valerie sage townley

Mixed Media

Living most of my life in the tropics on a remote beach in Costa Rica where canvas was impossible to find driftwood became my canvas. Tropical storms and big surf would bring an abundance of driftwood to the surrounding beaches and river mouths. Being the scavenger that I am, I started hunting for wood that I could paint on. My paintings consist of a mixed media of metallic and acrylic paint, torn paper and ink. Each piece is then coated with a layer of polyurethane. Since moving back to California where driftwood is hard to come by I have started using reclaimed wood. The more weathered the better. I love using bright colors. I would say that birds are my favorite subject to paint. Costa Rica has more birds than all of North America. So my subjects matter was everywhere to be found and became the obvious choice.