Post 27: Designing and Starting the Next Piece

    Since the begining of this projects, the Mockups were created in Photoshop way ahead of the actual Paintings, and that gave me time to let them mature, modify them, add or substract elements, incorporate new ideas, and refine them in various ways. I still have one of my original designs in reserve, working title Khabahla:

     But I suddenly became intrieged with the idea of using an old fashion Chalk Board  as a background, with still visible erased figures and equations melting in the background,  a clear circular Astrological Chart drawn in white chalk, and a trompe l'oeil arrangement of Pulleys with a Red String, and a buzzer with button and wires. I also liked the idea of a small drawer built within the thickness of the panel, containing some yet undefine "Talisman".
    I chose the working title "Magic Chalk Board", and started to build it with a wood frame, adding the circular Esoteric Chart and an optical sketch, the buzzer, the pulleys. I can't explain how the green frogs came about, but they have been favorites of mine, and made appearances numerous times in my light shows. They bring whimsical touch, a srong color, and a very realistic trompe l'oeil effect.
    This is where I am at this stage, and I am pretty happy with the design. It will no doubt evolve, but I feel strongly enough about it to get started with a 32" x 48" x 4" thick panel I already have.

    I cut out the drawer front with a thin saw, built a box in the back to receive it, and built a shallow drawer out of Aromatic Cedar:

    The next question at hand is: what is the best way to achieve the look of a real chalkboard? There are 2 choices: use a technique similar to the one I used on the lower dark gray part of "Sepultado"(pigments and gum arabic in water, dry pigments, pastels), or actually make the panel into a chalkboard using chalkboard paint and use chalks and eraser to age and texture it, leaving remnants of drawings and writings.
     I tested the chalkboard paint idea on a small panel, covered it in wax(which made it darker, lowered the contrast, and obscured a lot of the subtle textures and colors I had worked in), scraped it smooth, and polished it. It looks pretty good:

     And the good thing about the chalkboard paint is that it is a very tough stable surface to glue the images to BEFORE laying the wax down. I will need to be bolder with contrast and color to compensate for the dulling and darkening caused by the wax.
     I am ready to paint the final panel with the chalkboard paint, as well as a second test panel to figure out the best glue to use to attach the images.

Post 26: Time flies and I forget to Post what little I did in the past few Months...

   I did work on the Vetruvius Baby Concept I created in Photoshop months ago. First, I reworked the design in Photoshop, replacing the wax seals at the top corners with Coca Cola Buttons, and adding a bat skeleton over the  wings and bottle:

    First,  I taped out the bottom part of the 32" x48" panel, and created the dark mottled marron texture with pigments, pastels, sprays of gum arabic in water. Next, I taped over that part and did the blue bottom area, mixing shades of Cobalt blue pigments with large  brushes, rubbing colored pastels lightly for visual texture, and sprinkling contrasting color pigments. After brushing wax over the whole panel and fusing it, I scraped it back and polished it. 

     I printed all my archival images, and starting incorporating them in the wax layer. I am now at this stage:

     The Esoteric circles and figures will be scratched into the wax surface last,  the grooves filled with  a mixture of orange and ochre shades of wax, and scraped back.
    I am realizing that even though I don't really like the veil of milkiness that the wax creates over the darker colors where it is thicker, I may have no choice but to accept it, and even embrace it as being the nature of the medium...
    One way to minimize it would be to adhere the cutout images to the board BEFORE laying down any wax at all, instead of adding them after the background has been coated. Since I am now fixing the pigments and pastels with gum arabic, it should be possible. I will try that with the next piece.
    I will need an adhesive that holds up to the heat so the larger images do not buckle and bubble. Possible options are: gum arabic, casein, book binding paste, acrylic medium, YES glue, acid free wood  glue. The back of the printing paper may make a difference, and light sanding might help. All these options will need to be tested before I use the technique on a real piece.