Friday, February 13, 2015

Tired of Layered Gelatos Yet?


Layered Gelatos on Oil Painting Paper

You would think I'd get tired of layering Gelatos, but not yet!  I'm not sure why this medium/technique has taken hold of me the way it has, other than it is easy, fast, and I love moving the Gelatos around with my fingers.  The Stabilo pencil draws easily on top.

The first layer (orange and ochre) is a combination of finger painting and dripping.  The subsequent layers are done with a brush.  This one has more layers and took longer to do, because I originally had some red and melon on it which I covered up with more blue and green.  It is surprising to me how well the Gelatos cover.  

That's how I discovered this process initially.  It was an experiment to see how well the Gelatos would cover.  I think that I will be much more experimental in the future, and that is definitely a good thing.  I have lacked confidence in the past, preferring to follow a tried and true process from more experienced artists.  Maybe this is part of what appeals to me about this process:  the mere fact that I discovered it for myself. 

So, I guess I learned a larger lesson than just how to layer Gelatos.  A lesson about experimentation and ultimately about fear.  I have often read, "It's only paper, right?"  I understood this rhetorical question intellectually, but understanding something intellectually isn't the same as overcoming the fear of making a mistake, of ruining a piece.  As I get older I realize that real learning only comes with making mistakes.  And if I don't try new things I'll never make mistakes, will I?  

1 comment:

Passionforstamping said...

Great art and a terrific blog post.