Thursday, April 30, 2009

You're Kidding Right? I Didn't Seriously Do this Did I?

Last night i decided to do a quick background for a painting I want to do. I know I want it mostly red and since the gesso I used was white I thought I'd just slap on some red acrylic paint as a foundation so that I could paint over it tonight in oils. 

I thought I was being SOOOO smart! HAH! I have three jars of solvent, one is water which I rarely use, one is baby oil which I use to clean my brushes, and the third is linseed oil which I use for thinning. I've thought of labeling these jars but decided that I'm smart, I can tell the difference between them...apparently not. I'll put that on the list of mistakes not to repeat, "never think you're smart". You may be able to tell where I'm going with this one...

Yup! You guessed it! I used baby oil to thin the acrylics instead of water. One might also think that I'd have copped on by the fact that the large quantities of paint I was putting on my brush kept sliding off and slopping back down on the palette. Oh no! I didn't cop on then! I just chalked what I thought was weird paint behavior up to the fact that I'd gotten used to oils and didn't remember this from my acrylic painting days. I just put my hand under the brush like you might a spoon full of liquid and slapped in on the board. It wasn't until I got all done and noticed that the first corner I painted was kind of shiny and slick that it finally dawned on me and I smelled the "water" and realized what happened. I will definitely be labeling those jars! 

Here's what I found this morning. A slick and shiny painting with baby oil oozing out. :S


Here's a close up of the drips. Nice ehh?

Well, I guess if anyone was wondering what would happen if you mix baby oil and acrylic paint, I've solved the mystery! To continue the experiment, next up is to see how the oil paints go on over the top. I'm holding my breath!


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12 comments:

  1. I've heard of 'happy accidents'... I'm crossing my fingers that this one will turn out this way Darlene. You never know! Hugs!

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  2. LOL! Yeah, it'll be interesting to see!

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  3. Frustrating...but we all have our moments! I hope it turns out ok. Good luck!

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  4. I know nearly zilch about paints but that is funny Darlene. Hopefully you will have a happy accidental masterpiece

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  5. anonymous is Aimee Lombardo :)

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  6. LOL! Oh, no, Darlene! Can completely imagine doing something like this myself. It's an interesting effect all in all. thanks for sharing :-)

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  7. LOL! Yeah, I've been laughing at myself quite a bit to say the least!

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  8. I say give it an obscure name and write a really long artist statement about it. Viola, riches!

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  9. So. How did it come out?
    Sounds pretty unstable to me and worse as you go along. I think if you have not done anything with it I would leave it the way it is and call it an abstract. Kinda cool in a warm way anyway.
    Did it ever set up[dry]or is it still gooiy [is that a word?]

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  10. Haha! Thanks for making me chuckle!°

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