2012/365 - Day 8

experimenting with color combos and paint textures/differences


This is what the Studio Snake was made for -- to test out various color combinations, see the differences in the paints I have on hand, see how the paints coat...and to try out techniques...all before I commit to something for a finished plaster cloth guy.





Here is the Studio Snake's uncolored head, with two coats of gesso.











I thought I had periwinkle paint, but it is actually light ultramarine blue.

Anyway...this is what is on hand today. I was mainly going for color combo mock ups.









And this green isn't actually chartreuse, either -- it is brilliant yellow green. Close, right? I need to choose colors and not look at the names.

I like these two colors together. This is just straight from the tubes and one coat.





Yikes!

I painted the orange straight from the tube and liked it a lot.

The green is an old bottle of craft paint and man -- it was pretty icky. It was glumped inside the bottle and when I stirred the paint it became even more strange...so I put some in a little dish, added a small amount of warm water and stirred
until I couldn't stand stirring any more.

The paint is just so wrecked...it seemed okay, if a bit watery, but man...it went on clumpy and watery in spots and incredibly thick in others. Just really strange. I like the color, though.

Here's the thing. Obviously I prefer the nicer higher quality paints over the craft paints...not that there is anything wrong with the craft paints when they are fresh. I have a drawer FULL of (mostly) older craft paints. I only have a handful of tubes of good paint so far.






When my sister asks me for a birthday shopping list this week I will most likely ask for tubes of paint, plaster cloth and other art supplies...maybe we can go together -- that'd be fun...I can most likely start buying more good paint in colors I like.

And don't you painters even start with me -- don't tell me to mix my own colors. I promise you I am NOT ready for that -- at least not yet. Maybe sometime down the road when I get more confident with painting. For now, I need to be able to count on the colors coming straight from the tube, and being able to go back and grab more of the exact color I used.





Ruth might be coming over later on to work on ATCs for the monthly exchange we go to. I wanted to post early today so that I don't have to worry about meeting my midnight blog deadline.

Man -- this Studio Snake is just so cute. I wish the camera could capture the way it looks. I think maybe if I get someone to take photos instead of me trying to angle the camera to what I am seeing (vs what the camera sees) it will turn out so you can see how sweet this guy is...it has such a puppy face.

UPDATE: I tried using the bigger camera...this sort of shows how cute he is.