Hello! Voting has ending and with the combined votes from Momma C Designs and Facebook, you all voted for an original painting. I'm actually thrilled with the choice! I've been itching to do a painting for about a year now but our living situations kind of hindered that. Moving a lot does not necessarily lend itself to a ton of creativity in the way of painting...at least not for me.
Below is the AWFUL painting that we found in the house when we moved in.
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It's dark, muddled. It's just plain ugly! But, it's big! I knew right away that I would want to reuse it. But first, I've got to get rid of that hideous painting. Introducing, Liquitex Gesso! I love this stuff. I found it quite a few years back and have used it on all of my paintings prior to starting. It gives you a great base to work with...especially with acrylic paint, which is what I'm choosing to use for this project. When you just start painting on a canvas, the paint really soaks into it so this gives it a barrier and a smoother surface. It also works to hide previous work if you are reusing a canvas...just like in my case!
You can find this at Michael's Craft Store, and pretty much anywhere else including online.
Look how thick this stuff is. It's completely opaque and the coverage is phenomenal so a little goes a long way...And yes, I'm doing this on the hood of my car.
Below is the coverage just from that little amount I put on. You can see that it completely covered the darkest area of the painting (although I did give it a second coat later...just for my own piece of mind).
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So, I finished up with the gesso and then went to work on a general draft. I love stripes and that's what I was going for with the background but then I went with the idea of creating a planked wood background for dimension...so that's where I'm going. You can at least get the general orientation of the painting with the sketch. I'm also thinking about changing Grace's line of site to look at me...or, the viewer if you really want to get technical.
So, there you have it! Work has begun and I'm so excited to do it. I'll keep you posted as I go along with little tips and tricks. Thank you for voting and I can't wait to hear your comments!
Until next time...
