1:53 pm: the framed painting behind the guitar player's head is gone, leaving, i believe, more breathing space and allowing the eye to rove without getting stuck. it was a complex proceess. when i first scumbled over the framed painting, i used a lot of water with the acrylic paints. that caused some of the collaged bits to form air bubbles. i lanced them with a mat knife and tore off whatever was not firmly bonded to the canvas. in the long run this will be a good thing, creating fewer nightmares for potential future restorers. in the short term, it left gaping white spaces where the primed canvas was revealed. it took many layers of paint artfully applied to remove these white spaces, which had the characteristic jagged edges of torn paper. i did no work on the lower portion of the painting, other than to create smooth transitions where the background meets ther head and shoulders. it's likely that tomorrow i'll refine these transitions as well as making tweaks to other areas of the painting. overall, i'm happy with how things turned out, although it looked kind of hairy there for a while.
1:04 pm: re-working the upper portion of this painting has proven far more complex than i had thought it would be. currently it's on my cement studio floor under my big-assed ceiling fan, drying out after extensive work, some of which involved repairs. more later......
9:47 am: in a few minutes i'll put on my big down coat, my waterproof keen boots with my kahtoola spikes to prevent falling on the ice, and walk 500 ft. in the 12F temps to my studio, carrying the painting, which is currently in our house, with me. big changes are in the offing. stay tuned...
BELOW: a detail of the painting as it looks right now, and the painting in our kitchen/living area, with grey 1/the lacemaker on the left.
