Dreamwood Walking

I have a new project (on top of the four old ones that I am almost done with, pictures to come).  This project is for a friend of mine and is going to incorporate his culture and heritage along with music and the months of the year.  There will be 12 10×11 pieces, each one representing a month of the year, and three months per season.  I have half of the months done in sketches (that were supposed to be up for Sketchbook Friday, but life happened, so they will be up this Friday.  I am hoping to have at least one of the seasons done by then as well, but that won’t be up until he gets to see it first, per my no one gets to see a gift or commission before the person who has commissioned/is receiving it) done and ready to lay down for painting and the other six are concepts that still need a little work.

I have watercolor paper to do this project, but there is a small problem with it.  Seems the delivery man dropped the paper out of the back of the truck and then drove over it.

Let me pause here for a moment to point out how unprofessional this is.  I understand that sometimes accidents happen, but when the box arrived it was literally falling apart and the delivery guy even LOOKED sheepish as he tried to reassure the Marmot (who got the paper for me when he ordered his air brush) that the package was fine.  If you are looking sheepish as you deliver a destroyed box, you KNOW that something is wrong with it.

Anyway, the paper, luckily, came wrapped in cellophane so only a couple of pieces have tire marks on them.  Yes.  Tire marks.  I am not pleased by this, but I am very pleased that the Marmot got it for me, so, those pieces will be torn down into smaller sized pieces.  And the tire stained ones will become experiment pieces that may or may not come out good.  Time will tell.

The rest of the paper has a small dent like crease in them. Fortunately, the paper is cotton rag so I can fix it.  Unfortunately, the crease is right where I need to fold the paper to be able to tear it down into the 10×11 format that I will need for the project.  What this means is that I will have to break out my paper tearing bar and my big heavy stone used for creasing papers and my big board to tear the paper and then I will have to soak them all and press them between the mattress and the frame of my bed for the night (you put a board, either wood or Masonite, either works under the mattress, then put a towel down, making sure it is perfectly straight with no wrinkles, then you put the paper down and put another towel down, again, making sure it is perfectly straight with no wrinkles, and then put down another board or a piece of plex or Masonite.  They don’t have to be thick, just sturdy) which presses the paper flat once more.  I could just stretch it, except you lose some of the width and length that I need for the project.  Stretching the paper is actually much easier, you can do it quick and messy by soaking the paper and then stapling it to the board, or you can do it neatly with paper tape and measured stapling, depends on what type of border you are looking for (deckled or not).  Won’t work for this project, but I may do it for the rest of the paper.

It is going to be more work, but, in the end, it will be worth it.  And, I may not have to do all of that effort to press them (that is really a technique for print making if you don’t have to space to hang them on the wall while damp with thumb tacks) since the crease is very close to the tears.  I have some torn down now and sitting with their own weight to weight them down so that I can see how much effort will be needed to make them straight.  This might work wonderfully (it will NOT fix it by any means, but it will give me a good idea of how damaged the paper is) and I will only have to wet them and let them dry flat.  Worst case scenario will be the method above with the making a press out of my bed.  I’ve done it before and it works pretty good (especially when you have a class in four hours and don’t have to time to stretch the paper) it is just sort of a pain and avoiding it would be nice.  If not, it will be find.

And, could be worse.  ALL of the pages could have tire tracks on them.  OR they could be ripped.  OR the Marmot could have not ordered it, so, a little bit more of an effort to fix some damage is not the end of the world.

So, it is about 5:30 in the morning, AAAAND….  I can’t sleep.

Soo, I have been doing art.  Playing with pen and ink, using nibs and India ink, and I have to say, I had forgotten just how much I LOVE this medium.  I have just recently purchased a set of Winsor & Newton inks and am now the proud owner of eight differently colored inks.  I have deep red, peat brown, ultramarine, brilliant green, vermilion, sunshine yellow, purple, and black India ink.  They are WONDERFUL.

Sadly, the batteries have died in the camera, so I am waiting for them to charge up (rechargeable batteries are truly a wonderful thing), and I thought, since I was waiting, I would update the link to BJ’s website.

He has taken down the new Inside (he says…erm..Okay, I don’t remember exactly what he said, so, we are going with something about it costing too much for something that won’t do what he wants it to do) and is sticking with the old site for his older art and will just be updating on his deviantART site.  All links on the Artist’s Corner page have already been updated accordingly.

Sooo..now the update is finished and the batteries are STILL not done charging, so, I suppose I will finish watching this rerun of Angel (it is the one with the crazy Slayer that escapes from the mental institute and who then proceeds to chop off Spike’s hands whilst in the midst of a tangled flash back, for those interested..) and hope that I will be able to sleep after that.

Because TOMORROW (or, I suppose to be more accurate, later today) I will be starting to paint the mermaids.  YAY!