random thoughts – Day 1,821 – (Wednesday) – progress

Wake up, drink coffee, Wordle, Words with Friends, Duolingo, read, review dances. Work, lunch, work. Supper, Netflix, Duolingo, read, Words with Friends, bed. Also, avoid the news. Currently, this is life. Today, the routine was embellished a bit.

After weeks of thinking about the four-inch square art piece for the 4x4 auction fundraiser, the percolation period was completed, and the work was finally started. There had been daily trips walking past the paints on the dining room table and countless hours spent contemplating the treatment of the edges of the canvas block. Pieces I’ve done before had either solid black edges or several colors pulled from the photo and applied with a sponge in a layered abstract fashion. Options for this year included one of the past methods or extending the photo colors to the sides of the canvas to continue the idea of the water and sky.

Initial steps.

This morning, I woke up and just like that (*snaps fingers on fully functional right hand for emphasis*), I knew what I wanted to do. And the broken wrist is mobile enough that I could actually begin the process. Tonight, blue paint was applied to the bottom edges to continue the water and orange went at the top for the sunrise. Then, a light gold layer was added over the colors. 

I had extra canvas blocks bought last year and painted another one for myself. There was also a flat canvas that I tested the paint on. Later, the flat canvas will be stenciled with some design and then it will live in the drawer with all the other stuff I make and have no idea what to do with.

The hard part tonight was toning down the bright turquoise and vivid orange paints. Thank goodness for the Internet, my go-to home-schooling program. Over the years, the Internet helped me learn how to start gas lawnmower, knit chain maille, learn specific belly dance moves, assemble my futon, transplant a Christmas cactus, and countless other things, domestic, artistic, and medical. Tonight’s education was toning down paint colors and a refresher on attaching the photo and the sealing coats that will follow.

Works in process.

The canvases still have a few more steps. The one for the auction has the photo attached, one coat of gloss sealer, and will get several more coats over the next few days. The canvas I’m keeping still needs a photo print, because for some crazy reason, even though I almost always order two prints of everything, I ordered only one of the sunrise in Playa del Carmen. Duh. I wonder what I was thinking that day.