The Tale of the Crackle Dragon

The Crackle Dragon started with a mystery painting.

Several years ago during the annual East Vancouver Culture Crawl, Kroma Acrylics hosted a painting party at our warehouse space where everyone was invited to sit down and make a little painting on a small mdf panel. At the end of the day we were left with some not so beautiful paintings; the more successful ones having gone home with their creators. But this colourful dragon was a rare unclaimed treasure left among the rest. He stayed  with us, guarding our warehouse, for a long time before I realized he could be made even more dragonesque with some crackled scales.I mixed a little red and yellow paint in with the kroma crackle and used some reusable adhesive to control the shape of the crackle gel, allowing it to be thick without spreading over the dragons outline.

Once it was dry I decided to add a bit more crackle onto the dragons nose and neck where a small channel had formed.

I then added some Model Magic ( avery light modelling clay made by Crayola) to add some relief details; teeth, claws and whiskers. I used acrylic gel to stick them to the surface.

I used some more Kroma Crackle in a thin layer to add some texture to the background and I added colour with acrylic paints and Copic brushtip markers. I’m still not quite sure if he’s finished, but I think I’ll leave him alone for a while as he is looking pretty fierce.

Many thanks to the mystery painter who first gave life to this dragon.

Is it okay to alter abandoned art?