19 July 2018

The Daily Paint By Number: 50's Diner Sky Complete, and Laying The Asphalt

3559.
The experience so far working 50's Diner is more satisfying than Flying Fortress was. This subject was much better-adapted, or maybe it suits the PBN mode better. Also, the choice of colors is much more apt. Add that to a panel that has the lines and numbers in a very light blue, but still readable, and you have a project whose progress is, so far, quite pleasing.


The top third of the panel now has the sunset sky standing out, and despite the abstraction, the effect is very pleasing to the eye. The bottom is the blues, blacks and grays of the parking lot asphalt: There's a two part swath of a #5/#10 mix, and a larger swath of a deeper, blue-tinged black of a #5/#16 mix.

The plan next is to cover the area to the right of the parked cars. There's a challenge here that was unexpected; the area marked 10/25 is bracketed by two parking lot areas that have no numbers in them at all, not even a hint as to what the maker figured was the appropriate color. I'm going to freestyle it, of course; after I see what 10/25 looks like, I'll either mix a harmonzing color out of two of the three of #10, #25, or #16, or just use the #5/#10 mix. It all depends on what #10/#25 look like. After that, I'll bracket the diner by doing the foliage, then fill in the muscle cars.

I like moving in from the edge to the middle. With this work, it's aquitting the effort magnificently so far.

Here's what it looks like beyond the painting:


The rectangular tray is a nifty palette I got some years back. It's designed for acrylic paints; white, because that's what is best to mix these colors against; it has four rubberized feet, so as not to slide about, holds the brushes well in that side-channel, and is made of a nice durable plastic. This allows me to simply scrape/peel the dried paint off with the edge of a retired debit or credit card.

I'm sure there's some irony in using a retired financial instrument to clean an acrylic paint palette this way, but the words escape me just now. If it's important enough, I'm sure I'll find 'em, someday.

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