March 26, 2011

Stop me if you've heard this:


I promise not to say another word about gesso. The canvases that have 2 topcoats of Plaza Gesso seem to be doing better. All in all, I'm think we're rocking 4 coats of gesso, maybe 5. Except of course that the first 2 coats don't count. I've lost count. This is the only painting that I've started on the crappy gesso before knowing it was crappy gesso. It's 54" x 43".

Perhaps you've noticed, it's hard for me to let go of things.

Postscript: The Plaza gesso is not working on top of the Jerry's gesso. For all I know, cheap gesso is cheap because they forget to use binder. I'm at a loss. I'm trying Kilz on one canvas.

Postscript: Postscript: I am ordering a few gallons of Nova Color gesso today. For future use. I miss Nova Color being up the street. Ordering online is just not the same.

10 comments:

Nomi Lubin said...

Well, I have not heard your southern accent before, so that was new!

And, of course, the visual is new too. Very graphic. Why stop now? Letting go is overrated.

M.A.H. said...

funny. I never really think of myself as having a southern accent, but you should hear me when I'm tired. whoa, those vowels and consonants just don't let go of each other.

It's hard to let go when every time I lay down a wash and go in with a brush or rag, it picks up the gesso. If this weren't due to a defect, I'd be perfectly happy to categorize this under happy accident type stuff, or experiments with solvents, but since I did not choose gesso as an experimental base layer....

I put some heavier layers of paint on last night, so I'll check those spots out today.

It's the first large painting I've worked on in TWO years and I like the direction it's going and am having so much fun working on it. I refuse to ditch it and start over and am paranoid about starting the other ones. I mean, eventually it HAS to stabilize, right?

Geeze, I am a geek. Read on if you want to hear more about gesso experiments...]
To be fair, I did a test on a canvas swatch with just my Plaza gesso. (also a new brand to me.) After one day, it did NOT pick up the acrylic paint, although if I scrubbed it really hard, it looked like a miniscule amount of white would pick up, but not to the point of reactivating the entire layer or sullying the paint. Plus, in order to have it pick up the gesso, I had to SCRUB. The Jerry's gesso just comes up with a rag. Oh wait, I've stated that before, haven't I? I thought the GAC 100 would help, but it did not. IT helped on areas that were already covered with paint, but not areas covered in just gesso.

I should also say I called Jerry's a day and half after this happened and they told me sometimes the gesso would take 48 hours to dry, but other wise didn't know what I was talking about and offered no solutions or explanations. And as I have also stated, the gesso has been dry to the touch for days. days.

M.A.H. said...

weeks.

Steven LaRose said...

Funny. . . I couldn't hear an accent. It makes me wonder if Nomi has a strong New Yorker sound. I wouldn't put it past her. Have you ever seen her park cars?

I liked the bit of video. Kind of nice to see stuff moving. Even if from transparent to chalky mud.

I bet the "frozen in transit" theory is the correct.

Nomi Lubin said...

Um, I have a better ear, sir.

I actually do not have a good ear at all. I cannot carry a tune for the life of me. But I can sometimes hear slight accents. It's a minor pre-occupation, though I can only place people very broadly. Could never say what southern state, for instance. I'm a little better with accents closer to where I grew up, of course.

I did hear it right away on the word "hate" up front. Ha.

I also think "frozen in transit" is the most likely explanation. Wondering why they're not getting more complaints? Oh, they might be, actually. You're not calling them every day... but I also wonder, would it be way more noticeable with transparent paint? Could people be using the defective gesso and not know it?

(Steven, the parking thing is a visual spacial fluke for me: I should stink at it, as I do virtually all eye-hand coordination.)

M.A.H. said...

Nomi is correct- certain words with long 'a's and 'o's give it away. When I am in different parts if the country, I can peg a nashville accent. It's not extreme like east or west tennesse. Very subtle.

I just put what I hope to be the final cost of gesso on. And giving all canvi 48 hours.

M.A.H. said...

^ Coat. Damn autocorrect.

Carla said...

I'm floored by the gesso action. That really is totally unbinded stuff.

M.A.H. said...

The 3 canvases at the train car are going to be acrylic, otherwise I'd flip out. Oh wait, I already have. The ones here at home, I'm watching and testing every 24 hours to see how the new gesso is doing on top of the binderless gesso and slapping on another coat of gesso just to be safe. They will be oil paintings. The right thing to do would have been to start over from scratch, bit I can't being myself to do that. If it bites me in the ass so be it. I will simply refer to them as the ephemeral paintings.

M.A.H. said...

^ Bring.
Mobile blogging is hard.

It's over.

Nov 7, 2020. Tears of joy and relief. It's been unreal and I'm ready to get back to a sense of normalcy. The desert has been tough.