Sunday, August 20, 2017

Waste Not, Want Not?


There are numerous projects on my painting table (and the dining room table too) and all are in various stages of drying.  Not that I was really looking to start something else, I felt the need to take a break and maybe do something totally different from the norm.  There was an epic fail of a painting sitting on the corner of my art table. This was a really expensive cradled panel that I had started for a present and was set aside after an unfortunate transfer process went horribly wrong.  The whole surface really needed a heavy sanding to make it usable again.  Not to worry, just turn the thing around and use the back recess as a deep frame.  Started by painting inside and out with Carbon Black for a good base coat. The edges weren't very tidy so I rooted around in my supplies until I found a jar of  charcoal Terra Cotta Texture (DecoArt) that was still good.  A palette knife applied a lovely textural finish to that raw edge.  Now for some art! I have tons of mat board scraps lying about.  And I have been playing with paint skins, most of which are created on my silicone mat from my base coat applications (works great and keeps my precious palette space cleaner).  Earlier in the week I had smeared some gold gesso across the palette to capture all the little bits and pieces of acrylic paint.  Left overnight to dry and peeled off the pieces the next day.  I used some gloss gel to glue these paint skins to a piece of black mat board to create and set aside to dry.  Once they were dry, I figured out where the best pieces were going to be and decided on 2" x 3" rectangles to cherry pick the best pieces.  Cut these out but the edges needed some kind of finish.  Laid a line of gold gesso on the silicone mat and dipped the edges of the cut sections in just to coat and the mini panels were set aside to dry.  Also cut some tiny squarish bits of the left overs and ended up setting a few of those down into the Terra Cotta Texture.  Once the texture was dry, I rubbed on a bit of Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold (my favorite Golden color) and a bit of Raw Sienna here and there just to give it a "rusty" touch.  From another piece of leftover mat, I cut smaller rectangles to stack up for spacers to float the mini panels off the background about 1/2" and these were glued into place to use as handles during the glazing process.  I also wanted more of a glazed surface to the panels so a layer of Clear Tar Gel (Golden) was applied with a palette knife for a fairly smooth finish (only because it seemed quicker than multiple layers of varnish). The outside of the frame needed a bit of shine so I washed on a thin layer of Renaissance Brown Elegant Finish Metallic Glaze (DecoArt).  Once the Clear Tar Gel is dry, the mini panels were glued into place with Tacky Glue. And we are done!

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