Please read R1 (Restoration1) before continuing.
I started this painting with a art piece I created last year. I was experimenting with texture art. This was a good test for me to learn how to use plaster on canvas. I am not a fan of what I created… thus she is being ‘renovated’ 😂. I stripped most of the plaster off this canvas using a putty knife. What remained added a perfect texture to begin R1.
After stripping the canvas I needed to decide on my base color. Combining my eye for interior design, I knew that I wanted a green sofa for the living room. Thus, taking the inspiration from the couch color I ‘want’ – I made a custom blend of acrylic paints to create my base. (On the right) you can see the color with the attached nails that were saved from my Carpenters bench. I used glue to secure the nails to the canvas.
Once the base was complete I started phase 4 of this painting
- Phase 1 – Strip plaster from canvas
- Phase 2 – Prime / paint the canvas with my custom color.
- Phase 3 – Glue nails to canvas.
Here I began the slow process of combining the paint colors on the canvas by small dots of paint. I needed to add enough paint that it would allow me to ‘smash’ the paint into the canvas with a painters spatula. I wanted the colors to commingle but not blend.
Day by day, over the course of two and a half weeks, I spent a few hours a day dotting and pressing the paint into the canvas with a spatula. This created a unique appearance with layers of texture.
Once the canvas was sufficiently covered, I wanted to add a touch more magic. I went back over the painting with 24k Gold leaf in areas that showed more of the base color than I desired. Spending another 6 hours perfecting the piece. Bringing my total time to 28 hours. (This does not include the time to pull the nails out of the carpenters bench or restoring that piece.) This has totally been labor of love!
For me, the gold added a touch of formality to an otherwise chaotic painting that has pulled multiple stories together in to one gorgeous masterpiece (as I will happily say myself). All inspired by a random trip to, what I now know, as a very famous art show.
R1 will hang next to my restored carpenters bench in my Ostuni Palazotto pulling the finishing touches of my interior design together. It is the culmination of my three passions and vision coming together. My love of restoration, My love of creation, and my passion for design.
R1 has inspired me to create a series of works in this same vein. It will be a slow process… painstakingly slow actually… as all my future works must come from items I restore.
The name R1 is inspired by a late french artist, Yves Klein. From my understanding he did not name his paintings. His wife, Rotraut Klein-Moquay assigned a number posthumously to all his blue monochrome paintings. For example: IKB 242 A. The naming process is simple, straightforward, and above all else, I like it. This painting is also inspiration for my own IKB painting I will post soon.😉