This has been a bumpy ride for a painting. That’s a good thing. I like when things give me a little bit of a challenge. The frustration leads to growth. I have learned quite a bit from this piece.
Continuing from the last post, I layered book pages on top of the canvas and torn black paper. I did so at an angle to keep things looking dynamic. I then traced the projected image over the pasted pages in red so that I could see what I was working with. The text was somewhat disorienting, But I was pleased with the appearance. From here I painted in the true colors of the image I was working with on everything but the hand and the gas pump handle. It was striking to me, so I left it for the time being.
Now for the frustrating part. The black paper tore off very easily. The book pages were difficult in every respect. There was very little grip, the small pages kept the tear from flowing, and I was only able to tear the first layer. If I was able to tear more that a single layer, I would tear the black paper underneath as well. That meant I either tore away too little or too much. I stopped working on it for a few days to do some research on how to solve this problem.
I asked my boss at the sign shop if she had any ideas of what to do. Given she has worked with many kinds of materials both in cases of installing and removing, I figured she had something. She suggested I look into the different processes for removing wallpaper, specifically using a mixture of water and fabric softener. It made sense, though I don’t know who would have discovered this process. Paper often acts as a sort of fabric, so loosening it with fabric softener is part one. Most glue is water-soluble, so once the paper is more responsive to liquids the mixture can work away at the glue underneath. I decided I would give it a shot.
It was not easy, but the mixture worked. On the areas I had already torn away, the mixture allowed me to work away the paper more easily without getting rid of the black layer. The combination of glue, paper, fabric softener, and water created a flexible, plastic-like substance that sort of peeled away like hot vinyl. It took a lot longer to work through, but I was very pleased to have a reliable method for removing pasted paper. Once that part was complete, the painting had become chaotic. The layers were all visible sharp tears and it needed to be balanced.
The next step was to paint a little more on top of the chaos. I finally painted the glove its proper color, then the arm, and then the nozzle. I only painted portions of them so that the layers were still visible but gaps were bridged. I then added colors from the under painting to bring that forward once more, though in a much more understated way. The addition of the darker tones and colors helped to focus the painting, though it is still quite energetic. I added more white line work to again bring the layer forward. I added to the sky with blues and under painting violets, and did the same with the rest of the painting.
This painting is now complete to me… for now. I will let it sit so that I can stare at it and ponder, but I am moving on to another painting. The plan is to continue with this new style and try to develop it into a consistent practice. I think I will call this one Fuel.