I spent a couple of days working on the abstract background for Mug Shots, doing first the blue stripe, and then taping it, as well as the other stripe, to work first on the large blue area, then on the lower ochre area. I did some scribbling and drew both dark and light lines first on the white gesso, then laid on top various shades of blues and purples, applying raw pigments with wide bristle brushes(one for the lighter colors, one for the darks).The colors go on very smooth , just like paint. Of course, the panel has to be flat, and one has to be careful not to raise dust.
Just a short paragraph on Safety. I was concerned about the toxic effects of certain pigments, and read a few books on the subject. It is impossible to folloew all the rules of safety laid out in the books. They might just as well be OSHA manuals for the workplace! Their authors are so afraid to be sued that instead of giving simple practical usable advice, they put so many rules and regulations on you that I just threw my hands up. Just the fact that I wear a beard and refuses to cut it no matter what is already a big problem, since I fail all the respirator tests. I hate the damn things anyway. My studio is in my house, has no separate ventilation system, and there is not much I can do about it except open the door, that's another "big" problem. My only option was to systematically eliminate every pigment that was poisonous or toxic. I like natural pigments as a matter of principle, and they tend to be the most permanent, so it wasn't really a big problem. I just had to get rid of Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, and Chrome Green. I ended up with a palette of Ultramarines, Natural Earths and Oxydes, Mayan colors, and "Non Toxic" brighter shades of Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Purple and Blues from a place called Earth Pigments:
I am very careful handling the raw pigments, sometimes I wear a face mask, most of the time I don't. I have two round palettes where I keep small amounts of pigments, and keep them covered when I don't use them, I don't get my nose close to the pigments, I try not to sneeze or cough(so far so good). I can't stand working with gloves, so I wash my hands frequently. I use brushes to apply pigments rather than my fingers, it works better anyway. I brush the extra mixed pigments left on the panel and on the table gently into plastic containers marked Yellowish, Reddish, Bluish, Purplish, Brownish and Greenish, so they can possibly be re used. I use wet paper towels to wipe the dust off the table and the floor(no broom, no vacuum). I think it is about as much as I can do for safety, and it's more than I did when I first worked with pastels. My safety check is to clean the inside of my nose with a moist tissue at the end of the day, and make sure it has no noticeable coloring. I believe, I will be fine.
Now, of course, to cover my ass, I am going to tell you: DO NOT DO AS I DO, it might poison you, fry your brain, pickle your liver, cause nerve damage and lung cancer, may be even kill you. But then so do all the legal poisons on the market (alcool, cigarettes, pain killers, a lot of prescribed medications, etc...), that kill far more people than Cadmium Yellow, which I don't use anyway.
OK, that was my rant for the day.
When I got the whole panel covered with color, I felt I should stop for a while, until I knew what to do next. Once I cover the panel with medium, my options get more limited, and I want to refine the texture with pastels as I did on the background of "Trompe l'Oeil".
So I went back to "Trompe l'Oeil", and worked on the back panel at the other end of my giant table. I love having the space!
I finished the back window frame and the dark background for the nude, and started spitting on the panel and blotting with a paper towel for texture. I rubbed flat pastel sticks of contrasting colors lightly on. I realized that this particular panel was too smooth. I need to remember to leave more texture when I roll the gesso on, and may be use a little more.
After a while, I also used a very dilute solution of Gum Arabic in a spray bottle to create various spots, smears, and eventually fix the pigment on the board. Finally, I tried the images on for size. As I already knew, the light bulb is way too small, and I will print and cut out the new one. But I find the trompe l'oeil effect of the target just laying there already quite effective, and am well pleased:
Time to switch back to "Mug Shots". I now knew what to do next to the lower ochre area, basically the same, but with heavier texturing using the pastels both flat and straight to create random lines and textutes. I uncovered the blue stripe so the scribbles would appear continuous, and I gave it a subtle texture with pastels in different shades of blue:
Just a short paragraph on Safety. I was concerned about the toxic effects of certain pigments, and read a few books on the subject. It is impossible to folloew all the rules of safety laid out in the books. They might just as well be OSHA manuals for the workplace! Their authors are so afraid to be sued that instead of giving simple practical usable advice, they put so many rules and regulations on you that I just threw my hands up. Just the fact that I wear a beard and refuses to cut it no matter what is already a big problem, since I fail all the respirator tests. I hate the damn things anyway. My studio is in my house, has no separate ventilation system, and there is not much I can do about it except open the door, that's another "big" problem. My only option was to systematically eliminate every pigment that was poisonous or toxic. I like natural pigments as a matter of principle, and they tend to be the most permanent, so it wasn't really a big problem. I just had to get rid of Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, and Chrome Green. I ended up with a palette of Ultramarines, Natural Earths and Oxydes, Mayan colors, and "Non Toxic" brighter shades of Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Purple and Blues from a place called Earth Pigments:
I am very careful handling the raw pigments, sometimes I wear a face mask, most of the time I don't. I have two round palettes where I keep small amounts of pigments, and keep them covered when I don't use them, I don't get my nose close to the pigments, I try not to sneeze or cough(so far so good). I can't stand working with gloves, so I wash my hands frequently. I use brushes to apply pigments rather than my fingers, it works better anyway. I brush the extra mixed pigments left on the panel and on the table gently into plastic containers marked Yellowish, Reddish, Bluish, Purplish, Brownish and Greenish, so they can possibly be re used. I use wet paper towels to wipe the dust off the table and the floor(no broom, no vacuum). I think it is about as much as I can do for safety, and it's more than I did when I first worked with pastels. My safety check is to clean the inside of my nose with a moist tissue at the end of the day, and make sure it has no noticeable coloring. I believe, I will be fine.
Now, of course, to cover my ass, I am going to tell you: DO NOT DO AS I DO, it might poison you, fry your brain, pickle your liver, cause nerve damage and lung cancer, may be even kill you. But then so do all the legal poisons on the market (alcool, cigarettes, pain killers, a lot of prescribed medications, etc...), that kill far more people than Cadmium Yellow, which I don't use anyway.
OK, that was my rant for the day.
When I got the whole panel covered with color, I felt I should stop for a while, until I knew what to do next. Once I cover the panel with medium, my options get more limited, and I want to refine the texture with pastels as I did on the background of "Trompe l'Oeil".
So I went back to "Trompe l'Oeil", and worked on the back panel at the other end of my giant table. I love having the space!
I finished the back window frame and the dark background for the nude, and started spitting on the panel and blotting with a paper towel for texture. I rubbed flat pastel sticks of contrasting colors lightly on. I realized that this particular panel was too smooth. I need to remember to leave more texture when I roll the gesso on, and may be use a little more.
After a while, I also used a very dilute solution of Gum Arabic in a spray bottle to create various spots, smears, and eventually fix the pigment on the board. Finally, I tried the images on for size. As I already knew, the light bulb is way too small, and I will print and cut out the new one. But I find the trompe l'oeil effect of the target just laying there already quite effective, and am well pleased:
Time to switch back to "Mug Shots". I now knew what to do next to the lower ochre area, basically the same, but with heavier texturing using the pastels both flat and straight to create random lines and textutes. I uncovered the blue stripe so the scribbles would appear continuous, and I gave it a subtle texture with pastels in different shades of blue:
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