Tudor Pewter

I was slowly awakened before dawn, dreaming I was feeling increasing pain. Finally it got to a degree where pains woke me up and I realized it was real. I am besmurched. Good news though, so far the pains have been managed with regular high doses of Ibruprofin. I was even feeling well enough to go with Clare to Nova Color this morning and we had a great time there. I told Barbara, their most excellent expert paint partner, that I wondered what would happen if I mixed their Black gel for dimension with their incredible metallic Stainless Steel and a matte Black gesso for the miniature window leading. She ooo'd at the thought and proceeded to open the jars to test the combination while raving about what happens when you mix these sort of pigments. Her swatch test resulted in a stunningly beautiful antique pewter look and it rang my bell big time. She also tipped Clare and I off to how their gorgeous Red Iron Oxide looks exactly like real rust when blended atop the Steel with a touch of black. Noted.

Late tonight, I took a simple Tudor pattern and scaled it to fit a panel of the bay window, taped a piece of acrylic on top, mixed the three Pewter pigments together in a squeeze bottle and proceeded to pipe a bead of the mixture on the test piece following the pattern as well as possible. I'll see how it changes and looks when more matte when dry. A next version should have more Steel and less gel to be even better and I've got to do a better job of making the lines straight and even. Tomorrow I can fill in the diamonds with differing thicknesses of the gloss medium and perhaps repeat the process on the reverse, including piping leading on the second side, like a real Tudor window would look. We'll see.

Not much done today but it could be worse. So I'm pleased.