back around the edges of the paintings, leaving the borders exposed and painted with a gold metallic paint.

Four gold beads placed in the corners of the cube made tiny feet and mini MDF circles represented 3 phases of the Moon.

Do the white doves share the Moon's secrets, I wonder?

The Moon Goddess who flies on moonlit wings,,,

and the protector of all creatures that run in the light of the Hunter's Moon.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and sharing this patch of moonlight. May you enjoy creative moonlit times until we meet again in a fortnight's time.

Calico Craft Parts Used in this Project
Plain Artist Trading Block Cube Kit (Large)
Sheet of Mini MDF Angel Wings, Style 4
MDF Round Mini Plaques
Word Elements Blank
Sheet of Mini MDF Garden Birds