I got busy with other things these past two days, so I didn’t get this finished as soon as I had wanted. I worked on the details, mostly with colored pencils, then using a brush with turpenoid and oil pastels for the final nuances. A few areas didn’t hold the gesso as well as others, so it didn’t take long to over work them. They’re right on the limit of still looking good. Had I crossed that line I would have no choice but to strip off the area and re-apply the gesso and start over on the skin. I think I finally figured out the problem with the gesso – it’s the masking. Although it’s not supposed to leave any residue, I noticed a difference when painting the background between areas that had masking on it before and areas that didn’t. So, in the future, I think I will have to wash down the paper after removing the masking. Although this is my favorite frisket, I may have to switch to another one if this continues to be a problem.
In any case, it is now complete and ready in the store here.

Purple Passion