Project: Oil Tank 3.0

Project: Oil Tank 1.0
Project: Oil Tank 2.0
Project: Oil Tank 4.0

I was able to paint some yesterday but the rains started in the afternoon and they're predicted to continue through the week.

Color science is very complicated and I won't even pretend to know much about it. If I did know more, I might be more comfortable using color. I do know that the color you see on your computer screen or in a projected image is entirely different than color you get in paint or color pencils. I bring this up because my design was created on the computer. A computer monitor creates color using light. Color on paper is created by mixing ink pigment. That's why your printouts don't look like what you see on the computer monitor. These are two different color sciences.

Color palette for the front of the tank.

Color palette for the side of the tank.

Here are the "color swatches" for my design. Even these don't look totally accurate. That taupe color in the Front swatch (RGB 139, 104, 76) is really a red mauve and the black in the Side swatch (RGB 0,0,0) is kind of dark brown. Color is tricky.

The night I traced the areas for the red mauve color, I started out using a red based prisma color but, at night, I couldn't see my pencil marks so I couldn't tell where I was at. I quickly had to switch to a blue prisma pencil that I could see in the projection. When I started painting the yellow, the brush sometimes picked up the blue prisma color and blended into the yellow making green. This is something I thought might happen but, there's so little blue getting mixed in, I don't think it'll be a problem with a couple more coats of yellow.

I was also worried about the prisma colors creating a resist to the acrylic, sort of like trying to paint on waxed paper. There's been little trouble with this except for the yellow prisma color. It's interesting that the yellow pigment created more of a resist than white, blue or red.

The paint is going on kind of thin. Since the background is black, the paint is somewhat transparent, so, I'll need to put on two or more coats to get the colors opaque. My original plan was to completely finish all the white and then move on to the next lightest shade and completely finish it. This became kind of boring so then I switched to covering up all my trace lines with the appropriate color.

This turns out to serve second purpose. Getting my design traced using the paint will help preserve the design. I have it covered in plastic and I don't think the prisma colors will wash off easily but with seven days of rain I didn't want to take any chances. Even if the tank just ended up with splatters of dirt and mud, it would be impossible to get off without ruining the prisma color lines.

Tracing in all the colors also showed me how complicated my design is. Looking at a yellow line I'd know that either to the right or the left of that line is suppose to be painted yellow but the other side is suppose to be painted mauve. But which side? I'd have to trace the yellow line back or check the print out of my design to figure out which.

During the rainy days to come I'll probably read my backlog of library books (all due 9/22), write to my blog, and put together the curriculum for my PowerPoint and Word classes. I also need a new art project after this one!

The next step is to order the laquer sealer, mix the colors for the frog and then paint, paint, paint.

(As I write this I'm enjoying a cup of Iced Hazelnut coffee from McDonalds.)

Project: Oil Tank 1.0
Project: Oil Tank 2.0
Project: Oil Tank 4.0

At the end of week 3

MORE ON MIXING PAINT
I took the RGB values (the way color is formulated with light) from my computer design and tried to get a CMYK color (the way color is formulated with pigment) to match it as closely as possible (To do this I used this tool by Peter Forret). I thought the CMYK would help me with mixing the paint. For instance, the yellow color (CMYK 0, 0, 17, 0) has 0 Cyan (blue), 0 Magenta (red), 17 Yellow, and 0 blacK. Since the color is a tint of yellow I figured it was 17 parts yellow and 83 parts white. This theory worked o.k. with the first two color mixes but was way off when I mixed the red mauve (CMYK 49, 51, 78, 2). I did not need 49 parts blue! I ended up adding tons of red and some more yellow to get the shade right. Oh, well, it was an interesting experiment. I was just glad I got the colors mixed fairly easily in the end.

Some other helpful web sites regarding color charts and colors for web sites, try these:
HYPE'S Color Specifier
VisiBone's free color services (scroll to the bottom of their home page)

My model.

