June 22, 2009

Third one, I have my winner

So I finished my last test yesterday, the process has been similar to the previous 2 but using mostly acrylic paint except for the blue which is a half/half mix of watercolor and acrylic



1 to 4.- Applied masking fluid and the base coat of color (blue red and ochre)
5.- added some layers of pure black or black mixed with red or blue
6.- removed the mask and tested the bleeding, 0% bleeding, YAY! I was afraid the blue wouldn't work but it did, what could go wrong with the black in the first test? maybe there were more watercolor that acrylic in the mix or maybe wc lamp black just don't wanna work for me.

Anyway, this is how the 3 tests look like next to each other



I'm going for the third one, it's worked pretty well, looks interesting and there's no bleeding, I can fake bleedings here and there on purpose later on. I still like better how the black watercolor looks compared to the black acrylic but that reason doesn't have enough weight to make me struggle through the 2º test's process all over the painting.

The red kanjis and prints won't be made with mask and acrylic, I believe I can work those out without problem since I won't have the horrible bleeding lamp black gives me.

I spent the day yesterday masking all the prints and kanjis that are going to be black and this morning finished some spots I missed yesterday, since it's monday again I'll have to wait to work more on this one but now that I know what I''m gong to do I'm sure this stage will be fast, maybe I can finish this baby before the end of the month :)
Links to the whole of the WIP: step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4, step 5, step 6, step 7, step 8, step 9, step 10, step 11, step 12, step 13, step 14

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Just wondering why you are masking the prints and kanji if they are going to be black in the end. Couldn't you just paint them on as another layer at the end? Or did I miss something in your wonderful descriptions so far?

RH Carpenter said...

Well, sounds like you're happy with where this is going now - so I'll just sit back and wait for the finished painting which I know will be wonderful!

Teresa Palomar Lois said...

Hey Andy! You are right, that's what the second test was about, I had 2 posibilities:

1) painting the lanterns first and the kanji later:
pros -> I won't need to worry about getting my washes over the black kanji which would avoid any bleeding,
cons-> I won't be able to use masking fluid because when lifted the masking will remove some paint.

2) painting the kanji first and the lanterns later:
pros -> I can mask around them,
cons -> I need to use something permanent to avoid the posible bleedings when I paint the lanterns.

I only chose the second because I really want to mask around those kanjis, not because I can't paint them without the mask, that was what test 2 was all about, but because I want to have some continuity in the brush strokes and colors from shape to shape and doing it without mask with all the small jumps between one shape and the other in some prints will force me to slow down a bit and tighten up too much and even then the result won't be that fresh maybe it's not noticeable after the black is applied but there is a difference.

Maybe I'm doing the wrong decission but I think it's going to be ok, if not I still have plenty of ideas for further paintings of lanterns, a series is on the way lol

Teresa Palomar Lois said...

Rhonda you little liar! you won't be sitting back there, you're going to be having fun in a wonderful trip while I die in this hot weather throwing paint to paper *green with envy*