Painting In Progress: How to Paint Layers for Urban Cycling

I have a new found love –  cycling! I never thought I'd make a painting with a bike on it, but after the last two years of road biking, I just had to. 

My husband has been an avid cyclist for years, so when I grew tired of running (oh, how I love/hate running), he suggested I try cycling. I bought a bike, found a local women's group and the rest is history. Last year, I did a 50-mile ride.  You can read about it here and how it became one of my #3bravethings.

If you saw my last Painting In Progress: Butterfly Harmony, you know that I sometimes create backgrounds and then stash them for later use.  This painting is another one of those.

 

This background is thick with texture. I scraped on modeling paste, added some paint, and went back over it with more paste. I loved the horizontal line break in it, but that line also intimidated me and threw me off a little. So this background sat for a long time. Who knew it was waiting for a bike to be painted on it?

After the paste and paint, I stamped on tissue paper and applied them with gel medium.

I wanted the whole thing warmer, so I glazed it with a warm fluid acrylic wash.

I added the bike, some stencils, and a few line details to complete it. 

 

Giclee prints for Urban Biking are available in my Etsy shop: DianaDellosDesigns

 

Have you ever tried road cycling? Mountain biking (I'm thinking of trying that next)? What do you do when you're bored with one fitness routine and you need to switch it up? Please leave me a comment and let me know!