"Orad Sin Cesar" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

Today's posting is the beginning of two new pieces based on Psalm 119. I have yet to decide on which verse(s) to use and so there will be a variety of verses from this longest chapter in the bible. It's also a new process in combination with some older techniques. This is a very exciting approach!

What I will be posting over the next few days is an 8" x 10" size, but I will also be working on a 24" x 36" size concurrently. They will both have the same elements, but just a bit different arrangement. So as I share the steps, keep in mind that I'm working on both pieces simultaneously.

I began by painting the gessobord with black gesso. Today, it will be painted again with Black Heavy Body Acrylics applied with a palette knife. While all of that is drying, I will be cutting up squares and rectangles of 140 lb. HP for both pieces. Some will have all straight edges and some will be torn.

In today's posting, you can see (3) pieces already painted. I painted black acrylic on each section first and dried with a hair dryer. I selected three colors to alternate with on my smaller pieces. (Each section might be painted with titanium white...unbleached titanium...parchment (Liquitex)...etc.) After applyimg these colors over the black paint with a palette knife, I dried them....sprayed them with alcohol...brayering until satisfied with the texture and then repeating this over and over again. I then took the sharp edge of a cut up credit card and wrote a few words and then sprayed with alcohol and brayered again.

All of my palette knife painting will be done with undiluted heavy body acrylics right out of the tube. And unless otherwise noted, all of my acrylics are Golden with few exceptions. Some of my squares and rectangles will also have old bible text from Psalm 119 and also some rice paper. I may even include some mono printed rice papers if needed. I have decided on a horizontal format for both pieces with a black, white, yellow, and blue color scheme with white and yellow dominating.

There may also be some raised areas by mounting some of the shapes onto balsa wood. I also might be including some kiln formed glass pieces. The sky is the limit in this type of work. Hopefully, your mind is already whirling with the possibilities of this approach.

Just to sum it up, I am basically covering the entire support with these squares and rectangles. This allows me total freedom in what to include, leave out, or rearrange. Nothing will be adhered to the support until all of the separate pieces are done to my satisfaction. I will then have the option to write my selected verse(s) at the end after everything is adhered. This technique should take the "fear" factor out of your head since you can discard or rework any paper you don't like. This is taking collage to a whole new level. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.