Picture Building

The linen sure has a different feel.  I noticed right away that it looks different depending on the direction of the mark,  like wood grain.  I feel like I went from painting on white bread to painting on an english muffin.  The surface is everything to me, usually I apply gesso with a brush, and I highlight those brush marks by keeping my paint thin.  It is not like the emphasis on flatness in the classical sense, but it still boasts of flatness in a similar way.  I like when the underpainting crosses from skin to background.  Since it was suggested to scrape the gesso on and then to apply oil primer in the same way by both Tony and Peter, I am doing just that.  I could not see taking a putty knife to the support (I don't know if I still call it a canvas) because I am heavy handed and could picture puncturing it with the sharp corners, so I got a plastic thing that is used to smooth frosting on cakes.  It was also cheaper and easier to find around here.  I can already picture reacting to the natural grain of the linen in a similar way that I worked off of the gesso.  I am excited, scraping the gesso in allowed drying time to be minimal, and it took much less material.  It actually pushed through a bit to the back, and wow was it quicker.  I took the time to build a new easel from parts of my old one and some scrap, I have made this exact type several times.  I like my easel on casters so that when I get aggressive it has some give, like a civil war cannon.  Rothko used to tighten and loosen his stretchers in mid painting for different effects of resistance, that is right up my alley.  This is painting.