Stuart's Square

This would be Stuart's Square:



This is a close-up with some background painted in:



More paint:



More paint:



More paint:



More paint, this time rubbed into the surface of the painting with my finger. For added sales value, this is called "hand rubbed."



The truth of the matter is that I alternate between four types of paint application:

1 Brush for backgrounds. Once this is finished I try not to revisit the brush. Cheapens the effort, in my opinion
2. Splotching the stuff on to create an underlayment of color (see above)
3. Tossing the stuff from the end of my stick
4. Hand rubbing.

Hand rubbing is actually one of the coolest parts. You put on a latex glove (you can buy them in boxes of 50 from the drug store) and then either dip your finger or thumb into a can of liquid paint or, more typically, squeeze some tube paint onto your finger, then stroke it on. I am particularly pleased with the effect when it goes on top of recently dripped white. This can be seen in the final image of the series along what will end up being my Boy Bobby's jawline. Because of the physical height of the globs of white, the edges actually catch more paint than the surface, which makes for a two-toned effect. And, of course, the white is neutrally receptive, so you get what you want (you put blue on white and you get blue, you put the same blue on, say, yellow and you get green.

Which brings me to something called Pthalo Green. Manomanoman, this stuff is off the dial. I use it for two things. First for shadows. If you look closely at Blue Stephanie you will see a ton of dark green. Mostly it reads as black, but when it edges over (on top of white, for instance) you can see the green pop. There's already a fair amount of pthalo green on Bobby Lee, although I'm not sure where because the damned thing is covered with newspaper and tape. I also use it to sign my paintings. Straight from the tube, typically on the black background. You almost can't see it in the photos, but it is, I can assure you, there.