Artus interruptus

Drawing 536

Drawing 537

Drawing 538

I was feeling a little uninspired with 538 and 539 - I think it shows. Ms Mermaid has a rather sour expression. I don't mind the patterning below, but it was more an exercise with this one than it's been for a long time.

Drawing 539

Drawing 540

Feelin' better with this one :)

There were a couple of (false) starts in the past few days. I bought a nifty spray device from Bunnings that attaches to any screw top bottle, then you pump the plunger to pressurise the bottle, set the nozzle to spray or stream and press the trigger. I was hoping that it would give me a nice even paint coverage on a canvas, but no go. To get it to spray properly, I had to dilute the paint to the point where it was barely a wash. Yuck. I may just have to accept that an airbrush and compressor is the only way to get the finish I want, but it's so noisy (and a pain to clean). I put the canvas in the naughty corner to dry and paint over later with something better. Then I pouted and took myself off to sulk, thwarted.

The pressure thingy will be useful in the garden though, and it was only a couple of bucks.

I had another semi-disaster with impasto medium. I want to use it to make an outline "drawing", then paint over it in a solid colour so that the "drawing" is revealed in the light and shadow of the three dimensional shapes. I tried using the impasto in a makeshift piping bag, a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off, and yes, the stuff will pipe, but the operator needs a LOT more practice in order to control the damned thing. Squeeze gently - curses, blurt, blob, more curses, thick, thin, louder curses, air bubbles make gaps, really loud and colourful curses, then I bit my tongue. Literally, because I had it poking out the corner of my mouth in concentration, and cursed a bit too vigourously. Scraped the mess back into the piping bag, now a scrunched and wet mess, and tried again. Slightly better result, but not what I was after - it was still too variable. Perhaps I should practice icing cakes for a while until my technique improves! But not that day, I scraped the canvas back again, put it in the naughty corner to dry, pouted and took myself off to sulk. Thwarted again.

I also tried painting on a book cover, which has turned out okay but next time I want more detail, even though I mixed the paint with liquidizing medium so I could use a tiny brush and make it detailed. Paint and I still have a troubled relationship, it just will not do what I want. Hmm, impatient operator lacking the necessary skills, again? Probably. Perhaps next time I try a book cover as a canvas I will return to my beloved ink. No books were destroyed in this enterprise, the cover is one I rescued from the bin last year at school. I do like that this piece will stand up on its own, no need for a frame or a stand. Photo to come, I didn't finish it till dusk today and the artificial light does it no favours.