My Love Hate Relationship with Gesso

Yes I love gesso. It is an awesome base that acrylic paint loves to stick to. I like to tint my gesso and put in on with a foam roller.  At first it rolls out really juicy with great coverage and then I go over it very lightly to flatten off any texture. In that way I get a lovely smooth finish and a even color base for  my painting.  Looks awesome, gives the painting a cohesion of color and holds paint really well.

Yes I hate gesso. It has such a stickiness to it that it is seemingly impossible for me to gesso without it spreading out over every surface. It has a fiendish desire to attach to everything it can.  A blop here, a splat there, a smear and dab just there....and of course because it is valued for its stick-to-it ability....what it gets on it stays on and only comes off with focused scrubbing.  I am not a messy person...REALLY!

So there is my annual gesso rant, as you can tell, today was gesso day. Prepped a bunch of canvases in light blue tinted gesso......all good now.........tools all clean .... just have to get the remaining gesso off work desk,  my hands, right toe and some on upper right cheekbone.....computer mouse and studio door knob......might leave the door knob as it looks kind of cool.

Testing New Canvas - "Watching" - Cougar Painting

Testing canvas was the reason for this painting (any excuse to paint a cat , big or small.) I have a big project coming up and wanted to check out a different canvas than I have used before...15 ounce from a different supplier.  Here is a study of a cougar that I did for the test canvas.

This heavier than usual canvas had a fair bit more texture to it....good for where I want texture but requiring at least a couple of extra brush strokes where a clean edge is needed.  Now you definitely could sand down the texture level on it if needed while doing the gessoing.  But for this test I wanted to see what it would give me without altering it.

 I am pleased with it and will order up some more.

GOABC Artist of the Year 2014

 I have participated in two Artist of the Year competitions already this year.

The first one was due to a friend who purchased my painting "Seek Solitude"  to support his Guide Outfitters Association of BC and made sure that it was also entered into their  GOABC Artist of the Year Competition at their annual convention.

It was awesome to hear that it took the top spot making me the GOABC Artist of the Year 2014.  This is coming full circle for this painting as Mike was also the person who supplied me with the perfect title for this painting. His knowledge of Mt goats is incredible and I appreciate him sharing some of that with me.

My "Down by the River" grizzly painting was one of the top three finalists for BC Wildlife Federation of BC Artist of the Year program for 2015. This grizzly and I had the perfect meeting.......each on our own side of the river we evenly paced down river for a time.  It was a stress free way to enjoy being fairly close to a grizzly.

It is great to have my artwork recognized by these outdoors organizations. Thank you!