I don't have a problem with painting over a painting, especially if I'm not emotionally attached to the work anymore. This week, I "deconstructed" three of my wood panel works because they had yellowed over time. The yellowing was not a total surprise; I was forewarned that this could happen if painting medium was used as a final coat on a painting. You can especially see the yellowing effect in the work shown below. On the left is what the work looked like when I completed it a year ago. The photo on the right was taken yesterday.
I found out that storing the paintings in the dark most likely made the yellowing worse. Supposedly, extended exposure to sunlight helps bleach the yellowing factor of painting mediums. Hmm, I will test this out with one other painting that I have. Fortunately, I only poured painting medium on top of a select number of pieces, so it wasn't a huge loss of my time, creative energy, and resources.
To deconstruct these pieces, I have been using an xacto knife to scrape away the top surface. When pulling the top layers off of the cathedral painting, I rediscovered a simple line drawing that I had done on the wood panel (shown in right photo above). It's so common for artists to work over their drawings or paintings that it's easy to forget what lies underneath.
Here's a closer look at my "new" painting, Mist. After peeling away the top layer, I glued a segment of a drawing to the wood panel. (It's actually part of the same drawing shown on the other small wood panel.) There were cuts already made in the paper, and I liked how the textures of the wood showed through those open spaces. I painted on top of the watercolor and marker drawing with acrylic and ink. And while the acrylic was still wet, I took the end of my paintbrush to "carve" into the painting and reveal the bright colors underneath.
I just added it to my Etsy shop, so you can see more pictures of it here.
4 comments:
Oh, I'd love too see these panel paintings in person! It looks like there are so many tiny details that need to be seen up close!
I just bought 30 6x6" box panels. Imported them into Australia... And now of course I wish I'd bought them all in 8x8". Great planning!
These are so appealing with your attention to the smallest details of texture and colour.
Great technique and love the result!
The woody texture really suits your wonderful paintings.
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