"Secrets", 12x16, oil on panel
Sometimes if I have a good linen panel that I paid decent money for, I'll end up doing a really lousy painting on it. In the past, that would have really bothered me, because these linen panels can be very expensive! Recently, I solved the problem of guilt over a lousy painting on an expensive panel by taking it outdoors, sanding it down by hand till the surface becomes as smooth as I can get it, and then putting a nice thick coat of Gamblin white ground on it.
The portrait above was painted on just such a surface. I wasn't able to get all of the impasto marks completely smooth, but they were smooth enough to do this portrait, and I was pretty happy with how it came out.
I think I could have been a little bolder with the light on her red hair, but otherwise, I was okay with the result.
Have you ever felt like you wasted something and figured out a way to salvage it?
Let me know in the comments below.
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