Do-over

Well, I got impatient with my own cowardice (and also the first one was pretty much unredeemable) and re-drew my girl, did another draw-check photo in Elements, and then did the wash. I risked the ink again, because I don't have anything else exactly that color, but this time I put a pre-wash of water on the paper and used much less ink, then spread it quickly, and it came out better. It's still a little blotchy here and there, but it's right at the edges, so I can crop that out in framing, if I ever do that.

I did this exact same technique of pre-washing the paper in acrylic inks for almost a year during and after Deb Weiers's class, so I don't know why it's suddenly being contrary, but there it is; things work, and then they don't. It may be also that there was too much erasing of the paper before I did the coat of ink? Or I got a bad batch of paper (which has happened more than once in my painting career). Anyway, this one is acceptable.

I'm really glad I persisted and did this over, because I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I sort of melded my own style with Angela's, so I copied, for instance, the sold shape of the hair rather than making individual strands, except for those signature pincurls above the temples, which I couldn't resist including. I didn't use any colored pencil like she did, but I did put in some sketchy outlining, use white gesso for the ruffle and highlights on the shirt, and drop in some white Signo glints in the eyes and here and there on the skin.

I may paint this one again sometime—the reference photo woman has these incredible bedroom eyes that I didn't quite capture here, and I'd like to give it another shot. But for now...done!

"Angelic"—pencil, acrylic ink, watercolors, Uniball pen, Signo gel pen, on 140-lb. Fluid watercolor paper, 12x16 inches.

Doubts, laziness, and superstition!

I decided I would do my own variation on this week's LFI lesson with Angela Kennedy (Angela's finished exercise, pictured, right). The first step was to make the base drawing; my reference photo person's head is at a somewhat difficult angle, so, after I drew it, I took a photo of the drawing, brought it into Photoshop Elements, and superimposed it at 70 percent opacity over the original photo, checking my accuracy (which wasn't bad, considering) and adjusting my drawing to match the photo more closely.

The next step was to put acrylic ink on the paper and then wash it down with water so that it would make a thin film of color over the entire image and background. Angela did a mix of burnt umber and black, but I wanted mine to be a slightly warmer sepia tone, so I went with the straight burnt umber. I don't know what happened; perhaps the ink had congealed a bit since I bought it a couple of years ago, because it was a little thick, and the color was pretty intense. I washed it, but had to use a lot of water to get it to the proper tone, and something happened that never has before—my Fluid paper didn't stand up to the wash!

The surface of the paper started to lift in little dots all over—it sort of pilled up like fabric that has been over-used—and also covered unevenly. So I'm sitting here waiting for the page to dry and shrink back to its original dimensions, and wondering if I'm going to have to start from scratch, i.e., do the drawing over again. And I find myself justifying why I should go ahead and use what I have instead of starting over!

"The speckles will give it an interesting texture."

"It will look better once it's dried."

"It's only an exercise, it doesn't have to be perfect."

It would make the most sense to start again, redoing the drawing and then using less ink and therefore less water, or maybe switching to paint instead of the obviously compromised ink for this undercoat; but I'm feeling doubtful that I can get the drawing right again. You would think that redoing one I had already done would mean that I would do a better job the second time, but I have a superstition that I'll never manage the same result twice, and also a reluctance to start over when I just want to move on with the rest of the process!

I'm going to let it dry and see what's what. So we may or may not see finished art today!