[Stephen]

Thanks George. I am open-mindedly exploring everything. I have no real process, but I am trying to discover and improve as I go along and develop one.

So far, learning to paint has meant exploring different effects, and if I find something that I think looks good, in watercolor I can use the lac varnish to fix it in place so I can try different approaches on the rest of the piece.

One example: Recently, I was painting on a cotton rag handmade paper.. no idea how it would respond to the watercolor, or the charcoal I planned on using with it. I developed a layout organically and was happily surprised how it flowed and looked. I was completely blind in this undertaking: I had never painted on that material before, have painted maybe 3 small things watercolor in total, and also trying out many of my new NP watercolors for the first time as well. The composition was intended to have a central figure (a portrait- though the specifics of the pose/expression/tone were not decided yet), but I was happy with what I had otherwise, so I could put the fixative on there and then paint on a few different iterations of a portrait until I found something that felt best. I’m still learning the absolute basics and seeing what I can do with each technique as I try/encounter them.

Lifting watercolor also has been a mixed-results bag for me so far. Individual strokes, yes, but in a macro sense not so much, as I like the ability to develop a larger element before deciding that I want to go another route. The fixative has allowed me to get back to more of a base while exploring these options. I’m sure there are many more efficient ways of accomplishing what I am doing, but in my bubble, at least I’m making progress.

As for oil, I have painted dozens of paintings recently using an acrylic underpainting, and then painting oil layers on top, to achieve various effects. Functionally, If I don’t like what I’ve painted in oil, I can scrape it off it is relatively fresh, or in the more extreme case, I can use a solvent and go back to the underpainting. I don’t know how to achieve many effects, so I’m exploring that constantly. I have started moving away from that acrylic/oil workflow, limiting solvents for multiple reasons, and finding new ways to achieve what I’m already able to do (functionally) with the setup I had, but also explore new oil-based possibilities (including the depth and glazing effects you were mentioning).

I’m afraid I don’t know what I don’t know, but for now I’m trying to look at that situation as both a weakness and a strength. I am trying to study and incorporate your research and information on PBP and NP to make the best and most informed decisions with each new step forward. It might just be my personal, inefficient method of working/exploration, and that is what needs to be refined, not new tools. If nobody needs such a thing as an isolation layer in their oil paintings, then for me to look for it means I’m either doing something novel (almost certainly not), or I’m not doing things the right way. I’m ok asking the question though, since I’m not ashamed of showing my inexperience. : – )

thanks to you all for your help and advice

-Stephen

[Stephen]

Thank you sir. I’m looking forward to that!

A follow up question – is there any advantage to putting some layers of ground (in this case, acrylic “gesso”) on the back of the canvas to help its stability and general durability? If so, I could start applying the same treatments front and back as a matter of procedure now before I go any further.

[Stephen]

Thank you, Jan, those are excellent suggestions. Do you have an associated suggestion for how and where to attach these to the back? Will they be screwed to the wood stretchers? In sealed plastic? Is there some standardized way to attach this certificate/photo/metadata so that it is durable and also a best practice?

-Stephen