Taco Redo

For the last 10 days or so I have been experimenting with the surfaces that I paint on. My goal is to find something that allows me to rework sections of a painting. So far I have tried painting on paper prepared with watercolor grounds and gesso. Both mediums can be bought in black, gold and white and can also be tinted using your own paints. The advantage of using grounds or gesso is the paint is easier to remove, which makes it easier to rework the painting. The tradeoff is gouache does not adhere as well to the prepared surface and I don’t get as bold a picture as I would on untreated paper.

A week ago I posted a sketch called, Stopping for a Taco. I painted it on paper prepared with gold watercolor grounds. The feedback I got indicated that the painting needed more dark areas. Today I tried the same composition but this time on paper prepared with black gesso. I may have overdone the darks this time.