Progress in Works, Volume Three
Having inked all the grapes, it was time to tackle the foundation color. At this point, I realized how many pieces were actually involved in this painting: 3 background panels; 3 cut-out panels on risers; and 24 individual leaves (also on risers). Luckily, I had a few cans of pre-mixed ink that were nearly identical in mass tone to one of the supplied swatches, so continuous coverage was not an issue.
For the back- and mid-ground panels, I simply knifed out an even layer, carefully leaving knock-outs where the corresponding risers would be mounted. Initially, I was going to glue everything down, but figured if any component were to break, screw mounts would ease in the repair process. At any rate, the knock-outs served as placeholders for my arrangement, and were numbered to match their mates.
When the six panels were covered, I went back and pulled textures into the ink with a thinner blade, in order to imply additional leaves. If you remember my previous commentary on the inking process, you know the inks tend to flow as they please, but I’ve become fairly adept at controlling the higher-viscosity ones. The Rule of Thumb is “more ink equals more convolutions”, although variance makes everything more interesting.
Once the leaves were inked, and all the pieces had formed their skins (about four days later), I was able to assemble each painting. The scope of the entire project was coming into focus, as I could really appreciate the interplay of the layers, in colors approaching the final intent. Of course, there was still a lot to do, as the frames and sky needed to be constructed…
Those mini-projects will be covered in the next volume.
