Another Reductive Pear #ReductivePainting, #RobertBurridge #LifeImitatesDoodles

Yesterday, I posted the latest page in my Journal52 art journal, explaining how Robert Burridge's video of reductive pear painting changed my work.  I had so much fun painting reductive pears that I wanted to do more (it's addictive, lol).

 I was given a sheet of Schut's Pigment Oil Painting paper to try out.  It's a canvas paper.  I don't paint with oils anymore, so I decided to see how it fared with watercolor and acrylics.

Using Manganese Blue Hue, Raw Sienna, Hansa Yellow Medium, and  Quinacridone Magenta, squirting each in turn directly on the page and used a small house painting hogbrush to spread the paint.  Then I used an Interference Violet to carve out the pear.

I love the way the paper kept the brush strokes, giving the piece a wiry texture.  It's more pronounced in real life than in the scan.  The interference color was more opaque than usual.  Normally, it's so transparent you can barely see it, but I think the sizing kept it from being absorbed and so more color showed.  The 'glow' at the bottom of the pear appeared where the interference paint was added thickly.  Instead of spreading it out, I applied more thick paint on the other side to get the glow there as well.

The watercolor...well, it didn't work so well.  Fair enough.  I suspected that a paper meant for oil paint wouldn't handle the wet media well.  The paper started pilling after the first wash, limiting the amount of glazing I could do.  The watercolor did lift, but even gentle scrubbing increased the pilling.

All in all, I'd defnitely buy the paper to use for acrylics, though I wouldn't expect them to handle as usual.  I'd try different brushes to see what effects I could get.