It happens every year: I burn my candle at both ends to finish grading, and then, right after, it is time to make Christmas happen at my house. But, before shopping and putting up the tree, I decided to get myself back on track in my studio.
It ended up taking me an hour just to get this blue undercoat done. The heavier canvas fooled me into thinking my first coat of gesso was enough. But, as soon as I brushed on the beautiful blue/purple I mixed as an undercoat, it soaked right through the canvas and faded before my eyes. That meant the gesso was too thin and was not creating enough of a barrier for the paint to sit on top of, so it is likely that all of my colors would soak in and be transparent. This was not a problem I was prepared to deal with for the whole duration of painting this piece. I'm no Helen Frankenthaler.
Since I already had some color on the canvas, I decided to try to add some gesso to it rather than just putting on a new white layer. I've never tinted the gesso before, but lots of painters do it. Another solution would have been to use a coat of gel medium before the gesso, but it tends to smooth out the canvas and I like more of a heavy texture to drag my brush against. We'll hope this step takes care of the problem.
It's probably not all that visible in this photo, but the basic structure of the painting is already there. Assuming the canvas is sealed enough now, the next step will be to draw the image in with chalk. Stay tuned!
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