Saving a DimeLast night I lined out my drawing on the back of my tracing paper with charcoal. This saves me from having to buy carbon paper and doesn't make near the mess. Again, thank you Bill Martin over at Wet Canvas for such helpful ideas! What you see here of course is a mirror image of the picture because you're looking at the backside. I plan to tape the tracing paper over the canvas and retrace the image with a ball point pen. Hopefully the charcoal will stick.
Too Much Oil in the Mix
I began to be a little concerned today when my imprimatura was still not dry. I believe I added too much linseed oil. Those of you who paint know this is a big NO NO! The cardinal rule of painting is fat over lean. Yes, I know and that is what I hoped to do, but I "eyeballed" the amount and put too much linseed oil into the mix. Today I wiped down the entire canvas with Turps (got the house stinkin' before company came over!) and then I painted the imprimatura again, this time using almost a pure mixture of turps, (better safe than sorry).
Ooops! Big Goof Comes Home to Bite!
I began to be a little concerned today when my imprimatura was still not dry. I believe I added too much linseed oil. Those of you who paint know this is a big NO NO! The cardinal rule of painting is fat over lean. Yes, I know and that is what I hoped to do, but I "eyeballed" the amount and put too much linseed oil into the mix. Today I wiped down the entire canvas with Turps (got the house stinkin' before company came over!) and then I painted the imprimatura again, this time using almost a pure mixture of turps, (better safe than sorry).
Ooops! Big Goof Comes Home to Bite!
Tweny minutes later my imprimatura was dry! Hurray! I taped the tracing paper to the canvas and started to draw. Guess what? When I got to the far right edge, I ran out of room. The boy's hand was going off the canvas! Oh no! Remember a few days ago I mentioned I thought I stretched the canvas on lopsided stretchers? Yep, I did it, now I'm paying the price for not correcting a mistake I made days ago. I took the canvas off the stretchers along with about 200 staples, recut the wooden stretchers so they make a perfect 45 degree angle on the corners and then I stapled it all back together again. That's the reason for the white stripe on the side! Ugh! I've learned my lesson on this one.
Grisaille, Here We Come
At least I have a good square canvas to work with now and I'm delighted to have transfered my drawing onto the canvas. When I lay down imprimatura over that white stripe on the right side, I'll be ready to start my grisaille. Finally, I get to paint!
Grisaille, Here We Come
At least I have a good square canvas to work with now and I'm delighted to have transfered my drawing onto the canvas. When I lay down imprimatura over that white stripe on the right side, I'll be ready to start my grisaille. Finally, I get to paint!
1 comment:
Hello Chris, if I may give you an advice, it is to only use linseed oil for the colored painting and to work with turpentine for the preleminary stages, as imprimatura and grisaille. Just as you said : fat over lean ...
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