Monday, April 02, 2007

Art Update

Well more art completed since last time. My picture of Kate Bush as a winter tree is finished and a new idea of an intermediate glazing layer has been added to the A.I. picture. More glazing layers can make a picture smoother, this is undoubted, although in my experience only about 3 transparent layers are needed, and down to just 2 (one opaque) if care is taken and the subject not too tiny and fiddly. Here I've added a very thin glaze over the underpainting in the same colours and this has smoothed things considerably (my classics master Dali doesn't recommend this). I've also used a medium that included a solver, neither Dali or I recommend this for a glaze, but here is was appropriate and any bleeding (and instability) effects are minimised due the both the bulky subject and the insubstantiality of the layer. Tomorrow I'm off to London to drop off two hopefuls to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. I'm not optimistic about the outcome and the trip will be awkward, but if I waited another year just in case I paint something I'm actually pleased with then I might end up waiting forever.