Bell Jar Lizard 2

Last night after everyone was asleep, I pulled out my easel again, cracked open boxes of new art supplies, and got silly giddy happy over painting once more. I didn't even linger over the new materials, but just dived right in. Trying out new papers, this first one a Fabriano Ingres, Italian made. Also a packet of finger cots, rubber-glove tiny pieces that just cover your fingertips. Only I found I'd ordered a size too small, so they were cutting off my circulation. Not good. I snipped the rolled edges off with scissors and just stuck the remaining short film over the three fingers I use the most. It got soiled fast, but kept my fingers cleaner than usual. I just can't keep them out of my work! I've bought chamois, stumps and tortillons before, but they end up sitting forgotten while my fingers do all the rubbing, smudging and blending. I did pick up a new pastel brush, but all it did was remove pigment from the paper, not blend it. Maybe it will be better for later layers. I set it aside again.

I'm probably going to get ill someday from being so literally hands-on in my painting process. There was a story passed around in art school that an instructor of mine had a small wound on his thumb that never healed for seven years, because he always got oil paint on it. I was horrified by the idea! Hopefully these finger cots will postpone some of the possibility of contamination for me. They certainly let me work the whole hour at a strech without running to the sink every ten minutes to wash the dust off my hands.

I remembered this time to pad underneath my paper, so that the pastel strokes would go on smooth and soft. It's fortunate that I had ordered some interleaving paper too. I replaced all the tracing paper sheets that were separating my paintings in flat storage with interleaving, then put all the dirty tracing sheets under my new paper for padding. It worked great, and I got one more use out of those old tracing sheets. I never liked using clean papers meant for new drawings or paintings for padding, even if they're not going to get smudged. I'd rather use something I know I don't care much about, so this was perfect.

So here's a few hours' work into the Bell Jar Lizard, starting again. I tried to be more true to the sketch this time, but already see some things that need adjusting. The bell jar flares too much at the bottom, has too much of an hourglass shape. In the oil study it was too straight, but now it's too curved. I'll correct that next session.

To see the sketches and previous work on the Bell Jar Lizard, go here.