Nude Girl in Winter with Red Umbrella

I originally began painting on recycled wood boards because of their abundance in the area where I live. My neighbor is a contract construction business owner. He knows I paint so he brings me large pieces of plywood which my husband cuts and sands down smooth. The first painting I did was a commission for a client, which I applied standard white gesso to prior to painting.

Now I apply paint straight to the board. I have a collection of different branded oils paints including an old lead tube of red Grumbacher, which I find offers the best consistency & opacity.

I picked up painting last summer, buying a couple of products I was aware of were used for oil paintings i.e., turpentine, linseed oil, dammar varnish (& a temporary dammar spray varnish for time sensitive clients,) and a small 2.5 oz bottle of liquin which speeds drying time of the oil paint.

On a side note, I take a lot of pleasure from certain earthy, spicy, floral plant based aromas. I find that use of certain smells creates a peaceful energy to drive my moods into. Oil essences, shampoos, woods & herbs for burning are worthy of my investment. So when the weather turns cold and I moved inside to paint, I sought an alternative from the nauseating smell of turpentine and discovered Spike Lavender.

I found a business in Wisconsin called "the art treehouse" and purchased a 4oz bottle of spike lavender, and two 10/0 - 5/0 fine point brushes. I highly recommend the Art Treehouse, by the way. They have a nice selection of brushes, mediums, paints & accessories at competitive prices.

"Nude Girl in Winter with Red Umbrella" is based off of an earlier photograph my husband took of me last winter. We had sold the original print for $16,500 at an exhibition in Miami, and I wanted to re-create an original for ourselves to keep.

Before I started painting I taped the top and bottom of the wood. As you can see from the original picture (on Lu's instagram,) there is a boarder.

I laid down the base colors for the snow, the trees and the umbrella. I didn't apply any paint to the hair at this stage yet because it looks cool to mix natural wood texture with the smoothness of the oils.

The cracks in the wood offer another dimension to the picture, like a crackling old black and white movie. This is the first layer I applied.

A week later when the painting was dry enough to remove the tape, I peeled carefully & slowly from the sides to reveal a straight line. Fresh~

That's the final result as of now. Once it's completely dry I'll varnish the whole block with liquid dammar. I haven't yet used the slow drying liquid on wood, so I will post a finished picture of it when it's done. The painting is up for sale on www.olkodesign.com/collections/fine-art .

Tiiu Wu
www.tiiuwu.com