Playing Around

Here's my attempt to explore the way media works. I'm also trying to record all media, colors, inspirations, and tools I have used on the backside of the work in question, for future reference and comparisons. Hopefully I can start learning how all of these different things function! There's a lot to learn...

In the foreground here we see a piece of paper (type and source unknown) with gesso applied to both sides and then the color Red Oxide mixed with Soft Gel (Gloss) brushed over it with a 16 Flat brush. I think the gesso underneath is causing the Red Oxide to really shine. It's nice to the touch, too.

In the middle we see my abstract experiment, with the lines thickened. This piece has the same application of the Red Oxide mixed with Soft Gel (Gloss) with the 16 Flat brush except that no gesso was applied beforehand and there is no gesso to strengthen the other side of the paper. While the overall background is probably not as strong as in the first piece I outlined, I do like how the color almost blends into the paper, depending on how much pressure I put on the brush.

In the farground, we have a pad of Strathmore Sketch Paper (300 Series) with the following layered onto one of the sheets: gesso (just one application), Terre Verte Hue mixed with Soft Gel (Gloss) brushed on with a 16 Flat brush, and then unmixed Terre Verte Hue brushed over that with a 12 Bright brush. I know the paper probably wasn't designed to hold such heavy media, but I don't really care! My next step is to attack the resulting textured paper with a charcoal pencil and see what happens.

Off to the right, we have a scrap of unstretched canvas to which I have since applied one layer of gesso. I am going to add another layer of gesso and then brush on some experimental layers to see what happens with the colors and the textures. First I plan to mix Light Ultramarine Blue with Soft Gel (Semi-Gloss) and brush that on. After that dries, I will mix C.P. Cadmium Orange (my newest color!!) with Titanium White - roughly equal parts - and brush that over the blue tones.

Obviously, I'm feeling very experimental in terms of texture, effect, and color layering. I'm probably way overdue for this!!