And some lessons learned, already, on the Ovation painting.
The need for the color correcting is a result of some lessons I have now learned. Starting with, don’t take months away from working on a painting if you are not going to make tedious and meticulous notes on the colors being used and plans for any other colors. Also, don’t change inks mid process.
I thought I remembered much better than I actually did remember, what color I was using for the crimson patches. When I got started working on the painting after taking so much time off from it, I didn’t remember if I was using just crimson or if I had mixed it with something. So I started in with straight crimson. That was bad enough, but I got lazy and was running out of the particular ink I was using so I started mixing 
it with a crimson of another brand. It was also thicker so it required a little thinning. This lead to the color shifting as I progressed. I could see it considerably once I got all the crimson patches in and the second pass of crimson done. Then, when I got the first pass of the flame red done it really started to glare at me.
I don’t think the issue is entirely in the brand of inks changing. I think some of it also has to do with support preparation. The canvas board I’m using was not a pre-gesso-ed board so I had to prepare it myself and I have a feeling I did not do a sufficient job of getting a good solid coat of gesso on the entire board. I think that has made a difference in how the board has taken the ink and it has also lead to the crimson looking darker in some areas.
Next up. It’s important to pay better attention to my reference photos. And in this case the original model. Since it’s one of my instruments I have the advantage of pulling it out and having a really good look at how it actually appears. And one of the things I found is that the flame red may be just a little too much on the orange side and the contrast between the two shades is a little discordant. This became even more apparent as I started the second pass of the flame red.
Since the finish on the Ovation looks like it’s two shades of red with the vein color looking like it is a bit of a tint over the whole thing I’ve got a little room to play with here. I did a little experimenting and found that it should work out if, after I finish the second pass of the flame red I go over the whole body with a blending shade. Before I do that though, I also need to go back and even out the crimson from where I first started the painting to when I finished the second pass of the crimson. Otherwise the blending layer won’t look right. So there’s a bit of redo 
going on in some areas.
One of the interesting and challenging things I’m dealing with is using pen and acrylic ink on canvas board. It has texture and the ink tends to fall down in the shallow dips of the texture and it makes it difficult to get really good coverage and maintain some distinction of the points of ink as they go down. Another thing that comes down to canvas preparation. To fix this for future paintings I’m experimenting with my canvas preparation. I want to see what the effect is if I can get the surface much smoother.
I’m hoping it will be easier to work with. I’m just not sure how I’m going to like the look.
So there you have it a full update on the status and the pain of the Ovation painting so far. With a couple of pictures from this week’s work.
Every painting, drawing, or even digital art piece, is a learning experience. Each time I sit down to put something on paper, or canvas or even in pixels, whether 3D or 2D, I learn something new about how to do something, or how not to do something, or even just cool new things to try the next time. Sometimes things go well and it’s an easy process and sometimes there are struggles trying to get it just right. And sometimes you get part way through and think that you’ve figured out so many things you could have done differently from the start that you wonder if it might be easier to just start over. But then what would happen to those happy accidents that you have already laid down on paper on canvas or pixels. It wouldn’t be the same piece of art. Those struggles and happy accidents and perseverance are what make a piece of art and give it life. Just like our own struggles and
happy accidents, and triumphs and failures, give us life and make each of us the work of art that we are.