Feeling Floral II

[Donna T]

There is a very ugly, gaudy floral several layers beneath this little painting. I covered it all over with more layers of paint and experimented to see if I could rescue it at all. I found that adding rubbing alcohol and letting it dissolve the upper layers uncovered spots of "flowers" underneath. I like the soft edges and the unpredictable colors that emerged so I want to try this again. 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 acrylic on watercolor paper

 

[Artyczar]

Beautiful! I love that I can look at this for a really long time and see so many layers and colors. It's subtle and calming, yet mysterious and bold. I love this. You did a GREAT job on it. It is officially SAVED and a success!

 

[Enyaw]

Really like that sort of screen pattern you arrived at with the little squares. Real nice piece. Sometimes our salvation is born out of failure.

 

[Martin C]

Gorgeous! So much to explore in this painting.

I must try this process on my (many) failed acrylics (I only have single malt in the alcohol dept at the moment ;-)

 

[Terri]

I admire your work so much, Donna. I'm not sure I would be able to pull out such a beautiful piece from what you described. The textures are awesome, and so are the shapes and colors and soft edges. How you come up with your methods is a thing of wonder! Love this painting!

 

[Donna T]

Thank you, Ayin. I have yet to throw out a page in this sketchbook. I'm too stubborn and cheap so I just keep adding paint.

Hi Wayne and thanks. The screen pattern is from a stencil, as are the little dots in the sky. I almost added more leaf shapes but know that I would have gotten too fussy so the little squares of color seemed to work for interest.

Thanks Martin. If you have an acrylic painting that you can play with I think you would have a good time covering and uncovering shapes. The dissolved acrylic gets a little gummy and it's fun to see what you unearth when you wipe it off. No single malt alcohol should be sacrificed though.

Terri, you could do this with your eyes closed! I always start a page by making lines with my eyes closed and I have to use my non-dominant hand so wonky shapes are expected. Textures sort of happen in the process. Thanks so much.

 

[Hermes2020]

The pentimento effect you got is really beautiful, along with the more assertive top layers.

 

[Donna T]

Thanks Hermes. It's different to think of revealing what's underneath instead of always focusing on the last layer applied.

 

[Artyczar]

I think I must be too cheap and stubborn too. I feel like I have to salvage everything.

 

[CaliAnn]

Your paintings are always beautiful Donna - this has such a dreamy effect - I think it's stunning! I also don't toss out failed paintings, because I always find something in the paintings that interest me and I want to pursue in the future - even if it's only a 1" x 1" section on a large sheet! I have boxes of such paintings - and never seem to get around to doing anything with them..... maybe I'm just a hoarder!

 

[Donna T]

Thanks so much CaliAnn. It's good to keep those less-than-perfect paintings. I'll bet I could find lots of gems in your boxes!