Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Painting Process......Part I - Getting Started

Starting with a large blank canvas (60" x 36" x 1.5"), I covered the surface with China Red Background Gesso from Matisse Paints.  I love prepping a canvas with colored gesso -- especially a bright red.  It really helps the next few layers "pop"!
The next step involves using a charcoal pencil and twig charcoal, and making random marks and lines on the prepared canvas.  I do this with my left hand (I'm right-handed) and lay down a suggested composition.  Sometimes I follow the lines; often I don't.  It just depends where my artistic muse takes me in the next process!!

If you want to follow me "live" - like my Face Book Fan Page and see what this canvas looks like today!  No worries if you don't do FB, though -- I'll post more updates tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. I had no idea there was such a thing as red gesso. I bet it does make a wonderful undercolor. That is a big canvas! I love big art!

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    1. Thanks Lisa -- I love your paintings!!! And I love gesso....the China Red is from Matisse Paints out of Australia. They call it "background" and it comes in several colors. The red is my favorite.

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    2. I forgot to mention you can buy the Matisse brand through Jerry's Artarama.....they're awesome to work with!!

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