I need a keeper

There is a meme of which I am particularly fond. I have it on a notebook as well as hung in my studio.

Today was all about the frustration, errors, and experimentation.

Mistake #1

I am on day three of a 4-day-weekend, and today my goal was to paint. But, well, I was a little grumpy, which is not my most creative mood. So, I decided that rather than actually painting, I would experiment.

Mistake #2

There is an image that I grabbed from my Facebook feed the other day without the least intention of painting. I just liked the placement of the horse’s legs, tail, and head. They screamed “attitude.”

I think this is a horse currently in training in the Sound Equine Options barn.

I thought one day I might collage the painting.

Mistake #3

So, today seemed like a good day.

I found a background that appealed to me (a failed ice painting from about four years ago).

I got out some marble tissue paper from Liz Walker‘s marbling class (2 year ago?) (P.S. Liz… I partially blame you.)

Mistake #4

And I started collaging the shape of the horse. Gosh, I wish I had taken some pictures.

Mistake #5

I got that done and it was okay. But it needed some ump. So, I decided to apply some gesso (Margaret Godfrey, I blame you for this part.)

Again, no pictures. I REALLY wish I had taken some.

Upon evaluation, it was okay, but it was sort of outline-y so I decided to get out my Gelli-plate (Ruth Armitage, I blame you now…)

What I ended up with, I liked. Maybe a little overworked, but if I had just stopped here, I feel like we could have moved on.

Mistake #6

But, I got a bright idea.

I decided to try to give the background a little oomph and mixed some darks.

Mistake #7… 8… 9…

That wasn’t quite right, so I decided to find my “unusual materials” box and try some metallic powder.

I couldn’t just stop while I was ahead, could I?

Mistake #10

With all my materials contaminated with silver…. stuff… I decided to see if I could actually figure out how this stuff is supposed to work. It’s really rather beguiling the way it twirls in water.

So, I got out a clean sheet of paper, grabbed the palette that needed cleaning now, and tried to apply some silver and color.

While some color might have stayed, if there is any metallic silver on here, I’ll eat my hat.  How does this stuff work?

It’s a mystery that’s going to have to be solved another day because frankly, I’m out.

3 Comments on “I need a keeper

  1. Haha! Good one. What a great play day! They might look diiferent to you in the morning!