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| Killer Whale sketch |
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| Beginning of Killer whale drawing. |
I have began to draw the final drawing, full size at 16x24 inches. The paper I'm using is just some scrap I got when I ordered my last set of prints. It looked like decent paper so I kept it. Other paper I use includes the large rolls you can buy at the home centers for masking off windows and such. Another kind I use is tracing paper. It doesn't really matter, though. In a pinch I've taped together plain sheets of typing paper. These drawing aren't special to me, they're just a step in my process. They help me focus on what I'm going to do.
I usually do the sketch with the paper taped to the painting surface. The paper is flexible and if it's a big painting it just gets way too big for my drafting table. By using the surface as a "board" I can move it around or just lean it up against a wall if I need to finish something else on my table.
The surface I will be painting on is a wood panel, like a birch panel you buy at Home Depot for building cabinets. It's good wood. I take oak wood strips and cradle the back of the panel. This is simply adding an inside wood frame to the back of the panel witch gives it strength and helps it not to bow. The panels are always glued to the cradle strips - wouldn't want to nail it then have a need to remove it from the cradle at a later time. If I need to remove a glued cradle I just run it on the table saw and cut it off. I usually build the panel and cradle a 1/4 of an inch too big, then I trim it down to proper size. This gives a very clean edge. I seal the surface with traditional artists gesso. For this painting I started with two coats of white gesso. The next coat will be the house paint / plaster stuff. I should be able to get this third coat on tomorrow.
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| The painting board with two coats of gesso |
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| Edges are taped off to keep them clean. (seen with my white drawing paer taped on the front) |
Need to get back and get this drawing done!
Other life things for today: Pulled 25 gallons of weeds (5 big paint buckets worth). Washed my truck. Messed around in the garden - I'm letting my carrots from last fall go to seed - I pulled a few to give light to the peppers. Did the dishes after dinner. Made home made southern ice tea. Had a killer headache, cured it with my wife's essential oils.
Have a good day!
Larry
1 comment:
It's really cool to see your process from the beginning. I think it's safe to say most people don't even think about the other steps to prep a piece of art. Thank you for sharing can't wait to see the next step.
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