The Spirit of the Spiral

This morning I woke up and wanted to paint! and over at Milliande's Yahoo Group she has prompts and this is the "spirals" prompt, I wasn't sure if I should put it under the "mandala" prompt but I chose spiral.

I have seen this picture before but I don't know where and so it is drawn and painted from a memory, it is a repetitive version of many that I doodle.

This is my interpretation...

In the center of the picture the spirals represent the core of spirit made of fire, it is suspended in the sky shooting upwards which represents air, it is held up with the buoyancy of the water for support, and deeply rooted into the earth which surrounds and adds comfort to the spirit of the spirals.

How it was done...

I started with a 5 x 5 canvas. I traced a circle using a CD including the center, so that I would have sort of a guide.

Then painted the background, using tube watercolors, and continued on with the basic elements of the picture.

I used brush markers a little and didn't know at the time that they react to water just like the watercolors. This caused me to have to repeat the line drawing but gave me extra color that worked out just fine.

I used a liner brush for the rest of the painting part. Drawing with a brush is easy once you get the hang of it. You just need to remember a few things, first used a wet brush, and keep it loaded. Use a very light touch, the less stress and grip you have on the brush the better. This gives greater control and makes finer lines, you can always go back for thicker lines.

Next I added some bling, making the moon and stars, and a bit of hologram glitter glue here and there. I tried adding peacock feather for the tree but it really didn't do as I wanted it to so there are very few of them.

Decided to paint the outer edges black and add a bit more bling.

I made a huge mistake next, I decided to varnish this piece. Unfortunately I wasn't clearly thinking because it made everything run. It still looks ok but not as I wanted. I can go back and fix it, which I may do but it doesn't look that bad. In person the flaw is not as strong as the scan, and the bling shines much better in person. Right now I have to clean up my mess and then I need a nap -