WIP WEDNESDAY: "Sherbert"

Hey! Happy Saturday. It's WIP WEDNESDAY.

Today, we discuss the long-awaited Sherbert
commission. Shoutout to YvesSaintLaron for the name. He said it looked like sherbert or a frozen dessert in the pre-spread phase, and now I can't unsee it. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos prior to when I poured this white paint layer. BUT. I'll explain what happened.

So! I reused this canvas that I... took from a donation pile back in 2022. They were getting rid. It's free game. And I'm gonna be honest -- I wasn't feeling anything or seeing any vision for it at ALL. It was just a free canvas of a larger size that i didn't have to spend money on. It had some yoga art on it, which was nice. But what I really wanted it for was the texture. Whoever painted this had taken tiny strips of paper (or paper towel?), rolled them up, and taped them down on the canvas to create a raised ring pattern underneath. How do I know? I peeled one back thinking I had gotten something stuck to the side of the painting between 2022 and now. But no, it was from the original artist. I don't know if there was art under the yoga art....

So yea. Moving forward to end of last year. My friends moved into their new house and decorated a bit. I was asked for a paint pour. We negotiated sizing and debated colors, but i didn't have any available in the requested palette. So, I offered to do a commission. They just happened to request this exact size. Which is great by me -- I didnt have to go buy a canvas! 😂 plus I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do with it..

So I grabbed this and primed it with white paint. I should have used the white base to help with the pour, but I didn't. Instead, I spray painted it and then waited days for it to dry and then mixed these BEAUTIFUL, rich pearlescent hues. My homie sent me a photo of their couch w pillows. A few of those pillows had a polka dot type pattern to them so this texture seemed perfect for the vibes. And let me tell you, had this turned out right the FIRST TIME????? Ugh! Anyway. So I mixed all these colors up. I did pouring mediums, satin, pearl pignment powders... Some even had two tones of pearl. And I prepped to do a "dirty pour" .... little did I know how dirty this pour was gonna get.

So I carefully poured the mixed paints into this giant cup. And placed the prepped painting on top. Flipped it. Kinda dropped it a little. Caught it. Panicked. Then came to my senses, put the painting down, and did the pour on the floor. WHY I initially tried doing all this while *standing at my desk,* I'll never know. But damage had been done. I got it on the floor, the chair, and my toes. And what's worse? I pulled the cup, and it was all just ....shiny grayness. Everything mixed together when I kinda dropped it and caught it.

I'll admit the end result looked kinda neat once it dried. But it wasn't what I was asked for or trying to do. You couldn't even REALLY see the color. So. I had to start over. But then life lifed. Hard. I got sick. My phone broke, and I lost the pics from the end of November to the middle of January. So i have none of those photos. I also almost lost my grandparents. And my aunt.... It was. A lot. So it took me months to get this done, sadly.

The first photo see is the beginning of attempt #2. I forgot I didn't have any photos from attempt #1 anymore. I forgot to take one before pouring that paint on and turning it around and around to get whatever that design is. So I don't have any. But i like this. I think I may try to recreate it. Or something like it when I get more paint. But....I dont have a pic, and I'm a lil sad about that.

So, with the white paint, I let it dry a bit before spreading it more. I didn't pour enough to cover everything because I really wanted to create more texture. I *should* have followed the texture already present, but i made more haphazard circles in the paint with the big cup lid. And then let that dry a couple days.

On Monday, I sat down to paint with Mel and finally finished it. We watched movies and painted and giggled. It was fun. It took me most of the first movie to mix every paint color. I used acrylic paint, pearlescent pigment powders, store bought pouring medium, and homemade pouring medium. Some of them I also added some satin finish to. I had to do all of the mixing by memory because I lost my reference photos and sheets (all in my old phone - didnt wanna bother homies). And I didn't make a separate swatch surface for some reason. I should start doing that....

Right. So, I ran out of paint in the process. I tried being mindful because i started this low on paints and ran out of some colors for real. But i ended up mixing more and more paint throughout the pour. I got a little frantic and poorly mixed the last batch of gold, which ended up being pigment water at the end. 🤦🏾 And I didn't use as many pearl powders this time. But ionknow. It came out very nicely. I was extremely worried that it wouldn't. And more worried that they'd hate it. But they don't. In fact, they love it! So. I'm going to seal it and deliver it next month. 🥰

I need to do it fast, though. Because I'm still not satisfied with it. 🫠 I dunno. What do yall think?

- e