30 in 30, #27 — Humility

Humility, 6"x6", oil on canvas, NFS

Lay first the foundation of humility.  — St. Augustine

Well, another challenge. I thought I was painting a fun "mums in my window" view, but it didn't turn out that way. I'm starting to run low on my 6" panels, so I grabbed a 6" canvas that I had "wiped" a while back. I had put a couple of coats of gesso on it and thought it would be fine.

Oops. Something weird happened. The surface was like painting on clay — the oil in the paint was absorbed within minutes, leaving matte color. After an hour, paint was almost dry to touch. Not normal with oil paints. Nothing was working like it was supposed to. A good "frosting" with a painting knife saved me; at least I could get the paint to look like paint instead of chalk. I'm afraid to go back and look at it in case the paint has disappeared.

I was frustrated, but kept going, determined to have something to post for my 27th painting. This is about learning. I do not like painting on canvas. I ordered more Gessobord panels tonight. Yay!

(Next morning; the paint is still there. I took it outside and got a much better photo.)

I should have realized something strange was happening when I had to go over the sketch twice.