Stupid as stupid does

"Stupid as stupid does"  Forrest Gump inspired me.

I was not ready to accept defeat with my recent water ripples painting.  It was meant to be an experiment with semi-sized Xuan and alum.  Perhaps I miscalculated the choices of paper and what not, but I would find a way to salvage my painting.  I didn't know any better.

Since I had already laid out all the tracks of the ripples, which unfortunately did not reveal as visibly as I had hoped, I would suck it up and do the tracks again, with white gouache.  I would also insert occasional, strategically placed brushstrokes with metallic acrylics to accent the shimmering effect.

，.

The task was not as daunting as it seemed, since I had a template of the previous marks left by the alum solution, albeit a little on the faint side.  My job now was to make those marks readily discernable.  Make them pop.  The popping was made possible by employing metallic acrylic juxtaposed with white gouache.

An underexposed photo to dramatize the effect of the metallic acrylic and gouache,

It was in fact quite satisfying for the OCD in me. 

 

The darker areas, especially the areas below the crest lines were written in with ink added to my indigo.

This in effect rendered the ripples more three dimensional.

It was necessary to stand on my feet to finish the painting.  The upright posture gave me better perspective in deciding where light value adjustments were needed.

This was the painting when dried,

I left the painting on the wall and glanced at it whenever I was in the room.  I realized that I was mesmerized by the rich layers in this work.  It dawned on me that the alum solution had created a faint but definite footprint, on which were layered watercolor, metallic acrylic and the highlight was provided by the opaque white gouache; each of them contributing their own nuances and various degree of transparency.  There was such complexity in the resulting salad.

So glad  I didn't trash my painting.  I suppose I should enjoy being the Captain of my shrimp boat for a while.