Bird Painting: Using Heavy Gel

This week, during my MOMS group, we painted pumpkins.  I really enjoyed it and it made me remember how much I missed painting.  I didn't bring too much when we moved into our apartment due to lack of space and just honestly feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Most of my art supplies are in storage so I haven't been super inspired to dig into painting.  However, after painting the pumpkin it was on!  

Yesterday, the girls were napping, football was on, my hubby went running, and I decided to pull out the paints.  One of my favorite things to use is Gloss Heavy Gel from Liquitex.  There is a lot you can do with this stuff.  It thickens your paints, adds texture, and a little bit of gloss.  I love how it makes my acrylics last a little longer too.

There are a few ways you can go about doing this.  You can take the gel and spread it across your canvas.   I LOVE using a palette knife.

Or you can mix the gel with a color.  The color doesn't change, but it spreads out your paint so it lasts longer and gives you that texture.

Okay, so in storage I have a projector that I use for writing text on canvases.  I freehand sometimes, but I love being able to pick from hundreds of different fonts.  With my projector being in storage I had to find a new way.  I used GIMP to type up the text and then mirrored it, which flipped it horizontally.

Then, I put the sheet of text facedown on my canvas.  So, unlike this picture shows, flip your paper so the ink-side is touching your canvas.

Take a pencil and trace it.  I had to press hard as I did it and I would peel it up as I went to see if it was going through.  It was faint, but it worked!

This is the almost finished product.

I LOVE this Gloss Varnish from Liquitex.  It not only protects your paintings, but gives it that just finished, glossy, wet look.

Happy painting!