After a brief hiatus from larger scale traditional pieces while I focused on digital based work, oh a whim I decided to fix up this torn canvas.
The plan for this is to get to grips with using effects paint, in particular phosphorescent gel, maybe so metallic or iridescent acrylic paints.
Design wise I’m pulling inspiration from my past cosmic themed collections all of which was planned in the space of ten minutes one evening and I plan to allow it to evolve naturally and spontaneously.
This is just a completely private piece I’m working on just for fun which is a good job because quite frankly, the entire process of this piece was chaotic to begin with I wanted to rekindle that chaotic energy that led me to becoming an artist in the first place.
paints above:
pebeo colourless phosphorescent gel
So far I really dislike this and won’t be using it again or at least not on any professional intended pieces I create in the future. It’s consistency is quite possible the worst I’ve ever tried to work with over my while career but the novelty of it being glow in the dark is its redeeming factor. It is difficult to work with as it requires many, many coats to create the desired effect which creates a noticeably raised texture on the canvas. Getting the coats even enough for the texture of the strokes to not be apparent in the dark so this is definitely one to go back to the drawing board with for future work.
This paint is described as a “shimmering metallic paint” and while I’m yet to use this one outside of swatching it on some card my first impressions are good! I would say it’s more of a shimmer than a stereotypical metallic style paint though. The pigmentation and shimmer is opaque and intense although I have a feeling it will need a couple of coats on canvas. The shimmer is fine and high quality and the consistency seems easy enough to work with and overall I have high hopes for this one.
liquitex basics acrylic in mars black + titanium white
I normally use artist grade paint for the most part, with very few exceptions, however, I thought I would try a mid tier version to compare the quality and so far while it isn’t quite living up to artist’s quality it is a really great acrylic paint in its own right. The viscosity is quite hard to work with and it’s not quite as opaque as its professional competitors but is still a good quality student grade acrylic when compared to other brands. The drying time is a bit fast for my preference but not fast overall leaving enough time to prevent it completely drying on a palette but difficult to blend on canvas. It mixes well for larger scale block painting but it’s not great on its own for finer details and requires a medium to facilitate detailed work especially if you are used to oil paints or more fluid acrylics. Liquitex as a brand are extremely good and remain a staple for me and while the lower end of their paints, or the Liquitex Basics range is not necessarily always to my preference in terms of consistency and rather come as a hue instead of a genuine colour which really sets them apart as while the hues tend to be good at approximating that colour to keep the cost down there is that distinct difference nonetheless. The mask tones normally remain quite similar when compared to their professional range but when mixed with white, you really begin to tell the differences between the pigments.