Thursday, January 01, 2009

Two Parents of a Very Lonely Child

I have today spent nearly twelve full hours painting the underpainting to Two Parents of a Very Lonely Child which includes four elephants, a seagull and a hydrogen atom. I've never painted this long before yet still feel full of energy. My stamina and willpower have never been stronger and my largest regret is the lack of a woman for lovemaking tonight. My paintings start with an opaque underpainting of exactly the right thickness. I rarely use any medium during underpainting. The result must be perfectly smooth and even. If the paint is too thin it will not blend and look blotchy and if it is too thick it smudges and pull when blended. If you were to shrink to about four millimetres tall and walk naked on the surface of the wet underpainting the paint should come half-way up to your toes but when glazing it should be so thin as to just mark the bottom of your feet, yet still leave no footprints due to the richness of the medium. For me, only opaque 100% permanent paints may be used; iron earths for red/yellow/black, chromium oxide for green, and cobalt turquoise which is the only blue opaque enough. Now I will put the picture away for the final touches tomorrow.