Project: Oil Tank 2.0

Project: Oil Tank 1.0
Project: Oil Tank 3.0
Project: Oil Tank 4.0

Most of my crazy projects are done for two reasons: to do something fun and to learn by doing something totally new and experimental. There's been a lot to learn from my oil tank project.

This past week I got the entire design traced onto the tank and started painting.

First, I altered the colors in the design. When I tested the projection of the design against the tank, it was hard to distinguish the white areas from the pale yellow so I change white to blue.

It only took two nights to trace the design: one night to trace the end design and one night to trace the front design. Our friend, TJ, owns an A/V company and he generously gave me a long term loan of one of his projectors: a Panasonic PT-LC76U LCD. I had to do all the tracing after sunset and I only had one shot to get the design done. There was no way to do part of the dog's face and then come back and finish it on another night - it would be impossible to realign the projector exactly where it was the night before. The largest part of the design took me a little over two hours to trace. The very exciting 21 second video below is me tracing the end design and swatting away bugs attracted to the light.



I wasn't quite sure what type of pen or pencil was going to write effectively on the tank. It could be permanent as long as the acrylic paints would completely cover it. It couldn't be too sensitive because it would probably take me a couple of weeks to paint the whole design so it needed to hold up to the afternoon sun. I have the tank covered in plastic so hopefully it won't get wet. By accident, I discovered the most effective drawing tool was Prisma color pencils. (See below for more details on the pens I tested.)

Now that the design was on the tank, I could work in the day time when there were fewer bugs!

To save money I bought only white, red, yellow and blue acrylic paint (I already had black). Even though my design only has seven colors, at around $9 a tube, it was going to cost a lot so I'm going to see how difficult it's going to be to mix my own colors. Buying the four colors in a set was like getting one tube free.

I start by painting the lightest color first. The first day I painted I got most of the white finished.

Next I will need to mix the remaining paint colors and store in air tight containers.

Stay tuned for updates on this project.

(As I write this I'm enjoying a warm Duncan Hines Peanut Butter Cup Candy Shop Brownies and a side of Breyers All Natural Homemade Vanilla ice cream and a bottle of Le Bleu water.)

Project: Oil Tank 1.0
Project: Oil Tank 3.0
Project: Oil Tank 4.0

DESIGN IN CORELDRAW

I created the original design for Art Unleashed 2006. Here is what I remember, step-by-step, of that process from two years ago using the CorelDraw Graphics Suite software.

1. Snap several pictures of your dog until I find the one you want to work with.


2. Upload the pictures to your computer.


3. Open a new document in CorelDraw.


4. Select Import under the File menu and import the picture.


5. Double click on the picture to open it in Corel PhotoPaint.


6. First, I cut out the image of Willa (cutting out all the background) using the Cutout Lab under the Image menu. Cutout Lab works best if you are zoomed in tight on your image, especially if you're dealing with hair or any fine textures. I made my nib size at least 15 and then traced around Willa's head. (Click image to enlarge.)


7. When finished tracing, click Ok. The Cutout Lab window will close and the traced image, minus the background, will appear.

8. Fix any red eye, if you have any.


9. Save the cutout and close Corel PhotoPaint. The cutout should now appear back in CorelDraw.


10. Next I did a PowerTRACE. Right click on the image and select Trace Bitmap/Low Quality Image. There are several options to choose from here. You need to decide how much detail you want in the traced image and how many colors you want to use (I used 5). You just have to play with this.
    


11. Don't forget to save your work.

PROJECTION ISSUES

• The design is very complicated so I need to project it onto the side of the tank and trace it. My friend Erin asked me if I was going to use a tracer projector. I didn't even know these existed but, sure enough, you can buy a simplified projection system for enlarging and projecting. She said she got hers for about $30. I found some on DickBlick but you could also use the weekly A.C. Moore 40% off coupon to get one.


• The initial color of the tank was gray. The background color of my design is black. What I had to test first was whether my design would project onto a black surface. When it comes to color and light, I know a lot less than color in print. While the tank was still gray, I projected my design outside onto a piece of black cardboard. The design showed up clear as a bell. This was great news because it meant that I could paint the black background before starting the design not after it was finished which would be much more tedious.
  


