Xanth and Gesso Experiments

I am going to try and explain what the heck I did

I will admit I had to do a couple of new pieces 

to help me remember

I big reminder to make better notes

(or any notes at all)

The commonality between these pieces

is that they all begin as dipped or painted with 

Xanthorrhoea Resin (Xanth)

and then after they dried were

painted with tradtional gesso

I am working with plants dissolved in methylated spirits

which is a type of denatured alcohol

the idea here is to pull the Xanth 

through to the front

which I did by accident the first time

These have been dipped/soaked in 

methylated spirit (meths)

on the left is cotton fabric 

on the right a book page

both cloth in puffball and meths

left just a dip

right a 10 minute soak

these are both paper

and have had a shape painted on the back

with the Xanth

then into meths with a little Xanth 

contaminating it

on cloth

here I have painted on 

a shape with a mix

of skim milk powder

titanium dioxide pigment

and water

here it is after drawing into it with a Pitt Pen

and then dipping 

the bottom half in Puffballs

and the top in Bloodroot

I did give the white areas a bit of a wipe

a white line after dipping

soaked in meths

dried

drawn with a brush pen 

then painted with white and wiped

old pieces done

with some technique like above

but no notes taken so 

I am not entirely sure

I think I need to do more

these two were drawn with

a thicker Xanth and Puffball mix

before dipping causing them to bleed

working back into pieces with pencil

and a white gel pen

drawing with thicker puffball 

after dipping

If you have any questions

or even just to let me know what you think

and if you are interested in more

please leave a comment

x te