"Psalm 103:1" (draft 4)

I only thought I would be posting the final today. On viewing the piece this morning and also viewing several times during the day yesterday, I realized I would like to push the layering a bit further. The title has also changed slightly to Psalm 103:1...since it is a very long Psalm.

My desire is to improve my skill level in layering letters and incorporating more brush lettering. Brush lettering is very expressive and compelling. This morning I spent 1.50 hours practicing and finally writing a few words on the piece.

One of the best brushes to use for brush lettering is a Pentel Pointed brush that comes with cartridges. I never use the cartridges for fine art pieces since they will fade. After removing the cartridge, I cleaned the brush thoroughly of the cartridge ink and then mixed up some gouache on a paper plate with a palette knife and then dipped the brush in a bit of water and "paletted" the brush in the gouache on the paper plate. The surface of the piece had already been prepared for lettering by brushing on a mixture of (2) parts water to (1) part gel matte medium. I generally apply (3) layers...drying thoroughly in between. This is the same process you would use to apply stamped imagery, graphite, etc. The surface will simply not receive other media because it is too slick from the spray acrylic coating applied to secure the previous layer.

I have already sprayed this surface again with spray acrylic coating. So after I have decided on the finaly lettering placement...I will need to brush on the dilute gel matte medium again to prepare the surface for writing. As of right now, I am strongly considering adding some more plain rice papers and possibly a bit more charcoal pencil sparingly before doing the final lettering. It is all about values and choosing what to conceal and reveal.

When layering lettering or other line work, it is necessary to carefully consider the values of the background letters or line work. The final lettering will be either dark gray or black and will integrate well with the darks of the glass and the slivers of black showing from the base support. For that reason, I did blot my brush lettering with a kleenex dipped in water and squeezed out to push that lettering into the background further.

So you can see that the process really slows down towards the end and more time is needed to process design decisions. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.