• It would be even more impossible to trace part of the design then set up the projector the next night and line it up to what had already been done. Projection is way too sensitive for that (zoom, focus, tilt, horizontal level, etc.), not to mention positioning the image source in the exact same spot as well. Even while I was tracing the design, I noticed it would creep a little. How and why is still a mystery to me.

PENCIL TEST

I tested several writing implements to see which would:

1. semi-permanent to permanent
2. not be affected by heat
3. not be easily rubbed off
4. covered over easily with acrylic paint

Here's how the test went:

• Sharpie Metallic, silver- Works great but the tip is too broad and there aren't enough colors.
  
• Sharpie Poster Paint, white - Worked great but the only store where I knew they were sold has gone out of business.
  
• DecoColor Opaque Paint Marker (extra fine tip), silver - Difficult to work with; expensive for this kind of use.
  
• Conte Pastel pencil, white - Too delicate; easy to rub off.
  
• Stabilo All, orange, yellow, green, red - More brittle than I expected. Worked better than anything else but I only had three colors.
  

The Winner - Prisma color pencils
Not too soft, lots of colors, and I can sharpen them to as fine a point as I want.


PAINT


This set comes with a color wheel poster with instructions on how to mix paints.

Project: Oil Tank 1.0

Project: Oil Tank 2.0
Project: Oil Tank 3.0
Project: Oil Tank 40

You've heard the phrase "putting lipstick on a cow?" Well, that's kind of like my current project.

Last year when the nights were beginning to get really nippy, we scheduled to have our heating oil tank filled. When I got home that day I knew something was terribly wrong. The air outside wreaked of heating oil and inside the house was just as bad. It turns out that our oil tank was too old to handle the weight of 240 gallons of heating oil and sprung a tiny leak. This is the hard way to find out that your heating oil tank needs to be replaced.

The old tank was in our basement which caused the whole house to smell. The new tank is installed outside to avoid this kind of problem. After installation, we were informed that the tank had a primer on it but would need to be painted within a year to ensure longevity. Paint, you say? Sounds like a canvas to me.

I immediately hatched a plan to paint a mural on the oil tank. I just love this idea of private graffiti.

Since the tank sat for almost a whole year before I started the project, it had already developed some rust. First step, sand away the rust with a wire brush and some medium grade steel wool pads.

The next step was to spray Rust-oleum Professional Gray Primer on all the scoured places.

The background color of my mural is black so I put one coat on the entire tank using a roller and paint brush of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior Satin Enamel that Home Depot mixed to a shade of Lamp Black.

Next I will need to trace my design onto the tank using a projector. This will be followed by painting the design with artist acrylics, and then sealing it with lacquer.

Stay tuned for updates on this project. Currently it's raining.

(As I write this I'm enjoying a bowl of Ben & Jerry's new flavor, Imagine Whirled Peace, and a cup of Krankies Decaf Costa Rica Cafe Vida.)

Project: Oil Tank 2.0
Project: Oil Tank 3.0
Project: Oil Tank 4.0

Free Stock Photos - Respect Copyright

I agree with Napolean Dynamite's brother, Kip, "I love technology." The majority of my work, play and volunteer work is done using a computer.

One of the things I need to hunt down frequently are photos. Typically since these are for my own personal use or for a charitable organization, I need to find things that are free. But just because it's on the internet DOES NOT MEAN IT'S FREE.

I am a big respector of copyright so I've done a lot of research to find true, free stock photography. Finding them can be confusing because there's also Royalty-free photography. Very simplistically, there have three levels of obtaining photography:

Rights managed has the tightest restrictions. The purchase agreement is very specific about how many times you can use the photo, what size it can be, etc. Basically, you pay for every instance you use the photo. For example, you can purchase the photo of a girl eating ice cream to use on the cover of your newsletter but you can't turn around and also use it in your logo, on your letterhead and on your web site unless you paid for those uses.

