Charlotte in the window

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 x 12 inch canvas 

I finished Charlotte's portrait. I just need to give it a day or two before I give it a clear acrylic isolation coat.

To summarize the process, this painting started with random splashes of color on a canvas prepped with Golden acrylic grounds for pastels. In parallel I drew Charlotte on a skin of acrylic grounds for pastels using Cretacolor Aquamonolith watercolor pencils. Since the acrylic grounds are translucent, I was able to place the skin over a photo of Charlotte and trace to get a more accurate drawing.

 I glazed the canvas with Golden Titan Buff then added gauzy fabric for the curtains.

Before gluing Charlotte to the canvas I used molding paste to create the surface where she would lie (impressed with a paper towel to give it texture). I also painted her silhouette in Titan Buff. Since the acrylic grounds are translucent I needed an opaque background for the collage element.

After gluing Charlotte to the canvas with gloss gel, I embellished her and the background with more paint and glazes.

Work in progress, day 2

Mixed media on acrylic grounds for pastels 

I did a little more work on Charlotte's portrait. Tonight I drew Charlotte on the acrylic skin with Cretacolor Aquamonolith watercolor pencils. I alternated between drawing with pencils then brushing on acrylic glazing liquid. The acrlic ground for pastels has enough tooth that I was able to layer more pencil strokes after each layer of glaze. The glaze liquifies the watercolor pencils and acts as a fixative. I may follow up with some acrylic highlights and shadows, but so far I am pleased with the results.

Below is the canvas after I glazed it to mute the colors then used matte gel to add some gauzy fabric  to simulate sheer curtains. After it dries it will need more glazes before I add Charlotte to the scene. I'm going for the impression of a window overlooking a flower garden.

Work in progress 

Experimenting with different media

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch hardboard panel 

I bought some Golden acrylic grounds for pastels a couple weeks ago and decided to experiment. I did a Google search for inspiration and found Amy Shawley's blog. I love her art! Amongst her many blog posts I found one in which she used acrylic grounds for pastels as both a drawing surface and to take advantage of its absorbency. With that as an inspiration I applied a layer of the grounds to an old painting, let it dry, then started to experiment. The grounds are translucent so the original painting served as a base for subsequent layers.

I experimented with wetting the surface then adding drops of high flow acrylics. After letting it dry I used some Cretacolor Aquamonolith watercolor pencils to draw on the surface. I wanted to experiment with applying a pastel fixative  (in this case SpectraFix) to see if I could seal the watercolor before coating with another layer of acrylic medium. I had mixed success. As expected, the fixative caused a shift in pigment intensity. After letting the fixative dry I painted over the watercolors with glazing medium with mixed results. The watercolor pigments were stable in some spots but smeared in one area. Note to self, more coats of fixative, more drying time.

I wanted to tone down the color in some areas so I followed up with a glaze of Titan Buff. This was my first time using Golden glazing medium and I was really impressed with how smooth my glazes went on in comparison to a competitor's product. To be fair, the texture of the pastel ground may have played a part.

Amy Shawley also uses the Golden pastel grounds as an acrylic skin. After you let the skin dry you can draw and paint on the surface and use the finished skin as a collage element. Check her blog!