Working The Grid, And A Tip For Keeping Acrylics Open

For those of you who have been following along, I've been facilitating a Mandala prompt group on Wild Precious Studios.  We're currently in week 2.  The grid that I'm currently working is below.  You can find more detailed information about this piece HERE, at ArtiphyTheSoul .

This is just the beginning--the underpainting to establish lights and darks in the gradients, but already you can see several patterns emerging from the sea of circles, including the linear division that separates the colored area into a triangle.  I know I'm hooked and there's no going back.  I'll be fascinated with this grid for a long time.  The painting is not carefully thought out in advance.  I'm making the decisions as I go, and the piece feels like it's painting itself.  I didn't plan the triangle, and now I can't wait to see what else will emerge as it progresses over time.

Speaking of time, I have very little.  Fifteen minutes here, a half an hour there.  Open time for acrylics is really short and I hate adding chemical extenders, so I created my own open palette for the colors I mixed earlier today.  My hope was to leave them for a few hours and come back to wet paint as opposed to dried plastic blobs of color.  

I laid down a sheet of waxed paper on top of the piece of wool I keep on top of my drawing table and put a couple of soaking wet paper towels folded lengthwise on top of it.  Then I put my waxed paper palette of mixed color on top of the paper towels, rolled up two more soaking paper towels, and put them on top of my palette at the top and the bottom.  This will separate the section of waxed paper that I will fold over the palette so that the paint won't smoosh.

Then I folded over the long end of the bottom piece of waxed paper and secured it in place with a couple of paint bottles.  When I came back four hours later, the paint was still wet!  If this works here in dry Phoenix, AZ, I'm sure it will keep a palette of acrylics open anywhere!

 

Comments

[Nancy B]

That is so pretty and you are so neat!

[Sharon MLS]

Love your grid. I had a dream about using this type pattern in a corner of a quilt. Haven't gotten to it yet tho. I've popped over here from ROD. Nice to 'meet' you.