Royalty-free photos must be purchased but there are typically no restrictions on how many times you can use it. This means that you can use the same image in newsletters, brochures, business cards, letterhead, web sites, etc.

Free photos are free of charge but that does not mean they are free of use restrictions. Some don't allow use in mass produced marketing mailers, others restrict you to personal uses only.

No matter which you use, each stock company has their own use policy. Some want credit in your publication. Almost all of them restrict the images from being used in political material or in an offensive way. None of them allow you to resell the images. Be sure to read the fine print. It's tedious but it's your responsibility to respect other's work.

In the right hand margin I have added a list of links to Free photo stock sites. If you have any favorites, PLEASE, send me your links.

Tools: blending stub

Do you remember having blending stumps in drawing class?

These are just tight rolls of paper in varying shapes and sizes used for blending, smearing or removing graphite or charcoal. I pulled one of these out of my tool kit the other day to "erase" the charcoal pencil I'm using to draw on SAM. Works great.

Electrical Tape

Up one of the legs I had this idea to do candy cane stripes. I was going to do one in OLA green and one red. But how am I going to get these stripes mapped out on the leg?


I pulled out some electrical tape my friend Erin sent me for some collage fun. This worked pretty good. It stretched, turned and pulled up easily. I wasn't worried about getting the lines exact but I wanted to make sure that the idea of "candy cane" was conveyed. After I got the tape where I wanted, I marked it with my soft charcoal pencil. Not bad. But now I'm questioning the whole idea of the stripes. For some reason they just hit me wrong. Hmm?

I don't know how far other artists have gotten but I'm noticing a couple of challenges.


SAM is standing up on my old drafting table. This is almost a perfect height. I can work sitting in my desk chair or standing. At other times, I lay him on his side. Even though there are towels covering the table, SAM is getting nicked! While I'm drawing, I'll rotate SAM around. The towel helps me do the rotatiing but then it will expose the edges of the table. The next time I rotate, his ear or leg will catch the edge of the table and scratch my nice iridescent finish. More towels?

I started by painting down one side of the torso and then moved to each leg. Boy, are these challenging! I don't know whether to work with the dog upside down or me! I haven't come up with a safe, stable way yet to work with SAM upside down. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. My Geek suggested a large box full of bubble wrap. A good idea but I don't have a box so I haven't tested this out. My friend Sue suggested pillows. They might work in the box if I covered them with bubble wrap.

Paint Brushes

After my first paint session I knew something very clearly. My brushes were too big! Here's another lesson I'm learning due to my inexperience.

The brushes I got at Mona Lisa are very nice. I got Silver Ruby Satin and W&N Galeria. I got a variety: round for detail work, flat for filling in large areas and filbert for all those curves. My design consists of a huge variety of hearts of varying sizes and shapes. I started with one of the three largest.

I kept thinking, big project, big tools. Very few of the hearts are completely solid, though, so I will never need large brushes for filling in large areas. I need brushes for drawing lots of lines.

I was able to return the two largest brushes and bought eight smaller ones ranging from 2 - 6 in flat and filbert. I bought some cheaper brushes, Royal soft grip, with shorter handles so that I would have more options.

Sketching

I'm grabbing moments here and there to at least sketch my design on SAM, even if I don't have time to paint. My Geek is improving but he is still weak. Those of you other poor souls who have been hit by the flu this season know that it takes WEEKS to recover from. My goal now is to not come down with it myself.

Sketching with the soft grey charcoal pencil is still working well. I can rub it off with my hand or a dry towel. You can still see faint marks from this, though. If I really need to "erase" and start over, I use a wet towel and let it dry thoroughly. That gets rid of it almost completely.

I don't know if any of the rest of you are experiencing difficulties translating your design from 2D to 3D. My design is unique over every inch - there is no repeats in the pattern. So there are areas - inside the legs, on the belly, top of the head, down the back - that don't have a completed design. I even find myself looking at my original design for the legs and wondering, "Now what was I thinking when I did this?" Sometimes I'm just wondering, in general, "What was I thinking!?"

