Created specifically for ‘Against the Tide‘ at the Oxmarket Centre of Arts (June 13th to 25th) in Chichester. Acrylic on 10×10 deep edged canvas. Very nearly a ‘fail’ and abandoned, but I managed to pull it back.
‘Centric Diatom’
Illustrator - Designer - Maker
Creative + Passionate + Inspired
Lorrie Whittington is an illustrator, designer-maker, free spirit, chocolate eating geek, living in the heart of the Sussex countryside on the south coast of Britain.
She draws, paints, reads a lot, makes things with clay, likes scf-fi and hangs out with her daughter.
Well done for pulling it back, the colours are gorgeous. K x
Cheers Karen. Yep, it was very nearly a badun. I put fill in one of the segments, and tried something else with another. It looked awful. I was ready to just leave it. But, I left it for a day or two, then repainted the two segments and carried on with the plain ‘tone and shadow’ and decided to leave it simpler.
x
I would never have guessed that this one had caused so much trouble!
I’m so glad you managed to rescue it because it’s absolutely gorgeous. x
Thank you Maisy. Yep, nearly had a little sob. I was sooo despondent as I had already put a lot of work into it. But still, just left it for a bit and then looked again. I don’t think I have ever had to give up on a piece of work, unless I have damaged it. xx
Super photographs, your blends look flawless. I know exactly what you mean about it being difficult to create blends with acrylic paint on canvas. I’m wondering if you used any kind of medium?
Thank you Claire.
Actually, no. A couple of years ago, I bought a retarder, but have never used it. I have found a ‘knack’ or method that seems to work. It’s part blending on the canvas for the first layer, and then building up ‘wash’ layers in the same way you would with a watercolour piece. Not easy to do, as obviously the paint doesn’t bleed in the same way, but..it is possible by being deft and quick to achieve a reasonable result.
It looks like your method works really well. I recently bought some flow enhancer and slow drying gel to try. My last painting was in oils but then I was feeling frustrated by the length of time it was taking to dry!
I love, love, love painting in oils, because to be honest, I prefer to blend on the canvas (one of the reasons I love crayons and chalks…which reminds me ;)). But, my workroom is in my family home and the same landing as the bedrooms, and I have an issue with the smell and the turps etc. Not really safe and healthy as my six year old is nearby most of the time. And yes, as you say…the drying time can be irksome sometimes.
On the subject of blending using acrylic paint. You may want to check out an artist friend of mine, who does a lot of still life work, and is very, very good at this. Her name is Cat Salter.
I am linking her facebook page, as she hasn’t updated her blog or site lately. http://www.facebook.com/CatSalterART
Love it! At first it says to me “eye” and then “flower” 🙂 Loving the colours.
Thank you Nikki. Actually, a Centric Diatom is a microscopic marine creature or cell. I have loads of pics of them, books and cards. I love them.