Bluebottle Fly Woman, Part 2

As I've recently mentioned, the level of exactitude required with Homo-insecta such as Bluebottle Fly Woman is hard won (see Blog Post, Tuesday, May 19) but I’m learning a lot in the process. For beginners, I’ve now discovered that methylated spirits, delicately applied with a soft rag, will erase unwanted pencil marks. Unbleached Titanium acrylic paint, used sparingly, can be similarly employed, either to make minor corrections or refine the outer edges of the image. Its tint (lightened, if necessary, with a touch of warm Ivory White) is a near enough to perfect match to the blonde wood panels).

As with previous paintings on wood, surfaces were built in gradual layers. In this work, textures and highlights were created with extensive hatching and cross-hatching - techniques more readily associated with drawing, particularly pen and ink - or even with mark-making in certain printmaking processes.

Pictured below: Completed Bluebottle Fly Woman, 2015, acrylic on wood, 32 x 30 cm, followed by a series of progress views in reverse.

Blue Bottle Fly Woman, Part 1

Currently being documented in the studio: Bluebottle Fly Woman, a recently discovered Homo-insecta. She evolved from the Northern Bluebottle fly, a species of common Blow Fly (scientific name: Protophormia terraenovae). More about these much-maligned flies can be found HERE.

Several stages up the evolutionary scale from pesky (and exceedingly stupid) Blowies, Bluebottle Fly Woman is not only beautiful, but also extremely bright.

In April 2015 an enlightening and stunningly photographed documentary, The Great Australian Fly screened on Australian ABC television which corrected a number of misconceptions about flies. For details, go HERE.

Pictured below: Initial stages of Bluebottle Fly Woman, 2015, pencil, gesso and acrylic on wood, 32 x 30 cm.