Sketching Implements

Every step I take in this project is new territory for me simply because I have worked so little with acrylics. My next step was to sketch a portion of my design on the form which has 2 coats of iridescent acrylic on it.

I thought the plastic base of acrylics would make graphite sit right on top of it, so much so, that it would wipe right off with the heal of my hand. I thought it would be so temporary that I couldn't sketch any more than I was actually able to paint in the same day. Again, I'm wrong. I drew a 2 inch line with a 2B woodless pencil and wiped. Still there. Then I erased. It was mostly gone but I could still see it! The base coat is not glass smooth but finely textured. The grooves are holding on to the graphite. Well, this isn't going to work.

Next I tried the "dreamy" Stabilo All purpose Aquarellable pencils I bought at Mona Lisa. Pretty much the same problem. They rubbed off really well from a plastic storage container but the surface finish of SAM was too coarse.

This made me realize something new. This base coat of iridescent white is suppose to show through the "holes" of my design. So whatever I use to sketch with has to come off completely or be covered with the design. If not, it'll ruin my crisp, white base and touch ups won't be pretty or fun to do.

O.k. Something softer. Something softer. I found an old Swan Carb-Othello light grey pastel pencil. It did exactly what I had expected the graphite pencil to do: it sketched lightly on the surface and rubbed off with the heal of my hand. If I applied too much pressure, it would leave pastel in the grooves but this was very easy to control. After I started painting, I'm glad that I hadn't found and tried my black pastel pencil first. This would have surely been picked up by the paint and affected the color.

2 Coats: It Does A Body Good

I've put on two coats of the iridescent white acrylic. As you can see, it's an improvement. The picture actually makes it looked more streaked than it really is. I don't know which did the trick: the utility brush, putting the paint on thick, or the second coat. I actually think it was all three. Anyway, it's a huge relief and now I can get on with sketching and painting the actual design.

I also realized that I am not going to get the glassy smooth, autobody finish I saw in my head. Acrylic paint has body. It's the nature of acrylic to be affected by the tools you use to manipulate it. I'm sure you can get a smoother finish, but I don't have the time or the experience in this project to accomplish that.


Isn't he cute?

Streaks in the Base Coat

After putting on one coat of gesso, I was ready to apply the GOLDEN iridescent pearl white acrylic. I'd no idea what brush to use. My guess was at least a 1.5 inch brush but how high quality does this brush have to be. To get a really smooth finish, with as few brush strokes as possible, I was afraid I might have to spend $30 or more. I thought an alternative might be to get a high quality interior paint brush from a home improvement store. I purchased a Performance Select; it had the softest bristles. They still seemed thick and plastic but it was less than $10 so maybe I'd get lucky.

I didn't.


There are terrible streaks, obvious brush strokes and you can definitely see the gesso underneath. Not very iridescent. Did I put it on too thin? I used a wet brush but I didn't add water to the paint. Does it need another coat? The brief note from Christine at Cowpainters indicated it only takes about 2 oz. Was the brush too industrial? I don't know. My inexperience with painting (except for my kitchen) and acrylics is showing.

Believe it or not, I loaded SAM up in the car and hauled him over to Mona Lisa to ask Larry's advice. He was great. He recommended an inexpensive goat hair utility brush. He said the paint needed to go on thick with a dry brush. I'll give that a whirl. If it doesn't work, at least I didn't spend a lot of money. (My friend, Sue, who has painted a lot more than me, got a peak at SAM when he was in the car and she came to the same conclusion - wrong brush.)

Some of you may have deduced that I tend to be on the cheap side. I prefer penny pincher. My Geek says, this can cost you more in the long run. At other times, it can result in innovative solutions to problems.


I have two coats of gesso on the wood base. I would like to put on another but I'm having trouble with my gesso - it's full of clumps. I don't know if this is just the nature of the beast or an indication that it's old. Being too frugal (cough-she's cheap-cough) to throw out what I have, I grabbed a fine mesh strainer out of the kitchen and strained it right into my paint cup. Worked like a charm.

