Getting My Hands Dirty

In preparation for attacking this big white canvas I had to clear the studio of all the digital printing I've been doing for days. Once again I lost track of how many of each I printed, and came up short by 22. Those are printing right now. The rest are in a safe place.

It's a good thing because my first step in painting one of the grid series is throwing paint. Yes, literally. My preferred background color has always been quinacridone gold, and I'm using the very last little bit of it on this painting. The color is not being made anymore, and my stash is depleted. Nothing else (including Nickel Azo) I've found has come close to the color and staining abilities. Ah well.

An important lesson I learned earlier this year is to cover myself with liquid gloves. Really does a good job in protecting my skin from the paint that inevitably makes it way to anything uncovered. Yes, I should cover my hair, but I don't. I do lay newspaper down on the floor though, and that helps a lot with drips....because after the paint throwing comes the spray bottle!

Then I use water soluble crayons to write on the canvas. Sometimes prayers, sometimes things about the painting itself, sometimes numbers, just whatever comes into my head. I always say my mantra at this point, and often it goes on the canvas, too.

I'm happy to be painting. I've spent too many hours at this computer doing mockups for hotel rooms, and all this digital printing that's still going on. At least I'm down to one printer now, which frees up the other one to print photography for Texas Clinic. I hate to jinx it by saying this out loud, but I think I'm on schedule to meet all foreseeable deadlines!