Missile Mill: Painting & Photography

Hm.  I didn’t get very far tonight.  Tried some spattering and speckling to try and get the background looking cardboardy.

The instructor showed me some techniques — this class is all about techniques — with tape to get clean edges: a razor blade, blue paint masking tape, liquid matte.  My edges still aren’t very clean.  I did it wrong.  I’ll get it next time around.

I’ve got a lot to learn, apparently.  I didn’t even know how to keep acrylic paint from drying out on the palette.  Thank goodness for acrylic glaze.  And using a hair dryer to dry the canvas between steps or layers.  Yes, I have a hair dryer.  What?  A bald dude can’t have a hair dryer?  It was Leika’s.  Although, drying a wet dog with a hair dryer was not as effective as I hoped it would be.

In the photo of the painting in progress that I’m about to put here, you’ll notice something.  My colors for the newspaper portion are too bright.  Too lively.  That part of the image is supposed to look flat, which is the opposite of what I always try to do when painting something.  So I’m not sure what to do about that.

I may end up using a yellowish glaze to get that faded newspaper feel.  Also, note how gray the newspaper is.  And how cool the color of the magazine ad with the diamond/titanium jewelry is.  Oy.

I’m definitely going to have to work on this at home.  Three hours of painting and that’s what I got done tonight other than the background.