There are two ways to paint letters and type - you can paint the positive space which is the letter itself, or you can paint the negative space around the letter to form it's structure. Most of the time I'll just paint the letter's positive space, but when you paint white or lighter letters on a darker background, the negative space must be painted to create it's formation. This is simply because the white paint is not opaque enough. So, for some of the letters in this piece, I have found myself carefully painting the negative space with a high tinting strength phthalo  blue mixture. This is difficult because phthalo blue will stain anything it touches, so I need to do my best to not make many mistakes forming these white letters.   

Here is the progress on the stones 45 record. The detail in the sleeves has been painted, so next to come will be the graphics and letters. I'll definitely keep busy painting all the type and straight lines of the schematic (if you are a little confused about what my plans are for this painting, check out my last blog post from earlier this April). Most people assume painting lines would be the easy part, but in reality, it's quite challenging. Unlike drawing where you can use a straight edge to create a perfect line, that isn't possible with a brush. Masking tape can sometimes be used to create edges, but it won't be much help here painting these lines.  It will just take some time with a small brush to be careful to keep the lines a consistent width and the edges sharp and clean. 

Normally my work is fairly small. Since 2013 I haven't painted anything I would consider large. It's not that I don't like big pieces, it just so happens that my subject matter is mostly small. However, while trolling on EBay, I came across Coca-Cola coolers from the 50's. I think they have a great look, so I bought one. I also found an aluminum bottle carrier from the same era. Coke products have always interested me. I'm a fan of the logo and especially the old glass bottles.

So for this painting, I'll be using the cooler as a pedestal for the six pack of Coke bottles. The painting size will be 40" x 32".  It took me a few days just to construct the panel. I spent 5 hours alone sanding the acrylic gesso to a texture-less surface. I also added cross bracing in the back  to prevent warping. This will be an exciting piece to paint.

Here are a couple of my latest paintings still in progress. The first painting features another 45 record. This time it is The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction. I decided to invent my own sleeve for this one. So instead of a sleeve that has the record company's graphics, this will have an electronic circuit schematic. The circuit is from the early 1960's Maestro Fuzz-Tone pedal, a simple electronic that created the distorted guitar sound on the record. The fuzz guitar tone is the result of Keith plugging his guitar into this fuzz box that was then sent to a guitar amp. The tone is very distinct and it is the first thing you hear on the record. If you listen closley, you can hear Keith turn the fuzz tone pedal off and on throughout the song. Being a hobby guitar player, I picked up some knowledge of electronic circuits and came up with this schematic idea for this painting. Once I render all the detail in the paper sleeve, I will paint the circuit schematic on top.