(…continued from the previous posts, so go back 4 posts if you want to see the start of this!)
In the end I didn’t make you wait very long because I am nice :-)… I am back again with new photos within hours. So, here was the painting when I finally stopped splashing it with paint:
It had got a bit boring at that point – not the actual paint-splashing but the waiting for it to dry between each layer of colour, besides, I thought that would look busy enough in the finished painting. So, the last coat was put on with a brush (taking time, however, to dab it on, not actually brush it and in so doing disturb the underneath paint layers). And here we are, everything gone:
Now the really fun bit where I wash off all those layers of paint (yes wash, in the bath, with the shower thingy), leaving whatever stays behind as a very thin layer on the paper. And this is what I got:
I am rather liking this painting now, more than I thought perhaps I would at this stage: usually the post-washing stage of my paintings requite a certain amount of ‘fixing’. It’s a hit-and-miss process but one which creates an image unlike anything else that could be done with gouache or watercolour.
Admittedly the painting is a bit… busy… not something you’d want to stare at while drunk, perhaps, but maybe that’s the point. I am also now happier with the colour of the fairies than I had thought – I had expected to work quite a lot more colour into them but I rather like the way they look (and, frankly, what colour could they be against that background?!). They look like the white half of a chess set, illegally carved in ancient fairy ivory.
So now, I am going off to consider the painting at this stage. It needs a bit more work, but maybe not as much as I had intended. Any colour washes and I shall dull down my nicely insane background, and I’m not sure I want that.
So, until the next post, again…
Wow. I had no idea it would come out so good. I admit, the “splashing it with paint” step had me a bit scared. LOL
Thanks Mgon… it’s good do something random sometimes!
Hi Nancy, Yes you are right, it does not need more, i would not change a lot. I totally love it as it is. Lovely those nude colours of the fairies in contrast with all the other colours!! Great work!
Thanks Ardy, it needs a little ‘un-painting’ still – lifting some of the highlights, and bringing out the wings – another day or two’s work really but it’s all in the details – won’t change the whole thing that much but I like details!
Brilliant! When can we order? 🙂
Thanks! I’m going to make a page on my site where you can place an order and I’ll post them out when they’re ready! Next week will be horribly busy as it’s the last week before Somerset Arts Weeks starts, after that I’ll have a lot of official sitting around to do for a fortnight so I’ll sort the page out then… promise! 🙂