Acanthocereus Pentagonus!!!

Acanthocereus Pentagonus is Cactus found in South Western United States & Northern Mexico having edible juicy fruit.

I have been thinking of putting up a post to showcase my work of art...how I do it...or rather Making of an Art on Glass. Some of my blogger friends had enquired about it & this is especially for all of them.

Here is how I do it:

1. First of all I draw my picture on a paper. Place it under the glass you would like to work on. The glass is usually bought from any glass shops giving the measurement you need depending on the size of the artwork. This is 29 cms* 20.5 cms...Small one. The glass comes as 2mm, 3mm, 4mm etc...4mm would be ideal coz 2mm though easy to work with has to be dealt with extra care as it can break easily.

The glass can be cleaned before you begin with a Surface Cleaner which is from Lefranc & Bourgeois. Three or four drops is enough, wipe it with a clean soft kerchief or towel.

2. Next draw the outline using a glass outliner which is available in different shades these days. Here I've used a silver outliner from Lefranc & Bourgeois...Cern'Couleurs Vitrail Argent Silver. There are outliners from Hobby Line & Camlin as well.

3. When that is done, you start your coloring. Here, I started with the inside of the Moon.

I have used solvent based colors from WACO. There are transparent & opaque glass colors. I always prefer transparent ones. Its wonderful to see its effcets. But when any transparent color is mixed with White...it becomes opaque.

4. Then I started working around the Moon. If you want the colors to mix you have to do it fast before it clogs. Else you have to take breaks in between so that the areas dry and then you move on. Here I haven't left much time.

5. Background is finished. Now comes the fore area.

6. I started with the cactus & shaded it immediately as I wanted it to merge a bit. I've shaded the green with white & black.

7. Then came the rocks. In all these colors I had to mix white with the colors to get the desired look. I painted the stones dark with white outline shading & painted the shadow grey.

8. Now...this is complete with the shading too.

I enjoyed doing it. Hope you enjoyed knowing about it. It was Fun doing this artwork as I wanted to share this with you. This is after signing my name which by the way isn't detectable!!! I have taken these snaps from my mobile. Being glass it always reflects something or the other:) I think you'll all notice it..sorry for that. Couln't help it:(

Now do try it out & let me know how you felt trying this out. I do hope that you all understood this 'Class':)

This being the basic..you can try this with however big or small glass or surface you want to. You can even try it out on sauce bottles or nutella bottles or unused glass dishes to practice.

Please Note that you have to clean the brush with white spirit or thinner. Else the brush can not be reused. The bristles will clog.

In order not to leave behind my hand marks I place a tissue paper under my hand when I work.

Happy Cactus Monday My Dear Friends!!!

Note: Pic ref from Google.