Carving Out a New Painting

This summer, as I strolled past a thrift shop, I saw several painted canvases for sale for $3 each. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were high quality, gallery wrapped canvases. They measured 14 x 18 inches and been painted in acrylic by a youngster named Avery (whose name was written on the back). Obviously Avery (and her parents) were willing to let these paintings go, but I saw in them an opportunity to turn them into a finished painting.

This particular canvas had little sayings glued to it, which added some texture, but the first thing I did was paint matching aqua color to block out the words. Next, I applied  black gesso and attempt to calm down the busy all-over pattern. A few weeks later, on a whim, I took the painting to a marbling workshop and dipped it into the marbling tray (using greys and whites in my  marble pattern). After that, I added more black and began carving out two figures. The trick was to figure out how much of the aqua to leave as is, and how much to cover. At long last, I succeeded in bringing the painting (titled "Patching Things Up #13") to completion.

I took a few photos along the way (some on my ipad, which tends to take photos that are too light). Here's the metamorphosis of "Patching Things Up #13":