Painting with a Friend

Thursday, I painted with a friend on a 30 x 30 canvas. We discussed what to paint, she had lots of ideas. I listened, she wanted to learn to paint with a lighter hand. She knew the latest colors and wanted to work with these. I encouraged her to start with the lightest light. We both started with gesso and bleached titanium acrylic paint and using our palette knives, we applied the mixture onto the canvas. While that was drying we talked some more. I suggested she pencil in her idea, for her painting which would be primarily geometric in lighter tones.
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While she did that, I used charcoal to sketch onto my canvas. I really wasn't all that clear what I was sketching, I just went with what felt like a natural flow. Then I applied iridescent gel medium, with my palette knife. I got the spray bottle and sprayed away the thickest areas just letting the drips, do what they do. Yes, it was messy and I encouraged my friend to do the same by outlining her pencil marks with charcoal and spraying them off.
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We then went to the next color which was a flesh tone based on the colors she was using in her painting. I knifed and brushed it into several of the blob shapes on my canvas. She put hers where she envisioned it would go in her design. We both did another layer of transparency creating a very thin veil over our art work.

What began to emerge in my painting was people. It became real clear there were 3 people, possible a fourth. The fourth figure was dauntingly larger than the others, I developed it a bit, then didn't like it, so I sprayed it down and rubbed off with towels a large portion of that section. Next I added yellow to one of the shapes at the top, I then scraped and pulled it so it was smeary and not blob like. I went outside the lines of my sketch and kept going. Once again, I added a layer this time in white with a hint of blue. Layer upon layer was built and defined as I went on to develop an interesting painting.

Sometimes, after applying a layer, I lost my design and had to redraw it. After many layers I realized the colors were suggesting more than people, I saw the sun and the sky; so I drew flowers up above the heads and below the sun. My friend's painting was coming along nicely. We had reached a good stopping point. She asked that I leave my painting there, because she wants to see what else I do. Okay, that's fair enough and I really understood. I love to paint there, because every time I do, I paint a masterpiece!
yours,
Jean Bourque