(no subject)

The painting is coming along nicely on the scroll. However.... the gold leaf is looking weird. Sigh. What was a perfectly mirror finish when first applied is now crazed with tiny lines or even completely eroded off the gesso. I haven't been abusing it, either. It's not a problem with the gesso, which is performing beautifully. I think it must be that the flexing of the paper has caused the cracking. No idea about the erosion, though. I can't imagine how I could avoid these problems. Maybe if the scroll were fixed to a rigid backing to minimize the flexing. That would help at least till I take it to site, but after that.... no help. And right now, or anyway before I deliver the scroll, I need to touch up all the gold by adding at least one more layer. I don't know if more would be better. Aaargh! Frustrating. It's going to be tricky adding gold only to the currently gold areas without it sticking to the paint. All I can do is try, though. I think I'll wait till I finish the painting to minimize further damage. Sigh.

Ysolt came over with lunch today. She hadn't met the kittens yet. Carmen was friendly, but Miranda headed for cover and wouldn't come out, which surprised me. Lunch was a delicious curried chicken salad with grapes, mango and pineapple in it. Yum! Pretty good deal when guests bring the food and it's really tasty! I was sorry she couldn't stay longer, though. She was in between assignments and got a call ref one of them and had to go. We hardly had any time to talk. We'll be able to talk at Pennsic, though. I'd like to be able to go up for both weeks but it has dawned on me that I need help getting my pavilion up there, and I don't know when I'll be able to get it there. I do still have a lot of getting ready to do, though. As soon as I get done with this scroll....