Monday, October 23, 2006

Ready For the Color



Light on Orange Barn, 2006, Oil on Panel, 16x20






Well, today is the big day. The big panels have gotten their red glaze and today I will be applying the next layer of color. Thanks again to Steven LaRose who suggested I try a Purdy house painting brush. I did and it was great for the glaze, it did leave some brush strokes but with a bit of finesse I was able to get rid of those and get the smooth look that I prefer. I have several of those brushes now in different sizes, plus my very expensive sable brush so I am feeling pretty good about the brush situation. I am a bit concerned about having enough light to work under though. So far I have been doing layers that I don't necessarily need good lighting for. But when I do the full color the light is pretty important. I do not have very good natural light in my studio and setting up my work lights over such large panels will be tricky. If I am freaking out tomorrow, you'll know that the lighting is what did me in.

So wish me luck, no wait, don't do that it, it could jinx me. Positive thoughts would be ok but we all know that has the power to create a jinx too if you're not careful. Maybe just come back tomorrow to see what happened. That would be good.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tracy---I'm very excited to see the development of these big panels. I'm loving the one on the left already!

Lisa Call said...

Looks like you scared everyone away from commenting today for fear of jinxing you! But I figure the day is over so I can say how interesting it is to see these all red and I'm looking forward to seeing what today brought on.

tlwest said...

you have nothing to worry about --- heck what did all those old masters use? candle light, light coming from one window... changing light of plein air I get aggravated because- I paint something according to quote "perfect lighting conditions" and then in the real world-paintings almost always get less than perfect places to be viewed and some downright awful! Love Love Red!

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks Ann, I'll be putting some pictures up today, the one on the left did turn out quite nicely.

Lisa, I think I did scare everyone away! How thoughtful that no one wanted to jinx me!!

Thanks, Terri, you are right about the light. Normally my lighting is pretty insufficient, but it's what I am used to working with, but I managed to rig up something similar.