That's part of what I've been "busy busy" doing. The wall mural I mentioned in the last post is in the first stages of progress. If memory serves correctly (and seriously - I shouldn't trust my memory), these are the stages of doing a chalk-pastel mural.
1. Pick a picture.
2. Put a grid on the picture for reference.
3. Prepare the surface by washing it.
4. Prepare the surface by priming it with a diluted paint concoction.
5. Prepare the surface with a grid for reference.
6. Carefully sketch the picture.
7. Fill in the sketch with the chalk-pastels you have hopefully purchased in advance.
8. (Not absolutely sure about this step) Set the drawing with hairspray.
Eight pretty simple steps. That's the proper order to do it in.
Now here is the order in which I did it.
3. Prepare the surface by washing it.
1. Pick a picture.
6. Carefully sketch the picture.
(Optional step that Hannah threw in randomly) Realize that you are very bad at sketching the picture without a grid.
2. Put a grid on the picture for reference.
6. Carefully sketch the picture.
5. Prepare the surface with a grid for reference.
6. Carefully sketch the picture.
(Optional step that Hannah threw in randomly) Suddenly remember to prime the surface. Scream.
In other words, it WAS a lot farther along, but the forgetful-blonde part of my brain forgot to tell me to prime the wall I was working on, which is basically washing and painting the surface to prepare it for the sketch. Which erases pencil marks. Just FYI.
So,
4. Prepare the surface by priming it with a diluted paint concoction.
Check.
That's what I just came back from doing. But heaven forbid I should measure the water that goes into the paint. You should never go into a painting situation without two big bowls of over-diluted paint. On a different note, I also primed a large section of our sidewalk. Sudden inspiration and all that.
So as I was priming the sidewalk, I was considering how very strange I am. It's a fantastic thing to consider. For instance (this is what I was thinking), if my dad came into the living room and saw me out the window, he probably wouldn't think it odd that his fifteen-year-old daughter is seemingly painting milk onto the sidewalk.
As I considered this, Papa came walking down the sidewalk and said "Whatcha doing?" And naturally I didn't hear him coming and had a mini-heart-attack. But after I explained what I was doing he went into the garage and came out with a paint roller for me to use. I was able to finish the paint much more quickly and paint much more efficiently after that.
But did you know that paint rollers are very unwieldy? Not like a paint brush. A paint brush is a stick with animal hair. A paint roller is a stick with a whoopidy-doo and a rolling sponge on the end.
 |
| Hannah's Official Guide to the Anatomy of a Paint Roller |
So there was that, and another homework-ish (well, all my work is homework) project - a table-sized map of our town. Partly because I'm one of the more art-inclined in our family, and partly because the majority of the family agrees that I have a terrible sense of direction, and this will help. Is it really so bad that I don't know the direction of Walmart?
Well, as for the map. Mama is in charge of the mechanics of the project, so the picture-picking and the grids were the first things to go down. That's all I've got so far. Next comes the sketching. No, I didn't skip any steps, it's not a mural.
So this isn't really a "here's my art" post. It's more of a "here's upcoming projects" post. Feedback, as always, is welcome, as well as advice and constructive critisism. That's it then. Hope you have a fantastic week!
No comments:
Post a Comment