Using Gesso as a 'Painting' medium or base.

 Ad-Free Blog

While gardening and cleaning out flower beds, I was just getting rid of the really dead stuff, I collected some interesting bits and pieces.

Three very brown dried Hydrangea blossoms

A Long dried stem of HollyHock. The seeds weren't even exposed as blossoms and had dried on the stem un- opened.

and 2 branches of Chinese lanterns were dried green before they even turned orange. I planted 1 package maybe 4 years ago and they show up everywhere as a weed now.

I plopped them in my thick weird glass pitcher (squared fence picket pressed glass). 

The pitcher is before 1891 and made by King Son Glass Co. in Pittsburgh, Pa. It's weird and chunky, thick but that wonderful slightly blued/green/clear glass of that period.

The pitcher is very heavy, but the dark hydrangeas...really visually weigh a bit themselves.

I chose a large sheet of Water Color paper and used the back rougher side.

In an attempt to loosen up---I scribbled with yellow, turquoise and gray(silvery) watercolor gel sticks. I love using these as you can erase your lines simply by painting water on them and the colors mix well with regular wc. 

The gray mushy stuff is textured gesso which I lightly tinted with gray and smeared on with a serrated plastic carry-out knife. I wanted to get some texture going on this piece...all the petals being so tactile. I even dabbed gesso on with my finger tip to give the feeling of round petals.

Closeup on the pitcher and thick glass and a stray lantern on the table. 

My limited palette was made from Cadmium Yellow Med, Carmine, Ultra Purple, Viridian, and Van Dyke Brown--a rich deep almost black brown which I used for the dried up leaves and mixed with so many of the washed out earthy colors. All the colors on the sheet were mixed from those 5 colors.

I didn't paint everything brown and went more for imagined light source on slightly green foliage and flowers. 

It's very busy, but I enjoyed working on top of the gel sticks, and the slight shimmer of the gray gel stick was perfect for the glass. I painted out 99% of the white paper again, only leaving the glass void of some paint.

I named this 'Last Bouquet', in honor of the end of summer. 

I think I will try the same vase and flowers on larger paper with more 'AIR' around it and even looser...maybe with different colors. I guess we will see. I'll also use gesso more and maybe with more fingers!!

Happy Painting!

If You enjoyed this post please FOLLOW IT in the upper right hand corner, to get just one email of each AD-Free post.

I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.

Love Your Creativity

Metamorphosis Monday

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. Please don't use my photos without my permission.

 Sandi Magle

OldNewGreenRedo