Studio Paint Tube

Ah yes. I had some misgivings about how this one would turn out as I neared it's completion. However, I'm glad to say, I think it turned out rather nicely.

The surface/structure I created to paint on was a real risk factor, as the actual surface itself is plexiglass, and as any painter will tell you... painting on a plastic surface is akin to placeing one's own sexual organs into a live electrical outlet. It sounds like a good idea at the time, but then you question yourself as you black out from the pain.

However, I went all-out on this one. The piece of plexiglass that I found was already covered with white, eliptical shapes from someone using it to place their bucket of white paint on. Those, along with the sand I adhered to the surface with acrylic meduim (which, by the way... can stick ANYTHING to ANYTHING) gave me enough tooth to goop paint onto. However, I was now faced with the problem that I now had TOO much tooth on my surface. The sand would overpower any pigment I spread over it as it found its way into every possible crack and crevice. Oh... what to do!

So, when in doubt... take it a step further. I smeared a healthy layer of drywall compound (another favorite material of mine) on top of the sand and shaped it into the tube of paint that I had choosen by that point to be my subject matter. I then attacked it with acrylic, sparingly of course, since I didnt want to cover up ALL that hard work I had layered together.

However, as I stood back to look at my progress, I could not help but frown. The image looked absolutely NOTHING like a tube of paint (unless you were squinting funny and standing on your head while inhaling glue). I knew that I couldn't actually paint it any better, since the reason it did not look like it's subject was because the surface texture was rebelling against the paint (if that makes sense... I could explain it better if you were here, I'm sure). So, on a blind whim... I drew on it with a permanent marker. The result gave the image a fun play between the graphic, the painted and the sculptural that I liked, and it was immediately apparent what the subject was. I was happy.

I have since used the felt marker on a number of similar occations, as well as differant ones. It's overtly-graphic quality is often a refreshing change to the oh-so-sublties of color theory.