Fresh Start

The happy feature of acrylic paint is that it can be removed and you can start all over again. Rubbing alcohol does the trick. Brush or wipe it on the areas you don't like ,(be careful not to let it drip unnoticed into the areas you do like), wait a few minutes for the paint to soften and dissolve, (the longer you wait, the closer you'll get down to the white canvas), and then scrub it off under a faucet if you can. My painting being only 18" wide, I could and did right after yesterday's post.(In warmer climates with larger canvases outside with a hose is a good place to scrub). I couldn't stand how over painted and distorted Honey's shana punum, (pretty face in German), had become. I had to start fresh.

After letting the canvas dry thoroughly, I laid in a medium flesh tone and let that dry completely while I went back to the drawing board to do a pencil study.

I put an enlarged headshot into a clear plastic protector sleeve and ruled a one inch scale grid with ball point pen. Honey's head measured 35 square inches (5 x 7). Very lightly, I ruled a one inch scale grid on drawing paper and drew Honey's head using the ruled photo as my guide. What you see is as far as I got with my pencil before my favorite catastrophe movie, Independence Day, ended for the twenty third time.

And as was shouted in the film as the fighter plane with the last rocket headed straight for the alien mothership, I shout too to yesterday's disastrous paint session: "Up yours"! to anyone who thinks a bad day in the studio is going to make this gal trash this portrait. This portrait is my first try ever, of course there's going to be mistakes; the road to success if lined with them.