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Just Add Water Hollywood Slots Bangor, Maine
Part 1 Architect's drawing The facility will be completed in June 2008

My art will fill the rotunda window and in effect be a work of public art for the community and visitors here. This may well be the largest existing pastel installation. Construction underway in the winter of 2008
The progress so far...
The supplies and art materials have all been ordered and have been arriving at my door for weeks...

Boxes, boxes...	...and more boxes!
	The ceilings in my home studio are not high enough to accomodate this project, so I work in a temporary studio. These beauties greet me every morning when I arrive at my new studio space.

After a bit of nesting, my space feels like home. With books, music, chocolate... I've got everything I need to be inspired!

And thanks to Master Carpenter, Tom Birtwistle, I've got everything I need to create. Tom and I spent much time discussing what I'd need for an easel for a project of this size. Tom devised this design. It's simple, adjustable, functional and it's perfect for my needs.

Since I work in soft pastels that will be framed behind glass and in order to fill the rotunda space, I am creating the art on 16 panels. This will be a polyptych, a work consisting of four or more painted panels. The 16 - 3/4 " Gatorboard panels arrived, each one measuring 7' high x 4' wide...I'll need a step stool.

One panel fits fine but the easel will accomodate two panels side by side.

The panels required many layers to prepare them to accept pastels. The first step involved coating both sides and all edges with acrylic gesso.

When dry, I applied a second layer of gesso to the front of all 16 panels.
The next step was to apply a coat of Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer to each panel. This is an acrylic based medium containing finely ground pumice to provide a sanded surface that will hold the pastel layers. Since all of these media are white, in order to keep track of the layers, I marked the panels to show what had been completed.

To eliminate the white and tie all of the panels together with a common background color making the whole piece more cohesive, I applied a diluted wash of turqoise Aquacryl paint .

This also gives the panels some visual texture which will come into play as the composition develops.

To eliminate a bit of bowing from all of this treatment, I weighed down the panels.

Two panels fit nicely on the easel.

And I continue to think BIG.

The next step was to project the image I had already created to scale onto each panel. I put my original image into the projector and transferred it to the large panels.


I then refined the image with hard pastels.

In order to ensure that the image will continue seamlessly from one panel to the next, I placed the four adjacent panels together, made adjustments in the sketch, and repeated this process for all sixteen panels. The entire image, thus the painting itself, will only emerge when all sixteen panels are hung and viewed together.

Now going for the gold. I began the process of applying 22 K Australian gold leaf.	This small box which fits in the palm of my hand holds 500 sheets of gold leaf sandwiched between thin tissue paper. 1,000 sheets of gold leaf equal the thickness of a human hair.

The leaf is so fragile that it cannot be picked up with the fingers. After applying gold leaf size (adhesive) with a brush, I used a small piece of acrylic rubbed along my arm to develop an electrical charge. I then used this piece of plastic to lift the individual sheets of leaf and carefully place them over the already tacky adhesive.

This squirrel hair brush is soft enough to then gently press the leaf into place.

This section was formed with 53 sheets of gold leaf.

Wait a minute!

How'd those get in there?

After several hours, once the leaf has dried in place, it is permanent. Using the squirrel hair brush and a very soft touch, I whisked away any leaf that did not come into direct contact with the adhesive.

Real gold leaf is amazing to work with. Though not easy to use, the resulting soft glow and richness are worth every bit of effort. I am excited to be including it in this piece.

But what does one do with all the excess gold?
	Well, I had fun gilding smooth beach stones!

New meaning for the term Goldfinger. An artist friend described the leaf perfectly when she said, "It's like trying to hold air!"

While I was busy gilding, Tom was busy building.

This carrier will allow me to safely transport completed panels to the framer.

Good thing we have a Yukon XL (eXtra Long)! When all the seats are removed, this fits perfectly into the back and holds six panels at once.

My days in the studio pass productively from morning...

	...'til night.

These test panels await color samples once all my pastels arrive. And they are arriving...



I even received some luscious free samples generously sent my way by Karl Kelly, owner and maker of Mount Vision Pastels. Karl knows I'm working on a BIG project...look at the size of those sticks!

Mountains of Pastels! And this is only the first of three orders ready to be sampled on the test panels.

I begin the process of testing each pastel stick to see how it will look on the background wash I've chosen. The colors respond completely differently than they would on white paper. I note the color name, number, tint and any notes that might be helpful as I work.	I file the pastels by number for later use. An important part of my work and one that ultimately saves me much time is to sort my pastels by value and color temperature.

I have two trays each for very dark colors, dark colors...	...medium-dark colors...

...medium-light colors, light colors...	...and lastly, very light colors...

Each section is then arranged by color temperature from warm to cool. It may seem confusing, but I began this method of sorting and using my pastels many years ago and find it very useful in my work.

I love these sturdy Roz pastel cases I discovered.

With four trays of individual foam lined slots in each case, they are perfect for transporting pastels safely.

The pastels are all tested, filed, packed and ready... and I'm ready to begin painting!

Quickly after beginning to paint with the pastels, I discovered I will need to take some serious health precautions that I don't normally with smaller scale projects. The pastel dust was flying and within minutes I was covered from head to toe! Tomorrow I'll come prepared...
	Ok, well, this is a bit unnecessary...
...but I will be taking these measures to protect my health...and hands. Though I wear latex gloves, the cloth- like tape provides an additonal layer of protection from the rough sanded surface I've created.
	The respirator is essential and I feel better wearing it...but it's darned hard to eat the M&Ms this way!
At the end of every painting day, I always clean my pastels so they are ready when I am the next morning.
	*Note to self: Order more aprons.
The respirator works effectively and after three days of painting, it's time to change the filter.
As the painting progresses,

the color palette grows...

and grows...

and grows.
Joy \'joi\ noun 1. Painting for five minutes and looking up at the clock to discover it's two hours later.

The painting is progressing well. I have completed 11 of the 16 panels of art. (In order to keep the subject of the painting a surprise until the July unveiling, I have obliterated the image.)

The seasons have changed...

the filters are doing their job...

and the color palette continues to grow.
Continue to Part 2...