Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Mud & Blood: the art is in


Well, this one was all explained in the last post, so not much left to say.

The original art is 28.5 x 36 inches, oil on masonite panel. I have an ongoing internal discussion about what to paint on. "The Web" is inconclusive about whether masonite (or hardboard) is archival or not. I've been using it for years, so I hope it's okay. This particular piece of hardboard was 3/16 inches thick, which is too flimsy for a piece this size, so I braced it with 1x3 spruce with masonite corners, which makes it rigid, but pretty darned heavy. I like MDO board, which is what the actresses are painted on, but for this last painting I bought single-sided MDO which had a totally different (ie: ripple-y) and unacceptable surface, and the two-sided was unavailable, which is why this is on masonite/hardboard. I've heard that MDF board is good, but I haven't tried that. I considered birch panels, but I don't think the panel seam would be completely invisible, which would be a problem. I could use canvas I suppose, but I prefer a rigid surface (I guess I could mount it), and I don't really like painting over all that weaving. Problems, problems.

The oil painting was photographed by Tony Long (www.tweekthis.com), and he did a phenomenal job. Tony uses a new, totally digital setup that makes unbelievably detailed reproductions of flat art. And he's a first rate color guy too, so the colors are about as good as they can be. I'll write more about that later when the actress prints are released.


Oh, and perhaps I should say that the image size is 14" x 17 3/4 ", overall print size is 18" x 24". Print cost is $95 plus $18 shipping and handling (and sales tax, if applicable). You can purchase it at www.kensmithhistoricalart.com (which also answers to www.godsavethesouth.com)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Incredible piece of art, Ken! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

This looks great, Ken.

It's so discouraging having to worry about archival quality. I stopped making my oil pastel landscapes on paper for many years because someone scared me that it wasn't archival, but when I tried that canvas-surface paper for oils I couldn't work with that texture! I've started again with some paper that takes oil pastel that's a good surface, but I lost a lot of momentum in the meantime.

Linda Davick said...

"He believes in showing the humanity of the unsung heroes and villains of history, everyday people living their lives." Nice quote.
The unusual expressions on the faces do stick with you.

Anonymous said...

reading the last Harry Potter, where they use the term "mudbloods"