Painting #1 — the journey continues
I’ve been blogging for some time now about painting #1 and I’m getting ready to give up on it. But I don’t give up easily and know that perseverance pays off in the end. You can catch up on my progress so far here: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6.
Here’s where I left off (#1-6c). I thought it presentable but not what I was looking or hoping for.
I paint over the acrylic skins in black, white and shades of grey. (#1-7a). When dry, I tape over them so I can complete the next step without worrying about messing them up again.
(You can see my palette here, too, with the paint spread out to dry to make another acrylic skin.)
I paint over the entire canvas in a gradient from pure white to pure black. When thoroughly dry, I remove the tape. (#1-7b). I’m really disappointed, but should have known better. Due to the ridges from the gel, the tape didn’t adhere well and paint seeped underneath it.
Evidently, I don’t give up easily. At first I try to ‘fix’ the paint on the acrylic skins and clean things up, but it’s hopeless. I just mess things up more as the paint spreads past the skins. Rather than try to clean it up, I intentionally go over the skins so the paint seeps out more giving it the effect of ‘bleeding.’ Now at least, the mess is more consistent, LOL! (#1-7c).
Perseverance pays off!!!
I almost like this, but I think it needs some color. So I add some manganese blue, quinacrodone magenta, quinacrodone azo gold, primary yellow and white. I use a few different felt stampers and splatters to add the color randomly … and I think it’s finally done! (#1-finished). Perseverance pays off!!!
This photo is not great, due to the lighting conditions in my dining room. I will take a better photo and get it up in my shop soon.
What would you have done?
It seems like I went through a lot of unnecessary steps in this process, but it is a process. You never know how something is going to work out until you try it. So I do. I try something different and learn from experience. Looking back, I think maybe I could have done something different. There’s always something different to try. Maybe I should have stopped sooner and left well enough alone? Maybe I should have worked more with one of the ‘steps’ and done something differently? For instance, I look at 5-b and wonder, “What if I just painted the skins a solid color? What if I used fluid acrylics or heavy body instead of the high flow?” What if …? Unfortunately, this is not digital art and I can’t “undo” what’s been done once it’s dry. So, I have no regrets. I learn from experience and move on!
What would you have done?
Available now
I made one more change to this and it is now available for sale. Check it out.