Playing with a previous idea I used for a gift painting, to see how well it translates onto paper...
Perhaps you remember "Foreboding", this little painting about nighttime anxiety and all that? Well it never really was a favourite of mine so... Well I broke him. On purpose. 
Most of this half of the panel was painted over collage so at least I could slip a knife under and peel the whole thing off. Those Dylusions ink sprays are bright and lovely and all, but if I leave a single blue arrow on this painting it will never go away. Every new layer will have a blue arrow seeping to the surface. Annoying! Sorry, I might have to stick with Lindy Stamp Gang if all of the Dylusions are going to be like that! 
After some gesso and ground (and a couple of hours worth of roses), you can still see a couple of streaks of blue on the right side! This stuff is persistant! Do I find it hard to break old paintings? Not really. It depends. Sometimes if I look at an old piece and am mildly surprised by the amount of skill I was able to pull off, then it is harder to part with it. But there are a lot of stinkers as well! I looked at these small paintings and thought the panels could have been put to much better use. Hopefully, I will! Its partner "Spring Promise" might be next on the chopping block...
This is taking so long to do! Here is a shot of half lined in ink, half unfinished. I have a serious problem with fine line markers dying on me... the tips tend to go flat and then they "dry out" I suppose. It's really annoying and I was almost unable to finish this layer at all. Anyone else have this problem?
Yes! After all of that prep work I was super skeptical about finally painting on glass. Will gesso actually stick? Will second layers peel off first layers? The application of the gesso and then a layer of absorbent ground was (so far) successful! Painting on glass is a particularly enjoyable thing... so smooth... 
I'm starting to really enjoy how watercolour soaks into the ground. It's actually a bit similar to using markers in that it dries crazy fast and leaves lots of streaks. The main trick to watercolour is to work with its quirks instead of against them, and this is just a new quirk I need to make use of instead of regret.
There was a spot where I put a watercolour wash that created a tiny, raised "crease" and kind of looked like a bristle got caught in the paint... I wonder what that was about? It should start coming together really quickly now. I finally ran out of red Cotman paint, but they don't sell individual half-pans! I bought a tube of red today out of desperation and I hope hope hope it will dry into a block just fine. I prefer dry! 
Omg, it's pretty much ready to actually paint on now. All that sanding and such was hardly worth it. The rusted little lockpiece is back on and the glass has fresh caulking on the backside. The wood has a clear finish now, so that's super duper it for the frame. No going back.
I knew there was a reason I was going through all of this mess... After some scraping, some chiseling, some sanding and now with the help of some metal files (ok I got desperate), I'm finally seeing some red grain on these bevelled edges. Oh em gee. All in all, this window is looking a bit worse for wear and filled with all sorts of new gouges and rough edges BUT! It's no longer an icky greige monster.
On the front. Let's just not turn it over, okay? |
Hello! I'm Melissa, and here you'll find some behind-the-scenes footage of an artful life. Won't you join me?
Monday, June 5, 1pm PST
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