A Fist Fulla Dollars

Most of the trips I make to Mona Lisa Art Supply are to browse and dream but never to buy. Tis the life of a poor artist. So to walk into Mona Lisa this past weekend with the stipend that FHS gave the artists was a thrill! After putting the paints I knew I had to have in my shopping basket, I started to peruse the brushes. I admit, I caressed and even pawed them, but with great respect. I made my final decision for 8 new brushes.

I hadn't tested the painted surface of the dog, yet, to see what instrument to use to transfer my design with. I assumed that a soft graphite pencil would work but would probably rub off easily. I also wondered if a wax pencil of some kind would be less delicate but just as easy to rub off.

I discovered a dreamy selection of red, yellow, green and orange Stabilo pencils. The one thing I may love more than paper - PENCILS! (Running a heated third are rulers. Strange, huh?)

The spending trip was short but sweet. Somewhat like that Candyland room in the Wonka factory where everything was eatable. They didn't get to spend nearly enough time in that room but I bet it was deliciously unforgettable.

Pickup & Paint

This morning, when I had coffee with my friend, Sue, the weather was cold and icey. She asked me if it was a good omen. I said, "Yes! Definately."

My Geek took me to the dock behind the Pet Supplies Plus to pick up SAM. It had started snowing by now. Stephanie and the crew of volunteers were just unpacking the forms. They were beautiful. I was so excited to finally get my hands on one. They are a lot lighter than I expected. I can pick one up by myself.

The rain is mixed with ice and snow.


Of course, Willa was frightened of this strange new addition. We had to coax her into the same room with us and the form. She spent a lot of time sniffing him. My
Geek believes she recognizes it as a dog but can't figure out the strange scents.

I wanted to get some pictures made before I started painting. It was so strange, Willa kept nosing in next to me. It was almost as if she was jealous.

Some wonderful platforms were made and donated to FHS. Since I was going to paint mine white I wanted to prime it with gesso first. I can be obsessive so I put in some wood fill around the molding and in the nail holes. You know those fake credit cards you get in the mail with credit applications? Those make great tools. They scrap, smear and apply and then you can throw them away.

I started by putting a coat of my iridescent pearl directly on the form. I didn't like it. There were a few dark marks on the form and they were showing through. I stopped and put on a coat of gesso. It covered up all of those marks really well. From what I understand, no additional priming is needed. If anybody knows differently, let me know.
Now I can put on my pearl. And the lady at CowPainters was right - it is going to take less than 2 oz. to cover the form.
Tomorrow I go shopping for the rest of my supplies - paints, brushes and a wax pencil.

Oh Yea, The Paint!

I know. I should have taken care of this already but I haven't ordered my paints yet.

I haven't gone back on my word. I am getting almost everything at my local store, Mona Lisa. But they don't carry the Golden Iridescent Pearl that I'm using for the base and the Lascaux UV-1 Gloss Varnish. The very first thing I will do to SAM (the form) is put on the base coat of Iridescent Pearl. So you would have though I would have ordered it by now. Procrastination. Scatter brained. I'm becoming more like an artist everyday.

My first problem is that I have no idea how much paint to buy. I'm guessing but I think it's going to take a lot. And I also have to paint the base. DickBlick is out of the 32 oz. jar at $51.00. That puts me ordering four of the 8 oz. jars at $16.00 each! With shipping I'm at $90. What am I going to do?

The first thing that comes to mind in my panic is to look at ordering somewhere else. Sure enough, I find the 32 oz. jar on JerrysArtarama. I don't like this web site but at least it has my paint - I think. It's subtle, I know, but the Iridescent Pearl comes in Fine or Coarse. I want Fine. Jerrys site doesn't specify! Why wouldn't it specify! I mean, I would think that would be important.

O.k. Calm down. What if I really don't need 32 oz. Or what if I need 100! This is what I really need to know.

I called and blew off some steam with My Geek. What a great listener!

I think I need to contact Cowpainters. Maybe they can help. They've been making these forms for 7 years. Surely this question has come up.

