Wave Abstract

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a demo at the National Watercolor Society by Kathleen Conover.  She is really nice and an excellent teacher.  Her technique is really fun.  She does under paintings and then adds a mixture of gesso, water and matte medium and covers the painting creating texture.  Some of the old painting shows through and gives a nice effect.

As I was watching her demonstrate, I got very excited because I have so many paintings that are rejects that I can't seem to throw away but can't decide how to fix them.  This technique will work perfectly to reclaim them.

This painting started out as an abstract several years ago.  I had created a horrible color combination and a design that didn't work.  I wish I had taken a picture of it before I added the gesso mixture so you could see how it looked in its previous life.  Anyway, it had a dark line that suggested this wave shape so I went with that.  Kathleen used watercolors for her paintings but for this one, I used acrylics.

I'm really happy with this painting now.  I like the energy and color mixtures.  I plan to repurpose all of my unsuccessful abstracts using this technique.  It is really fun and I feel very fortunate to have learned Kathleen's technique.

Wave Abstract
Image Size 22" x 15"
Acrylic