Sloth – Work in Progress #7 (Painting)
Posted by rachelcreative on May 21, 2009
Work in progress.
Last time:
More (subtle) tweaks on the face and now he has some eyes. Started on a few of the lines too after applying an isolation coat over the canvas (which gives a bit glare on the picture).
see large
New commissioned painting of sloth.
40cm square box canvas.
My cat Flyman was on hand to assist if required. Wedged between me, with canvas on a board on my lap, and my paint/brushes/pallette resting on my latop.
Later I moved the laptop and the board with the pallette, rags and so on was at sofa cushion level. He enjoyed the extra space by dipping his ears dangerously into the pallette and stretching his way into paint covered paper towels. But he did look cute while he did it.
Nina said
what did you use for the isolation coat? Lookin’ good!
rachelcreative said
Thanks. I use acrylic medium at the moment Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish.
theaardvark said
I’m guessing the isolation coat stops the lines bleeding into the existing paint? He’s looking better everyday. Sharon changes her mind everyday about where he’s going to live.
rachelcreative said
An isolation coat is like a permanent protection coat for the paint underneath. So the paint and isolation coat are all dry before I paint on top of them.
At this stage it’s insurance. It means if I screw up it’s easier to remove the mistake (unless it’s properly dry). And if the mistake has dried a little bit I can scrub at it without damaging the paint underneath the isolation coat that I’m happy with.
I don’t know if this is The Proper Way To Do It but it works for me.
The line painting is the place where I if I mess up it’s really noticeable and really hard to fix once it’s dry as it’s such a bold mark. And it means things like eyes and mouth I can rework until I’m happy I’ve got the expression right.
I don’t much like this next stage of the work when I re-instate the lines. But once it’s done it’s a pretty rewarding feeling.
Maybe Sharon should wait to see it in real life before she makes a final decision. I can’t capture the colours properly on screen and I hope it’s even better in reality.
Mikki said
It’s so nice you’ve got Flyman to help you. Chimpy and Miscou always like to help when I’m working from home, “help” here being the cat word for “standing on my laptop” or “fighting”
Rachel M said
I can almost hear Mr Creative’s jealous comment on Flyman.
Ursula said
Rachel, I don’t know whether this will enhance your creative spirit but I’ll tell you anyway:
Apparently the good and great David Attenborough wouldn’t mind to be reincarnated as a sloth (source: one of yesterday’s broadsheets). As endorsements go not bad for the species. To think that I hadn’t even taken notice of sloths till you “drew” one to my attention!
U
Sam said
I love that sloth painting – I just love the way he looks out at you from the painting. I’d buy one!!