I thought I was at the top of my game, making these neatly trimmed, smooth as skin, drum-tight canvases primed with Acrylic Gesso that you could bounce a dime off of. Then I learned (thanks, Painting Materials & Techniques I!) that Acrylic Gesso was only one of the endless material options that could be used as a ground! What had always been taught as the default, go-to option, was actually just one choice out of so, so many. Acrylic Gesso, Clear Gesso, Colored Gesso, Acrylic Matte Medium, Acrylic Gloss Medium, Traditional Gesso, Rabbit Skin Glue, PVA Size, Chalk Ground, White Chalk Oil Emulsion, Pigmented Chalk Oil Emulsion, Oil Ground... I'll stop there.
Read moreYour Math Teacher Wasn't Lying – additive and subtractive painting processes
When your math teacher said you’re going to need addition and subtraction in everything you do, he wasn’t lying. Painting is a process of what you add and subtract, and the result is just as much about what you didn’t do, what you removed, and what you left incomplete as it is about what you did do, what you added, and what you completed. We’re going to start with basic paint mixing techniques, and somehow end up creating a link between underpaintings and monotypes– positive space, negative space, additive painting, subtractive painting. Seurat, Vermeer and Degas will definitely be involved… perhaps a few others. Game on.
Read more