This week of paintings is going to be good. I know it. Like I said at the end of my last post, I’m finally gessoing my panels. The panels I’m using are Speedball Mona Lisa Panels and are already pre primed. The problem with the primer however, is that it is very smooth. I tried just sanding it, but gessoing it gave me better results.
Day 11 wen’t super quickly and was a true joy to paint. I’ve been struggling since the beginning of the challenge, and my problem was clearly just the ultra smooth surface.
Day 12 was another quick painting. I seriously can’t express just how much better these panels are when gessoed. I’m relatively satisfied with this painting, but I don’t like the foreground color. For whatever reason, I’m really struggling to match the color of my table. The wall is pretty spot on, but the table is a very dark warm wood. It’s also super glossy and reflects a ton of light and changes the color. The closest I’ve gotten so far to accuracy is the buffalo painting. I’ll keep trying.
Dang, I didn’t want to paint on day 13. Usually, if I don’t want to paint, I get into it after I start. That didn’t happen this time. I had to force myself the whole way through. I struggled despite loving my subject. I got these wooden antelope from my great aunt after she passed away. They’re some of the few knick knacks I have in my home. The rest of my surfaces are mainly covered in houseplants.
So simple, but so satisfying to paint. This leaf is from my monstera adansonii plant. I really love it too. It’s really one of my favorite plants because it’s unique and grows like crazy. I may even need to do a whole series houseplants in the future.
Day 15 was a struggle. I had a headache that wouldn’t quit which really made it difficult to paint. The moth was a tiny one I found in my window sill, perfectly preserved in that position. It was blown away several times by my air conditioner while painting though so it’s a bit damaged now.
This painting started off completely different. I had bought a neat translucent purple bow to paint specifically on this day, but when it came down to it, it didn’t work. I struggled capture all of the intricate details of the layers and eventually wiped it off. Wiping off the painting left a nice purple tone to the panel so I decide to paint another flower. This one actually went really smoothly for once. Plus, I did something I don’t typically do, which is to leave a lot of the toned panel visible.
The final painting this week! I bought this fox skull last year toward the end of Inktober. This is the first time I’ve done anything art related with it though. I don’t know why not though. I love skulls. I think maybe I was waiting for Inktober to come around again. The plan is to paint it again then along with many other skulls new to my growing collection. See you all with the next batch of paintings next week.