After I applied primer to the canvas, I did a line drawing of ‘The Dragon’ right onto it. I used a sketching pencil with the lead ‘3B’ which is a relatively soft lead. I used this because I don’t want to have to press too hard onto the canvas in order to mark it. I use as light of a touch as possible. The sketch on the canvas doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s going to get painted over anyway. Stay tuned for Part 4.
-Roz
So after I finish my initial sketch of ‘The Dragon’, I prime my canvas with Gesso. Gesso is a thick white primer that seals, stiffens and provides surface “tooth” for painting surfaces. I like to use ‘Basics’ by Liquitex, it works really well. It gives me a smooth surface to paint on.
Apply the Gesso conservatively, building up layers if you want it thick. Putting it on too thick adds texture to the painting, which I prefer to add later when I lay down the actual paint. I don’t really want to mess with texture at this stage. Stay tuned for Part 3.
-Roz Barron Abellera
My latest painting is my original work called ‘The Dragon’. I am doing it in a minimalist, line drawing, Asian art style in the vein of the great artist Katsushika Hokusai.
Hokusai is the artist who painted the famous painting, ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa.’ If you’re not familiar with his work, here’s a link about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai.
So I start this painting by doing a sketch of what the painting will generally look like. Above is the sketch I came up with done in pencil on paper.
-Roz Barron Abellera
