XLarge Fun With Polymer Resist....

Yesterday I decided to follow my intuition and focus my creative energy on one painting only.... well, I almost did. The above photograph shows 'up~until~now' image. As a strata I used the somewhat chewed up 2x2 plywood board that my dog devoured back in May. I thought that it may convey a very believable look of an old, distressed painting.... so far I really like how the 'antiquated' texture progresses, though I'm not anticipating any additional chewing ~ my creative skills must suffice to deliver a quality aging, at this point only paint, brushes, wire brushes, and acrylic mediums are allowed in the vicinity of the painting. So, let me tell you briefly how this painting was born.....

I used my new toy, a large palette knife, I treated myself to the other day as I anticipated a new project that would outgrow small, plastic tools. I applied a very heavy layer of acrylic gesso over few sheets of white tissue paper first attached to the surface. As I worked gesso in between uneven layers of tissue paper I aimed at radical changes in texture.

Next I used a small plastic bottle with a pointed-end cap and I filled it 3/4 full with Golden Polymer Medium (Gloss). Then I added a generous amount of Golden Liquid Acrylics Iridescent Bright Gold (Fine) and gave the bottle a good shakin' ~ making sure that the mixture achieves a uniform color.

.... let the doodeling begin! I used the tip of my bottle as my drawing tool and enjoyed every moment of it!

.....an almost finished pattern~drawing. It reminded me of table cloth or fabric pattern when I took a step back when I covered the entire surface.

Let's dye the fabric now! As the moisture~hungry gesso was pulling in a very watered-down (not quiet a wash) layer of Golden Liquid Acrylics Turquois (Phthalo) mixed with a bit of Black Gesso, it felt as though I was painting a piece of fabric, literally...

I used a sheet of paper towel to remove moisture-paint from the painting to create a weathered, distressed, uneven color distribution throughout.

Can you create an authentically looking 'aging effect' without help from Golden Heavy Body Quinacridone/ Nickel Azo Gold??? Perhaps. But you can make a visual magic and enjoy the process by applying even a bit of this heavenly aging aid..... and glazing with Quinacridone, even a bright white piece of paper, will make you a life-long believer~worshiper! The best part of using Quinacridone is, that it's difficult to over~use it because it blesses any surface with a wonderful transparency and bestows brightness and depth to any underlying tones it is applied over.....

.... oh, yes! No believable, credible altered art work should be deprived of a wire brush deliberately removing, often more than one layer of paint~medium, at a time. For an extra fun, using a wire brush adds even more 'physical~ness' to the act of creation....

... a bird's eye view of the completed, thus far, two layers of the underpainting.... feel free to zoom-in, but that's the most detailed photo I have.

I painted all hearts with Golden Liquid Acrylics Permanent Violet Dark and Quinacridone Magenta and I was pleasantly surprised how much depth this cool~warm color mixture brought up....

I got such a great time with this wonderful coloring action going that I decided to accent every element of my painting. And so the flowers were adorned with a mixture of Cobalt Turquois and Turquois (Phthalo) and spiral shapes received a gentle treatment from Liquid Sap Green...

I filled the spaces in between grouped shapes with colors used at other places in the painting.... I wanted to see a correlation and cohesion of the 'big whole' while the variation was also meant to preserve a distressed character....

As of right now, this painting will shortly meet with a thin layer of Self Leveling Gel, that way the current state of design will be locked in before the rest of mixed media adventure will unfold....

When working on this painting yesterday and today, I was able to focus my attention more fully on the process at hand instead of thinking three steps ahead to two other projects. Staying with one brush stroke, one color choice at a time is the most rewarding manner of creation for me.... and incidentally that leads me to new discoveries, new heights and depths of this mystery called creativity. And to cultivate the process itself I signed up myself for an Intuitive Painting workshop for tomorrow morning. I look very much forward to it as I've participated in it over a year ago and it truly is beyond words to even try to describe it.... all I can say is that for me personally, those three hours dislodged a pretty heavy load of so called creative blockage and my painting from that remarkable workshop is probably the most cherished creative expression I've been blessed with so far in my life....

On a side note, Big Thank YOU! to everyone who came to my Caribou showing on Monday ~ it was a very special night for me.... Though I brought my camera with me, I didn't realize until everyone left that I'd intended to take pictures....

I've been told by the staff at the coffee place that everyone wants to touch my paintings and collages ~ what can I say, I do it all the time myself, it's not a museum ~ go for it and touch it to your heart's delight!