A Mizzle at Getty Villa - From Start to Finish
Acrylic and Acrylic Medium on Recycled Canvas (24" x 18")
A Mizzle at Getty Villa is a waterlily piece I completed earlier this month, inspired by a close-up I took in 2019 of the ponds at the Villa in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, these ponds were impacted by the Palisades fires last year; the good news is they are gradually being rebuilt.
I learned this word recently, and the Cambridge dictionary defines a “mizzle” as:
Yet every spellchecker insists that I’m typing it incorrectly, suggesting I change it to “muzzle”. I’m laughing to myself as I envision what A Muzzle at Getty Villa painting would look like.
Here’s a showcase of some work-in-progress photos I strung together:
Waterlilies are my favorite flower, so I felt motivated to experiment with acrylic medium to create depth to the petals. I mixed together:
40% Bluebird Thick Modeling Paste
40% GOLDEN Heavy Gel Gloss
20% Liquitex Thickening Gel
As the Liquitex started to kick in, the white medium in its unsuspecting fluffiness became harder to mix than cracker dough. At any moment, my watch was going to push a warning that my heart rate was too high for idle standing. Alas, I bested the mix in a long-abandoned Tupperware container.
I noticed a graininess to this artistic “dough” which I was hoping to avoid by making the petals look wet with a purely glossy medium. I practiced on a spare canvas with some palette knives for fun—I recognize I’ll need to experiment further with the ratios and control my strokes with a steadier hand (oh my).
In the end, I still decided to add in the medium as accents to the petal tips to add some dimension. I’m quite fond of how it looks under different lighting.
I loved making this piece and decided to use parts of it in the Musehaunt banner and logo. I hope you like it!
This piece is currently on display at the Columbia Art Center in Columbia, MD as part of a show running through June 14th. “A Mizzle” is ready to hang (finished edges, satin UV archival varnish, D-rings installed) and is available for purchase from the center for $700.
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Incredible!!!!