Thinking hot

Gotta try to think hot, since I just painted this in the art studio with the heat cranked up to max and the space heater also at max, aimed at my feet and legs. It's 4 below zero out, or at least last time I checked. The snow outside has that weird loud crunchiness it gets only when it's really frigid. 

The photo is a bit glare-y, since I took it immediately after painting it. Tomorrow will be spent packing and showing my brother (who's coming to housesit) how to care for the orchids, animals (minus my beloved cat Halfie), and house. We are going to escape the cold and snow--yay!--and are off to Ajijic, Mexico, for the next couple of weeks. I'm bringing painting stuff and plan to continue to post pics/blog from there. 

I hadn't painted on a gessoed panel for a long time. Tonight I felt like it just to see what it was like again after so long. It's so different than the oil-primed linen I've been using for a while now. The panel is all slippery, but gets deliciously perfect at about 3 layers, then if you try for another layer or so, all of a sudden you've lost that perfect "window" of nice-feeling paint application.  The oil-primed linen I use is not super slick, and it's at its perfection with about the second layer, and can take a lot more layers after that. (Of course, everyone's version of a "layer" will vary too.)

It's very subjective, but my opinion (at least at this juncture) is that the oil-primed linen gives better realistic results, and the panel gives livelier, more modern-looking results. What do you think?

$115.00 - Jalapen~o (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com