"The Secret Place" (draft 8)

(draft 8)

All of the color blocks are now in their places. The entire text of Psalm 91 appears in various places three times and all text was cut from old bible pages. Tomorrow you will see the first verse written in one or two color blocks.

So much has been learned through this process. When I do another one, I will paint the undercoat on larger sections of paper (enough for the entire piece) and allow those to dry overnight. It will then be a matter of cutting up all or most of those sections and placing them on the support.

To prevent the dilemma of where to place the sections again after taking them off to paint the topcoat...I will number them on the top and back side and take a picture of the section or whole piece (depending on the size) and this will create a faster process.

Another thing that I did on this piece was change the value of a few of the blocks after they were adhered. I did this by taping off the surrounding areas and applying black with a palette knife. The brayer and alcohol were used alternately to lift the paint and create a texture that reveals part of the previous layer. In my case, I needed darker color notes sprinkled throughout the piece, but the reverse could also be true. This technique is good for any color change that's needed at the end.  And very often, it is impossible to tell until everything is adhered to the support.

I would encourage anyone to try this at least once. It is much fun and infinitely engaging. If a large size is way too intimidating and you prefer immediate results....try working on a 6" x 6" size or even smaller. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.