My first finished mixed media painting in Estonia depicts a white stork (Ciconia ciconia).
The substrate is antique lace over wood panel. My process involved attaching the lace to the panel, painting the portrait, removing the lace and altering the coloration of the wood panel surface, and then meticulously re-registering and attaching the lace back on top and sealing it down.
These birds are embedded in Estonian rural life: they're associated with summer farms and considered good luck omens. Storks are also important in folklore, as they accompany souls to the underworld and bring newborns into the world as a part of a cycle of death and rebirth in Balto-Slavic mythology.
This is Between Worlds, acrylic and antique lace on wood panel, 14x14x1.5”, 2026.