I e-mailed them (my favorite form of communication) at mailto:info@cowpainters.com. I hoped I would hear from them today. It just more than an hour later, I got this:

Rule of thumb is that it takes a lot less paint than you'd probably think
when you're looking at the form. We'd say one 2oz. tube of one color will
cover Buddy.

Let us know if you need anything else!

All the best,
Christine

Can you believe this!? And I was going to buy 32 oz.! You guys probaby already had this part figured out. But, secretly, for the rest of you, there we are. I won't tell if you won't.

Playing with Color & Paints

This weekend it was time to play with paints. I'm not great with colors. It may be the reason I like pen&ink. I don't know. If I had the chance to study art in school, I would just eat up a class on color. I mean, it's really science, when you get down to it. That's my schtick.

I've been coloring my design using the luscious Prismacolors. My palette is Chartrouse, Process Red, Yellowed Orange, and Crimson Red. It was time, though, to go to Mona Lisa and see what Liquitex offered in acrylics.



I didn't expect to find exact matches. I got lucky, though. I think that Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue will work for my Yellowed Orange. And Cadmium Red Medium Hue will work for my Crimson Red. Mona Lisa only had two yellow-greens. Brilliant Yellow Green is sooooo close. But I think I'm going to add some Cadmium Yellow Light Hue to it. My Process Red was a different issue.

The closest they had was a Medium Magenta. And it really is very close. But I think it's a little dull. What do you do to brighten Magenta?


My other tests were with the iridescents I received back in January. In the picture above, from left to right, is Golden Iridescent Pearl (Fine), Liquitex Iridescent/Pearescent Medium, and Pebeo Acrylic Gel Iridescent Interference Gold.

I want the base of my form to be iridescent white. At first I looked for iridescent white paint. That's when I found the Golden. Then I found iridescent mediums. But since they were used for mixing with pigment, I wasn't sure they would have enough - iridescence.
Unfortunately, iridescents don't scan very well. I am most pleased with the Golden. The Liquitex medium alone would need at least 2 coats. The Pebeo was a long shot. The only info I could get on it was that it could be mixed with other acrylics to make iridescents. I did not know how gold it was going to be but it's pretty gold. I do not want this. I'm after mother-of-pearl iridescent.

My last test is sort of mot but I'll share it with you.

At one time I had considered having all my colors being iridescent. (I've concluded that this is not only overkill but way too disco.) The problem was finding my colors in iridescent. I did find this wonderful palette of Lascaux Perlacryl Iridescent Acrylics but was still concerned about hue.

One option was to mix my desired color with the Liquitex Iridescent medium. Here I have mixed Liquitex Cadmium Red Med Hue in steps with the medium about 6-to-1. At each step I added one more drop of medium.


It's not until step 4 that you really begin to see the iridescence. This is also when the color becomes more transparent. It's not until step 7 that I make any change to iridescence and that's because I start adding gobs of the medium. Conclusion, the more iridescence, the less color, the more transparent.

My other idea was to paint the entire dog in regular acrylics and then paint over the entire thing in an iridescent medium. Below, I painted 2 square of Brillian Orange and 2 squares of Cadmium Red. Orange1 has Pebeo Interference Gold painted over the right side. Orange2 has Liquitex Iridescent medium painted over the left. The same is true for Red1 and Red2.

The Pebeo Gold really blocks out the color. It's a nice effect but I would want to thin the medium out more before using it. The Liquitex barely shows any affect unless it hits the light. Then you get almost all iridescence and little color. I think this would have worked better than actually adding the medium to the paint but I'm glad now that I don't have to find out.

T-shirt Arrives!

I got the Drool On The Frog t-shirt in the mail today! Whew! And I got my sister’s shawl in the mail too – and it’s beautiful. How lucky am I?

Overall, I would say that CafePress does a great job. I can’t believe that I got an original design put on a t-shirt and mailed to me so quickly! This is just too cool.

