Molasses

"Molasses" (pastel, 12 inch circle)  $575

Finally, the last of my 12" circles. This one gave me some trouble in the first attempt and got horribly overworked. I was disgusted and wiped it back down to the primer and waited a few days for the second attempt.
Molasses will be the eighth 12" circle profile to balance the "circles" wall of my show Beauty of the Beast at the Rockport Center for the Arts in Rockport, TX. Reception and Gallery Talk is May 16 at 4:30.

I clamped down on my ego and decided to post the first attempt along with the second attempt:

For those of you new to my method, this is 3 layers of the gold primer, brushed onto my favorite support, Gatorboard. This is Quiacridone Nickel Azo Gold fluid acrylic color mixed into Golden (brand) Fine Pumice Gel. The gel is clear, so the color mixture is semi-transparent, and gets darker on each application.

 To finish the value-scaled underpainting, I useArt Spectrum (brand) Pastel Primer in the terra cotta color. I lay it into the darkest areas, then scrub and dry-brush it into the medium values of the gold to continue the value scale and add more depth. (I use a square of sponge as a brush to apply the primers.)
Then comes the pastel...

 Here's where it stared to go awry. My shadow values were off and I found myself beginning to layer darker values over slightly lighter values.

 Then I was loosing the nice warm underpainting completely and beginning to get mud from the repeated layering.
Basically, I was having a bad day!
So, I left it, and contemplated what other young ranch animal I could use to replace this one's spot on the wall. But, when I came back a couple days later, I unemotionally wiped the whole thing back down to the primer with a stiff brush and a wet rag, and started again. Thankfully, these types of failures don't happen very often any more. But it's a nice feeling when I can push past and rise above it and save the underpainting. (This is also one reason I love these primers so much!!)

 I did add another layer of the transparent gold primer after my wipe off, because such a vigorous scrubbing does reduce the 'tooth' a bit.
Then... on to the re-paint!

 Being careful to use a light touch, and work in an orderly, dark-to-light formula.

 OK! All my darks were in before I started pulling up the mediums and lights throughout...

 Gently... gently... to the finish!

Yay! Saved! Thanks for watching, please share!

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