This is my work pattern: I stretch 15 to 20 canvasses at once, gesso those canvasses, and then paint them. When I’ve finished painting them all, I photograph them and then give them two coats of glaze. After that, I start the process all over.
Now, you can probably figure out which are the fun parts and which are tedious. There is some satisfaction in putting a canvas together and gessoing it—the pristine blank canvas looks so inviting and fresh. But the satisfaction doesn’t outweigh the backbreaking work and boredom of making 15 or 20 in a row.
The same can be said for glazing. I use Golden’s GAC 500 and apply it in two separate coats with a wide flat bristle brush. If I work too fast, the glaze spatters or forms rivulets above thickly painted lines. So you can’t work in a slap-dash manner and get good results. You have to apply it carefully, yet quickly enough so that you cover the whole canvas evenly before sections dry.
There is some satisfaction in seeing the change in the painting after the second coat of glaze is dry. This glazing makes the surface more uniform, erasing the differences between matt or dull sections and brittle, shiny ones. It adds cohesiveness and a glossiness that reflects more light. After finishing them all, I can stand back and admire the months of work that produced these paintings. I can then rest my hand, which aches from holding a brush in the same position for so long.
The photography is fun, because that’s when the painting takes on an identity, becomes part of my inventory and visible on my computer screen as well as “live.” It’s when I photograph the painting that I give it a name, mostly because I have to name it in order to give the digital file a name. Some names pop out at me from the painting, others take longer to find and are more obscure.
I do the photography before the glazing because the glossiness reflects too much light, which often shows up in the photographed image. I don’t have professional photographic equipment to eliminate this problem. I just hang the painting on my studio wall and shoot it with my high resolution digital camera, fixing any problems or deficiencies later in Photoshop. I get good enough results to use on my website and blogs. But I wouldn’t be able to make a good quality print from these images. I go to a professional for that.
I have four more 60 x 60 canvases to glaze, and then I’ll be done with this group. At that point I’ll trade the ennui of glazing for the backbreaking job of stretching more canvasses, and start the process all over again.
