Ok... I'm really pissed and I wanted to start this thread to vent and get peer support, sort of the way people do at Alcoholics Anonymous. I painted (what i felt) was a really cool abstract piece in acrylic on canvas. It took me 6-8 hours over two days. I did two separate background build-ups. The piece was awesome looking, except for a small area at the bottom of the canvas. I wanted to paint on a thick, impasto shape or line in that area to "improve" the piece. It didn't turn out the way I thought it would, I ended up putting on too much paint, it blended and mixed with the other dried paints and essentially ruined the other areas. I got mad and threw the piece in the trash. Has anyone else ever ruined a cool painting (of any type) like this? Misery loves company. :mad:

To be able to ruin a canvas I would have to have something good to begin with.

I know somebody :Cough... Steeldolphin: who has this problem though.

:)

Hey man dig that canvas out ... the good thing about canvas is you can use them again if you mess up... Just plop several layers of Gesso on that puppy and you got a brand new Canvas to use again :)

Jeff....let me just say that I can totally relate.

I think in order to remain sane while painting one must let go of what one thinks of as the ideal piece and just work until finished...just keep painting over and over....heheh wel thats my zen. ;)

Its happened to me soooooooo many times

Not having the safety net of ctr+alt+z, layers or save as sucks but nothing...and I mean NOTHING compares to the feeling and experience of seeing those colors go down on the canvas and to have the finished original....something the digital experience just doesnt give.

Dont get me wrong I sitll love digital work, etc, but two totally different expereinces and rewards when they work out. :)

Dont give up Jeff, and dont ever toss a canvas...sand her down and prime her up again...it can only add to the texture. :)

We should form some sort of support group. :)

We should form some sort of support group.

:rofl: ("Hi, my name is Jeff and I am a canvas ruiner.")

Yeah, I thought about trying to reuse that canvas, but at 7 bucks, it's not worth the effort. I'm trying to finish a new abstract piece that I may post in "Traditional" later tonight. I'm going to try not to ruin this one. Thanks for sharing the war stories. :)

Ah ha yeah forgot about the sanding... that is vital if you have several layers of paint.

:)

Just think Jeff...that canvas never had a chance to 'live'..snuffed out before its prime. ;)

Yeah... :( One thing about acrylics though, you can usually save a botched canvas since you can over-paint pretty easily, as long as you're using an opaque color on top. But I've found that even though acrylics are supposed to be water-insoluble when completely dry, you can still smear them in weird ways if you're not careful. Maybe it's just a matter of getting use to acrylics. Oh well, I'm sure Kandinsky threw away enough canvases before he got in his abstract "groove" (it was late in life for him actually). You live and learn. :)

Do you not use gesso? gesso is very opaque and is great for primer and if laid down over a painting it doesnt take mor thana couple coats to cover it pretty good.

No, I haven't used Gesso or any of the mediums yet, but I'm sure I will eventually. The gesso and the retarder are probably two that I'll end up using soon. Thanks Chris. :)

What brand of Acrylic are you using and or any mediums.

Can't say I have had problems with the paint lifting/disolving on subsequent coats. I usually wait at least a day between coats though depending on how thick they are.

Are you "scrubbing" with your brush?

No mediums yet. As far as acrylic paints, I've used Windsor & Newton, Grumbacher and Liquitex, all artist quality. They all seem to perform similarly to me. Usually it's just straight out of the tube or occasionaly very slighty diluted with water. That suits me since I do a lot of thick, impasto stuff anyway. At my art store, I get the best value with the Windsor & Newtons. Yeah, I usually let the build-ups dry for 24 hours. And yes, I do scrub (scumbling I think it's called) like a rabid maniac. I also use the palette and painting kives a lot, and sponges. So I'm pretty brutal on the build-up layers. I'm learning to adjust my technique though so that I can achieve the desired result without ruining my background. Once I master it though, it should be all good. Thanks freakyclean. :)

Hmmm yeah I don't use that kind of technique so that is why I've probably not come across that problem.

You could try mixing some gloss or matte gel into your paint. The gels are quite tough in my experience so they might beef up the paints somewhat.

Scumbling can mean two things. Most commonly it is used to describe putting one thin layer of colour on top of another so that optically the two mix to give a third color. This is commonly used with soft pastels where an xacto knife is used on the pastel to create a light dust that falls onto the painting. It is also used to describe a thin layer of colour in a painting that is semi-transparent allowing the colour below to tint the top layer(which I didn't know untill I did a google search).
The term is also used to describe the technique you use though.

Yeah, I got that scumbling definition from an Acrylics book that I bought. One of the articles on "scumbling" shows a photo of a hand with a brush in it pretty much doing what I do sometimes, with the pushing and pressing of the paint onto the canvas. I already have researched the gel mediums though but I don't think I need those now, although I might in the future. I think I just have to be a little more careful with the over-painting of my build-up layers, especially if I'm doing any technique other than just painting smooth strokes over them with a brush. Thanks for the helpful info! :)