…yet? …ever? … that made me decide to change how I approach my 3D oil painting technique??
I wasn’t really sure how to finish that title because ‘yet’ would imply that I am expecting to do worse in the future, whereas ‘ever’ would imply that I am brazen enough to think that I will never have resin issues in the future.
The last line is probably more accurate, but not so catchy as a post title.
Anyhoo, as you can surmise, disaster did in fact befall the Nest in the form of completely ruining the most ambitious painting I have ever created. It’s something I should have known had the potential of happening, but since it never had I figured it was less of a gamble than it truly was. Woe is me for sure…
I completed this epic painting I am calling ‘The Secret Garden’ and gave it ample time to cure (as much or more than others in the past) but did not varnish it (as I never do, expecting the resin to protect it enough) and proceeded to begin pouring the resin as usual after affixing the base layer leaves and real earrings.
Checking on the first layer of resin poured, everything was positively hunky dory for hours. No color change or noticeable chemical heating or reaction with all the bubbles coming out nicely. I set it up with a protective cover and eventually went to bed for the night.
You know that feeling you get on Christmas morning as a little kid? Well imagine if you legitimately woke up to nothing but coal. That’s about how I felt when checking on this the following morning. Like allllllll of the wind had gotten taken out of my sails. Uggggghhhhh
Notice how it didn’t even happen everywhere - the tummy stayed the correct color!
Essentially what happened was the titanium white I used in the skintones somehow reacted with the chemical in the resin turning my lovely shadow-splashed figure into a Marge Simpson lookalike. I wanted to achieve a sun kissed look - not a goldenrod yellow disaster!
I say ‘somehow’ because I honestly don’t know why it happened since I have literally painted with this exact tube of white paint and then layered resin over it using not just this same brand, but these actual bottles of resin, with absolutely fantastic results and no hint of any issue to come. So frusterating and weird at the same time!
As far as the resin lumps/striations noticeable in the first pic, those were caused by me because I couldn’t bear to look at her when I first discovered what happened 😠I leaned the painting up against a Rubbermaid container facing the wall before the resin fully cured causing gravity to drag down the layer a bit.
So after 30+ hours spent painting this extremely complicated piece, it is officially and completely ruined. C’est la vie.
But you know what they say, it’s not about how hard you fall, it’s whether you get back on the horse.
Well I’ve got two words for that notion: saddle up.
The new base drawing and aerosol background next to the ruined resin piece.
After a few months of grieving (and just being ultra busy) I have started to repaint. And wouldn’t you know it, but it’s even better than before?!
The first one is not bad, just a lil more textured and the mouth is less believable. It’s almost like I got a practice round - or at least that’s what I’m telling myself to ease the pain.
Much softer blends and more detail to the lips - plus a shadow on the neck for hair to overlap (which I forgot to add in the first one).
As far as how I will be treating my mixed media paintings in the future, that’s for another blog post. I’ve been doing some research and will need to do a bit of experimenting as well. I know I want to keep the 3D element to my art, but I need to re-evaluate if resin (or perhaps incorporating varnish) is the best way for me to do so going forward.
I’m even adding in more shadow details (because I like driving myself slightly crazy 😜)
It’s been a soul-testing journey, but my outlook is optimistic! Wish me luck, I’ll post about my new artmaking decisions when the time is right!
2.16.2023