June 3rd - A decision is still needed

Chupacabra seeking additional Snickers

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

In my last blog I narrowed the choices down to four.

Page 1, the figure.

Page 2, the city-scape, the killer whale and the calling to the light.

There were other choices but the others are images I have decided to wait on.  Experience and intuition tells me I need to wait on these for various reasons.  This is kind of a gamble because I will most certainly get more ideas this month and then what seemed like a good, rational decision turns into something else or just gets forgotten.  Oh-well.


So let me explain what I have been thinking lately.  I'm kind of hoping that explaining my thoughts  will help me clarify them for myself.  Check this out:

Still life7  mixed media on wood

 It a painting of an apple - again prophetic stuff is rolling of my tongue.  -Sorry about that.

But it's more than just an apple.  It's texture too.  If you have ever seen one of my major works you would know that I like a bit of texture.  I don't like it screaming with texture, I don't like texture that doesn't help the painting but I do like it.  Believe it or not but it is hard to achieve with oils, unless you like having wet oil paint on your surface for a couple of months.  I have tried fast setting oils like alkyds.  I have tried dryers in my oils, I have tried dryers in my Alkyds.  I have tried thickeners - many brands.  I have tried a lot of things over many years.   Here's the outcome:

1) I spend excess money on additives to experiment with and they don't do what I want.

2) The paint sets up on the surface but underneath can be wet for months.  This is bad for those times I want to sand down my painting for additional texture - I know, not the best technique for a slow drying medium like oil paint.

3) I like starting with a dark surface.  Blacks tend to be slow drying, complicating things even worse.  I've tried mixing my blacks with Burnt Umber and Ultramarine - two paints that dry relatively quickly- in oil terms.  The results are same as #2.  Sanding down a painting and revealing bold white of the gesso beneath is like staring into the sun.  I really want to see the black or some other dark color.

4) I've tried black gesso.  It's too thin. I've tried adding plaster to it but it tends to crack.  I can hold it together with added latex medium but now the mixture is getting quite expensive.  And I think there is a better solution - read on!

5) When thick oil paint is drying it tends to be very shiny or glossy, especially Ivory black.  Other layers of paint do not like to stick to shiny surfaces.  It would take this thick paint years to dry to the point it is not shiny but it will always be a surface that other layers will not cling to.  This is why they teach thick over lean.  The lean or thinned paint goes on first and then you should get progressively thicker (and oilier) with every new layer of paint.  - I almost put myself to sleep on that one.

6) Some dryers thin the paint down so much texture just won't show.  Thicker dryers actually increase the transparency of the paint - both not ideal for what I want.

7) In all my trials I have been able to get textures but in some cases not enough, in others too much.  It is frustrating and exciting all in one,

Then along came the apple:

apple is enlarged to show texture.  - Just like on the cereal boxes!

What this apple is doing for me:

I bought the best brand of exterior flat acrylic house paint I could find.  I had it tinted black.  There's a lot of debate over using house paints in fine art.  Some say it will flake off just like it does your house others say it is just as good as any artist colors.  There are many top notch artist using house paints in the world - I won't name names but I know you're out there.  Here's the thing - if you take a painting outside that is done in top quality oil paints it will fade and begin to deteriorate in just a year's time.  How do I know this?  Because I have one outside hanging on the back of my house right now.  It's not even in direct sun light but it is starting to look it age.  If I would have painted this with a moderate exterior house paint it probably would still be looking good - after all there is a ten year warranty on the stuff - right? I have another painting hanging outside, in direct sun and it was painted with interior house paint.  This one has lasted about six years.  Yes it's peeling, but thats expected right? It's interior house paint hanging outside!  So what if I take the best exterior house paint and put it on a stable surface and hang it is a temperature controlled environment and keep it out of direct sun.  I'll let the the conservators worry about in about a hundred years. ----Right!

So I got me the best brand of black, flat, exterior house paint money could buy.  I mixed this with some plaster and I have instant texture that I can control the thickness on.  I can sand it.  It is flat and porous like gesso so additional layers of paint stick to it.  It dries over night.  It is dark colored all the way through.  If I keep the ratio of plaster to paint at a good mix I can apply this mixture to canvas and it will be flexible (I won't be able to roll the canvas for shipping though - it will need to be shipped flat on stretcher bars.)  I'll solve this though - later.

So, with this apple in mind I am going to try this stuff on a new painting. I'm going to try it this month with ya'll watching.  I'm ready to move past the small studies that I have been experimenting with.  It's time to move on and go for the big dog.  Taking this into mind I want to paint something epic, but not so epic I go into a panic attack when I can't achieve what I want with this new process.  I need to set myself up for failure and for a win.  I need to be ready.

So here we go...

And just so you know - I'm rambling tonight because I got nothing done.  It's that thing called life.  I watched a movie and ate pizza with my family.  I loved it!  The movie was lousy but the company was good - wouldn't miss it for the world.


Larry