My version of "Tea-painting"...something new!

Hi Everyone! Hope this finds you all well..and getting ready for Super Bowl Sunday! I am so excited to know that just down the freeway, all of the festivities are ready to start..the whole Bay Area is jumping and I plan to listen/watch the game while I continue preparation for the New York SCBWI Conference...it's coming up fast and I'm starting to get excited. It's the final stretch and I'm taking a tiny break from my work to share a little something that I tried the other day...and that is "tea-painting". Well, so I'm not sure if this is a bonafide way of doing this, but I found it to be something to add to my repertoire. If anyone knows of the proper technique, please do let me know...I'm continually in a quest to learn and grow, so thank you in advance.

I sketched this new piece thinking about how my mom used to play "Go Fish" with my girls when they were little. Boy, would they have the best games! Many times they'd end up in giant balls of laughter..such wonderful times. Excited to celebrate Chinese New Year tomorrow, I grew up celebrating the holiday at my grandparent's home, and then at my parents..we celebrated with laysee (red envelopes), special foods and candy, stories of firecrackers, watching the Chinese New Year parade on t.v. and live in San Francisco. What great memories..I'll be celebrating tomorrow and wish you all a Gung Hay Fat Choy!

I scanned the sketch into the computer and enlarged the sketch to fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet. I printed it and layed it on a light table, and retraced the sketch onto a sheet of Fabriano Hot Press, towel dried the sheet, then stretched it on a board..then I made a hot cup of Tazo Earl Grey tea, poured the tea into a small cup, grabbed my widest brush and started painting. It gave it a wonderful golden-tone. I found that if I let it dry, and go over the area once again, the tone would become even more golden-tan. At the end of the painting, I made another cup of tea, and added more of the golden tone to areas I needed to bring in to make the piece more cohesive.

Here's a snapshot of the piece..


I'll post the final piece closer to the start of the conference....hope you all have a wonderful Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Monkey, my brother's year...yay! Best to you all ~ Shirley