Oops... oh well - Dominique Hurley - Intuitive Art & Inspiration

I start this morning by quoting very wise words (my own) from the last post.

I’m practicing non-attachment … – fully aware that this is an experiment and learning process. Again, I’m embracing the mystery and moving forward.

It didn’t take long to have to put that into practice again…

I put another few hours of work applying whites to the first layer of my underpainting yesterday, this time in a mix of casein + water, known for its super quick drying time (about 10 minutes). It’s more opaque and less fluid in its application than oils + medium, but is good to add the brighter highlights to areas, even if I didn’t like how it was beading on top of the oils (that should have been my first sign). I didn’t choose egg tempera because it has some medium in it, and so takes longer to dry.

Laurence then worked with several students, demonstrating how to make glazes, mix colours, and apply them. The results were magical.

Jake’s

Martin’s

Jake’s

Martin

Martin’s

Then came my turn… Laurence convinced me to add a bit of white in the glaze as it adds a bit of body to the painting. I resisted, but soon conceded, knowing that part of my journey here is to embrace whites in my paintings – something I’ve had trouble doing in the past because it turned lots of my beloved bright colours into pastels, not a desired effect. Plus Laurence is an expert, and well, I came here to learn from the experts. The moment I started applying the glaze, however, I knew something was wrong. It felt like dragging wool over Velcro – you get the picture. No flow! Laurence took over and agreed that it was too sticky, adding some of his medium to the mix before continuing. By the time the panel was covered, however, my underpainting started melting away and the whole thing became milky (not from the white in the glaze, but from the white underpainting).

Martin’s

Mine

It had had 3 days to dry just like the other students’, but that was obviously not enough. We’re not 100% sure of what happened, but our subsequent discussions led to a few hypotheses, including:

I had used too much medium with my oil paint compared to other students, and it wasn’t dry enough to apply the glaze yet
I had applied some of the highlights too thickly and it wasn’t dry enough

Either way, something happened, and it looks horrible. All is not lost, however. I just have to reapply the whites, which is what I would have had to do in part anyway. At least I can still make out the basic shapes. This could still turn out to be a fantastic painting one day. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of painting, is that you can’t judge the outcome from the initial layers. Some of my favourite paintings have layer upon layer of experiments I was happy to let go of (i.e. cover up) before they blossomed into something entirely different. As many have been quoted to say: “There are no mistakes or failures, only learning”. I’ll admit I had a few moments of drama (very mild) and jealousy, but oh well… life goes on. I just have to wait a very long time for this glaze to dry before applying the next whites… and there are only 3 weeks left of classes. In the meantime, I’ll work on my other painting… with less medium!

Poor Laurence… looking up from the chemical reactions happening on my panel on the table before him, he hazarded: “I guess we’re not doing a good job of selling you on this technique.” My answer – “Nope, not yet!” (for myself – I love what it’s doing for others). He later added that this had never happened to any of his panels or any of his students’ in the past. Another student mentioned how interesting it was that it happened on mine since I’ve expressed my plans not to continue using oils after this course. I know I’ve attracted this lesson for a reason. One thing for sure, I’ll exercise more patience next time and make sure it’s dry before just going with it. That’s definitely one lesson I’ve learned.