A slower day today. I started with a painted colour study for a complex work, Spree Killer, which is effectively about dashed possibilities of family. I developed a quick way to prepare a surface for these: I scan the drawing, laser print it at A4 size onto card, then stick the card to a 3mm piece of wood (normally a cheap backing board from a picture frame) using PVA glue. Then I apply some acrylic sealer like Golden GAC100, roll that with a sponge roller, then apply gesso, rolling that too. The gesso is normally transparent enough to show the drawing through. This creates a really cheap and fast surface for oil painting that is non absorbent.
This worked well today, and the Lefranc gesso was revealed to have a great tooth and perform well now. I painted the study, it's a complex and otherworldly work, and needed this to work out the many colour options.
After that I took outside two silver frames which had a sort of rottenstone dust applied, and spent a couple of hours scrubbing these with water and a toothbrush and sponge to try and clear them up; this worked but there is a still a lot to do on these. After a couple of months of pain in my left shoulder and arm, almost like a 'trapped nerve', today, a similar pain appeared in my left knee. Not welcome.
Then I did some lighting models for an old painting about entropy and information decay and retention, originally called Soul of Genius, now called Hand of Destiny. The photography involved some complex use of lighting as parts are lit from above, some from below.
I've got three underdrawings ready to paint, so should perhaps work on those before I draw out any new works; next on my list to draw out are Moon Over Shakespeare and Hand of Destiny.
One other job for today was writing out the basic music notation for our Jabberwocky music, I will need that for Knutsford, though the news about Covid-19 is not pleasant today. I wrote the music for Clown Face yesterday. I've generally felt tired, weak, and lacking in enthusiasm today, but have achieved a reasonable amount.
