The Mass in the Cauldron pt. 3: Painting the Boards

 

So the next phase in making these boards is building up texture before moving into color. I unfortunately didn't get great pix of that step- but after capping off the open ends of the boards with cardboard, I applied two coats of DIY texture paint (in this case Kilz mixed with a lot of sand), and some drywall joint compound in places to transition areas and fill gaps. I also built up the swamp terrain a little bit by adding sheets of stacked cardboard with joint compound and texture paint.

(forgive me if I go deep on process, this is just the kind of thing I find very fascinating to read from other people and it's what remains clear in my brain after doing the project.)

Next then is color. I wanted a color that hovered between the natural world and something much weirder and more synthetic, and lo and behold I happened to have most of a can of this oddball teal color that I'd used on the exterior trim of the building where I live. Perfect. Very heavy and opaque since it's an exterior paint. Another guiding principle behind this whole project is do not spend money. I haven't been able to perfectly adhere to that rule but I've made a great deal of this from materials I have on hand. 

Then- brown as a base color for the swamp elements. Now this is starting to look like something- something ugly in just the way I want it to be. But still very flat- so time to bring it to life a bit. 

I started with a round of drybrushing- an off white on the brown swamp, followed by a light green and a bright magenta on the Mass itself. Then a heavy layer of black wash over the whole thing. It's starting to build up the color that I'm hoping for- I think I got really lucky with the random selection of sample-sized housepaints I had on hand in the studio. But it still needs a lot more detailing. So, the next phase is, of course, a trip to the dollar store for random junk and oddments to add in for detail!