Your Guess is as Gesso as Mine

So this is the Cutiefly trainer I drew a few weeks ago. I have one for next week and then maybe one more watercolor I’ll post. After that I’m not sure! Yikes! I have manga reviews to finish and packing to do. Anyway this was anther attempt at shading hair well (with higher contrast) but much like the Trapinch trainer last week it didn’t really go how I wanted. But then what does…

Anyway it came out cute I guess. I am wanting to paint a few tarot cards and in fact ordered a book about creating your own deck. Sometimes I’d like to draw tiny- like on top of old playing cards. Sometimes I think about buying tarot size blank cards and painting on them. It probably depends on the medium though. Acrylic will stick better to playing cards. I’m not sure about the blank cards as I have never used them. But watercolor might be too much… I could certainly try gouache. But honestly, I 1-cant’ find my gouache right now and 2-haven’t attempted any gouache work since The Prussian Blue Incident.

On the art topic- I just read about acrylic glazing medium and it sounds pretty good! A way to thin acrylics without getting the wateriness that can make them bead up on acrylics. I’m also thinking of buying some fluid acrylics for a smoother flatter surface to the painting. Though I have to say I stand by heavy bodied acrylics! I don’t mind some texture. It’s just that there is a limit to how much texture I want. I’m not a person who is going to paint on MDF board and sand the gesso until perfectly smooth. To be honest I am BARELY interested in sanding those birch boards I paint on! And if I’m going acrylic I am NOT gessoing anything. I WOULD for oils though! Or buy pre-gessoed boards. Oils HAVE to have a layer of something between them and the surface anyway, but for acrylic- who cares?? This article on Jackson’s was really helpful and I may go back and study more “Water-Mixable Oils: Vibrant Colours, Easy-Cleanup and They Needn’t be Sticky”.

Anyway half my art supplies are packed! I mentioned another watercolor I have to show you. It’s a tiny piece and I just wanted to try out my new Holbein colors! They arrives weeks ago and I haven’t had time to touch them. But I finally managed a little 4X6 painting to try them out. They are beautiful! The colors- the painting is OK. The new Holbein colors are: Mineral Violet, Lilac, Shell Pink and Bright Pink. I also used a little Turner paint as well, the Fresh Water and Wisteria. Then I had to fix an eraser smudge by going over it with colored pencil.