Upload: 028 Square Title: Symphony No. 3, Clash of the Titans Series: Symphony Location: Studio Date: August 19, 2007 Image: N07038M1c Medium: Oil on canvas with Polymer emulsion for texture Size: 36 x 36 inches (91.44 x 91.44 cm) Technical notes: This is the first time I have used a polymer emulsion, applying it to the canvas with a two inch wide brush, dividing up the space between texture and a smooth surface. Once dry, the entire surface was painted using Cremnitz White by Winsor & Newton. The painting was set-aside for a week in order to solve the problem of not having any brush strokes enter the crevasses of the polymer emulsion. All paint had Liquin Original added to it. Commentary: This series is being uploaded in reverse so that it would be in the right viewing order when seen in the gallery. Sorry for the inconvenience. Twice I believed the painting to be finished; only to go back, working it further. The application of the only other colour of paint (van Dyck Brown) left the painting incomplete like a sentence that was left unfinished. After a few days I decided to add several Power brush strokes and at the time I was please though later was bothered by one, a seven-inch brush stroke. The more I looked at the painting, the more I felt the last stroke was in error and needed to be remove without making it look like it was ever present, leaving the previous painting as much as possible intact. By removing the offending stroke that brought me so much displeasure, I was constantly thinking I might ruin the painting and there was no guarantee that I would be successful, but what were my other options? It was good that the main surface colour on the canvas was white and the only other colour was van Dyck Brown. I covered several sections of the painting, almost twenty percent in white, then re-applied the only other colour the way I did before the Power strokes. Finally a little tidbit of information as to how the van Dyck Brown colour was applied, so that it would not enter into the crevasses of the Polymer emulsion. When inking a plate in etching we must remove the ink on the surface of the plate after all the groves were inked, this was achieved by wiping the plate with fabric, as it did not penetrate the etched depths of the plate. By reversing the process I could apply this technique to my painting (prior to the Power brush strokes) and so I took a brand new pillowcase with a high thread count and folded it in half, so that I would have four layers of fabric. Taking a number of plastic bags and shaping them into a ball, I placed them in the center of the pillowcase and tied the ends back. It resembles a baren, which is used in block or linoleum printing, even looks like a Dabber in glazing. The paint was applied to the pillowcase using a palette knife and allowed to penetrate the fabric. Any excess was removed. Standing over the painting and with pendulum like swings, the pillowcase began to leave its mark upon the canvas flat area when it strikes lightly the surface. This process was repeated until the desired effects were achieved. Still using the pillowcase this process was continued on the raised Polymer emulsion texture but with a little more vigor and more paint on the surface of the pillowcase, which produced variation of hue.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work and commenting. Vielen danke das sie die Zeit genommen haben meine Arbeit zu betrachten und darauf zu Kommentieren. Egmont

Previous photograph:

Barn Door No. 1