"Song in the Sky 3 Composite" by Rachael Mayo

Okay! This is the final version of Song in the Sky 3.

The image you see here is a digital composite of all of the different elements that I created with real mediums. The final project is a big bruiser at 24 x 32 inches, and I knew it was going to be very difficult to scan with my 8.5x11 flatbed. So before I taped and glued everything together, I scanned in each piece and assembled it like a puzzle in Photoshop.

The deep background in blue-violet was done with acrylic and little star and moon sequins. There's a freshwater pearl up on the top right.

The middle background was done with watercolor and salt.

The birds were done with watercolor and colored pencil, then cut out with an Exacto knife. Here are some detail shots of the birdies:
Bird on the Left
Bird on the Right.

On the original finale, the birds' halos are made of stick-on plastic pearls. I couldn't get quite the effect that I wanted with Photoshop, so they have glowy nimbuses for this version. And honestly... I like it both ways.

This project took me about fifty hours all together, but I spread it out over quite a spate of time.