My only complaint is that the colors are kind of dull. But the forums on CafePress’ web site spoke to this. Their printing process is called direct printing:

With Direct Printing, we print direct-to-fabric with no transfers. The result is a matte image that moves with the garment because the ink is actually embedded in the fabric for ultimate wearable comfort. After a few washes, you will notice the great durability of Direct Printing. That means greater image staying power.

The negative of this process is colors are not as vibrant. I think it’s an o.k. trade off. I like the direct printing finish so much more than transfers – it doesn’t look cheap; it looks professional. I can’t wait to design some more.

So go out there, you crazy kids, and design your own t-shirts. Or, better yet, buy mine!

Willa T-shirt

I have never been a big fan of reality TV until Project Runway came along. It’s a show where aspiring designers compete for a chance to start their own line. I love it because it puts the focus on talent and not dirty tricks. All the players bring something of value to the table.

I love seeing what the designers wear because I know that it’ss an expression of their personal style and creativity. With CafePress being brought to the forefront again, I’ve got it in my head that I should wear something to the party that I’ve created myself. Maybe a design on a black t-shirt would work. My Geek has prompted me to design something for DroolontheFrog. I need to get some pictures of our dog, Willa. Maybe I’ll turn her into a superstar.

Research

With 27 days until the Sponsor/Artist Party (yes, I’m counting), I have to do something with all this energy. In the original design phase I had so little time I couldn’t do research on my ideas. Surely I can find iridescent acrylic paint. I spent most of this holiday weekend researching. If you ever have any questions about online art supplies, just ask. I spent almost two days comparing prices and products. Part of the purpose of this blog is to share my products, process and experimentation with you. Maybe it will be useful.

We get a stipend of $275. I want to stretch that as far as I can (which is pretty far). I don’t think it will be a problem to get everything I need with it. My design is mostly paint and jewel embellishments. I badly need some paint brushes.

I was surprised, but DickBlick really has the best overall rating from me:
(S = Selection, P = Price, I = Information, W = Web site, U = Shipping)

1. DickBlick.com (S=1, P=1, I=1, W=1, U=2)
   
2. CheapJoes.com (S=3, P=3, I=2, W=2, U=1)
   
3. JerrysArtarama.com (S=2, P=2, I=4, W=4, U=4)
   
4. PearlPaint.com (S=4, P=4, I=3, W=3, U=3)
   

In 2001, there were no art supply stores here except for the general chains like AC Moore and Michaels. I was stunned. I thought a town with several colleges and universities around would have at least one art supply store.

I was thrilled when Mona Lisa Art Supply came to Clemmons. I like supporting local businesses so I will buy everything I can there. Larry runs a great store and also offers classes. Check it out.

This weekend I mainly researched options for creating an iridescent affect. I want the entire dog form to be an iridescent white. Additionally, I thought some select colors in the design could also be iridescent. All colors in the design should be opaque; I don’t want any of the white base color to show through.

I was able to find an iridescent white paint and even some iridescent acrylic mediums. I really have no idea how much paint it will take to completely coat the form. A concern with metallics is whether they can hold up under 3 months of summer sun. All the products I mention specifically say they are light-fast.

Another option I thought of is painting the entire design and then painting the entire form with one of the iridescent mediums. I have a couple of reservations about this idea. One, I don’t think I want the entire piece to be iridescent, just the base coat. Two is that these iridescent mediums may not be transparent enough and could kill the vibrant colors I’m going to use. Hmm.

Here are some of the options I found for iridescent acrylics:

Cryla Pearlescent Tinting Medium – gives a shimmering pearlescent metallic luster when mixed with pure color. On its own, it dries to an off-white pinkish color.

Liquitex Iridescent/Pearlescent Tinting Medium – produces a range of iridescent or metallic colors when mixed with acrylic color. Color will become more transparent as more medium is added. Color become more iridescent upon drying. On its own it produces a Mother of Pearl color.

Pebeo Iridescent Gel – can be used alone or mixed with transparent colors to give pearlized or iridescent reflections.

Pebeo Interferance Gold – mix with transparent colors for a pearlized effect.

Lascaux Perlacryl – iridescent acrylic colors. 16 hues.