Aaaaaand, Go!.... Wait, What?

Last Thursday I got the greenlight from the folks at the ArtFestival. We've decided on an image (pictured here in charcoal) and the project's a Go. Needless to say I'm very excited to get moving on it since my contract dictates a finished piece by the first week of May. So I got the good folks at The ArtStore here in DesMoines to put together a nice, sturdy 50"x20" stretcher. Amazing, it was ordered and completed the same day. Cost a little more, but it's rock-solid and true. No warping which is the problem I was running into with store-bought stretcher bars. Seems like I just couldn't find a good set. I picked it up Saturday and later that night I settled in with a bottle of Sixth Glass and pulled out my giant roll of canvas. It was at that point I realized I'd been mistaken in thinking I had a ton of the unprimed, heavy-duty stuff. All I had left was a batch of pre-primed canvas I'd purchased by mistake a while back. If you want it, make me an offer. I've got a lot. Soooo.... there's a delay. Not to worry. I'll pick some up today and be right back on track.

In the meantime I already had a big canvas just sitting there so I started work on that. I laid down some charcoal Saturday night and some paint last night. I'm going with this underpainting thing some more. I'm liking the overall effect, and I'm hoping that continued experimentation with it will help me to create a more luminous, visually-arresting finished piece for the ArtFestival. You don't get too many opportunities like this. Better not let it slip by making mediocre, self-standard Art.

Lastly I want to say a big Thank You to my two boys who spent this weekend running Art-related errands. They've been dragged to shows, openings, receptions, installations, negotiations, sales, deliveries, etc. I tell them they're learning the Art Biz from the inside out. Hopefully they won't hate me for it when they're older. They've been exceptionally well-behaved, helpful, and even insightful.
Thanks, Boys. Daddy Loves you. Now go clean your rooms. They're a disaster.


Cheers,

R