Lesson 1, 2008, 12" x 12", acrylic on canvas
The first thing is the grooves dividing the center panel into quadrants. I don’t know why I have never used my sculpting tools for this particular purpose. After all, that is what those tools were designed for. I have had them for years, knowing that someday they would come in handy. It surprises me that it has taken me so long to do the obvious with them. But the ease of using these tools with my chosen material was an exciting discovery. The second discovery was more accidental. It involves the circular “debossed” area in the lower left quadrant of the center panel. To achieve that effect, I usually employ a simple “reverse masking” technique, where I literally use circular paper masks. The problem becomes removing those masks once I have achieved the correct depth of material. I have developed my ways of course, but it is somewhat time-consuming, involving a compass blade and preservation of the center points which then leaves a very sharp-cut edge which I then have to soften with hand-applied material for a more natural quality. My new discovery involves using simple plastic containers, applied upside-down directly into the material, allowing the material to dry outside the plastic, but the container traps the material inside, keeping it wet. Once the outside is dry, the container is removed (revealing a glorious natural-looking rough edge!) and the still-wet material can be wiped away. This results in a much more natural-looking area of debossing. I am going to try it on my next painting.
