Skip to main content

Day 9: Back to the larger canvases

I went back to some of the larger canvases on day 9 in the studio. With one of them I finally felt I'd come to the point where I could start drawing a shape against all the texture of the background:

I used the broken dot pattern to maintain balance with all the rest that's going on in the picture. I have a feeling that this one will be finished in a few days.

With the other one, I had a bit of a disaster when the bottle I was using to paint from broke and spilled all over the surface. So I just spread the paint out over the whole canvas and decided to use it as another layer:

All the dots and textures are so thick that they're still visible through the new wash of paint anyway. So not so much a disaster -- more of a happy accident.

I used my good camera today, but it's still difficult to take a set of photos of the same painting with a consistent tone. In other words, the colours in these photos are a good approximation, but I will need to take them outdoors to get a better representation of the actual colours. And currently it's in the low twenties Fahrenheit outside, so ...
 Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Restoring my Printing Press

I've just finished restoring and assembling my large etching press -- a six week process involving lots of rust removal, scrubbing with steel wool, and repainting. Here is a photo of the same kind of press from the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative: And here is a short YouTube video of me testing the press, making sure the motor still works after nearly seven years of lying in storage:
Click here to read more

Brancusi in Plastic

Artist Mary Ellen Croteau is showing these columns made from recycled plastic cartons and lids in the window of the Columbia College bookstore on Michigan Avenue. They are a playful homage to Brancusi's "Endless Columns", with a serious environmental message for our times: Image copyright Inhabitat.com and Mary Ellen Croteau Mary Ellen also runs a wonderful experimental art gallery in a window space in west Chicago, called Art on Armitage . I will be exhibiting a mixed media piece there during August 2012.
Click here to read more

How to etch a linoleum block

Linoleum as a material for printmaking has been used for nearly a hundred years now. Normally, you cut an image out using special gouges similar to woodcut tools, cutting away the lino around the image you want to print. This is called relief printmaking, because if you look at the block from the side, the material that remains stands up in relief from the backing material. You then roll ink with a brayer over the surface of the block, place paper over it, and either print by hand or run it through a press. You can do complex things this way (for example, reduction linocuts), but the beauty of the process is that it is quick, simple, and direct. Incised lino block, from me.redith.com Etched lino block, from Steve Edwards A few years ago, I saw some prints that were classified as coming from etched linoleum blocks, and I loved the textures I saw in them. In the last few months, I've been trying to use this technique in my own studio, learning about it as one does these d
Click here to read more