It has been the week of painting round here (and also the week of fingernails in various shades of teal – I need a better method for cleaning my palettes of acrylic paint!) It has also been the week of reading some of that pile of books I showed you last week, and of putting a couple of ribs out and ending up with costochondritis, which is really rather painful! In the recovery from that I hope to finish the books, and maybe get a little more painting in – I certainly won’t be sewing with some of the jersey I washed recently and which I have patterns standing by (I was planning on getting my overlocker out to use that after I was done painting and before bringing the sewing machine back up to my craft table, but I’m not allowed to lift anything for a week, so maybe next week…

Finishes This Week:

So this was the first painting I attempted using some techniques I’d seen on the class by Etta Vee that I’d watched live (but without any supplies as I’d signed up at the last minute). Some I remembered okay, others not so much! It’s only 4″ square, so I don’t feel like it was too much effort to try some things out.

Then I moved onto a bigger canvas, about A4 size, and watched the playback of Jessi’s class (If you want to take a class, or even buy any of her fabulous artwork, check out her site here) Before the class she’d suggested preparing the canvas by painting it either entirely red or entirely fluorescent pink. As I had a pair of pretty cheap canvases, I though I’d try doing one of each so that I could understand how the base colour plays through and contrasts with the top layers of paint. I think on balance I prefer this first version on the red:

This was my second attempt, where I brought in some of the gilding wax that Jessi used on her class piece after a suggestion from a fellow student. I was less fond of the background on this one, and I didn’t like how I’d done a couple of the petals. I was also less keen on the ultramarine (on top) and prussian blue (on the bottom)

I do feel like I have a better idea of colour combos, and the effects of a barely seen, warm undercoat, so I picked up some more little 4″ canvasses to try out some new options before I go big again! I promise it will eventually tie back to fabric…

In Progress This Week:

For once, I don’t have a half done project!

To Be Worked On This Week:

• Reading more books
• Painting more things
• Shifting the costochondritis

Hope you all have a fabulous week!