At a bar I used to work at, one of the regulars said she was going to donate a painting she was tired of. She said it’s one of her brother’s many paintings, and it’s been hanging in her house for fifteen years, and she’s just tired of looking at it.
She said it was huge.
I said I’d take it.
She laughed and said it was a painting of a parrot, and that I’d have to take it sight-unseen, because it’s so huge it’s too much trouble to take anywhere unless it’s permanent.
It’s about six feet tall by about five feet wide. It is indeed a painting of a macaw. Perched on a conch shell. Either the world’s biggest shell or the world’s smallest parrot, because to scale, the parrot would have to be about an inch tall. And the shell appears to be melting. And the parrot itself is kind of blank and creepy-looking.
It’s what I’d call very mediocre student-grade art. Her brother didn’t even sign it.
I want to paint over it.
I’d never buy a canvas that size, because they’re so expensive, but since I have one already, I can’t bring myself not to do something with it. It’s such a large canvas that I could paint it a single color and it would still be a statement. (Although that’s not my plan because it seems like a cop-out.)
I believe the Creepy Parrot Perched On Melting Conch is done in acrylics.
Is painting over it a viable idea? If so, does anybody have any tips? Should I primer over it? Or just cover it in white paint first? Or is painting over it going to be way more trouble than it’s worth? One of my girlfriends insists that the Ghost Of The Creepy Parrot will always be visible, no matter what I do with it.
How thick is the paint? If the painting has texture to it from thickly applied paint, than you would have to create a thicker texture to mask the parrot ghost. A Venetian plaster faux finish might work to cover it up.
If it is a thin paint than you should be able to prime it and then paint over. It might take a few coats of primer depending on the colours used.
Regarding your questions I have absolutely no clue. But could you please post a photo of Creepy Parrot Perched on Melting Conch for us all to marvel at?
If it really is acrylic, you’d be OK to gesso it first (i.e. apply a primer) if that’s what you want to do. If you want to sand it down beforehand, wear a mask so as to avoid aspirating the dust.
If it’s an oil painting, don’t put acrylics on top of it. Gesso is an acrylic paint, don’t use it on top of an oil. It’ll crack over time.
In terms of bleeding colors, I haven’t found it to be a big deal. I often paint over my bad paintings, I just turn them upside down. I often wind up incorporating the colors that are already there. That’s doing oil over oil.
It doesn’t seem like painting acrylic over acrylic should be a problem, depending on what you want. I don’t work in acrylics so I can’t say for sure.
I paint with acrylics, and have painted over previous bad paintings many times. It can be done. I use thin paints, so it’s no problem for me to just directly paint over the old paintings with new paints. And considering how expensive big canvases can be, it’s definitely worth it to paint over an existing crappy painting.
If the paint is thick, then you’ll probably want to put Gesso over the painting like **fessie ** said. Otherwise, even if you don’t see any of the colors of the parrot, you’ll still see the bumpy shape of the previous painting which would probably distract from whatever you paint on top.
I also want to echo zelie zelerton’s request to see a photo of the tiny parrot on conch painting.
My husband has painted over many a painting he didn’t like. But his were all oil. I believe he did some sanding first, then he did a yellow wash (I remember this very well, big yellow painting in the studio), when that dried he painted over it with gesso, I think. And then he did the new painting.
He called the yellow wash “reclaiming the canvas.” I think it was a psychological thing.
If you’re doing a lot of painting, you might want to start stretching your own canvases. It’s cheaper and not that hard to learn, and gives you a feeling of doing a painting “from scratch.”
I’ve been stretching some of my own canvases, but I can never get them as tight as store bought ones. And it gets harder the bigger the canvases are. Do you have any good instructions for doing it, or have any good tips on getting the canvas stretched tight enough?
I’d post a picture of the Tiny Parrot, but by the time I took it and posted it, I figure this thread will be dead. (It would take a couple days.) I do intend to take a picture of it before I paint over it though.
As for gesso…pardon my ignorance, but I’ve never painted anything before. So while I’ve heard of gesso, I don’t know precisely what it is or where to get it. I got as far as Drawing II in college…India ink washes were as advanced as we got.
My ex used to paint with acrylics frequently though, which is why I’m pretty sure The Masterpiece is done in acrylics. The parrot is a macaw, like I said, and thus done in very vivid colors, so a primer of some kind is a must, I believe.
Since I’ve never painted anything before, I’m not going to attempt anything on a grand scale…I was thinking large blocks of color I could just mask off, and then if I’m feeling froggy, a simple outline of a martini or some other easy shape. Like I said, the scale of the canvas means it will make a statement regardless of what’s on it. If I try to get too ambitious I’ll chicken out and never actually do it. I’m much more comfortable in dry media.
Gesso is a white stuff you use to prime a blank canvas (a lot of storebought canvasses come pre-primed). I believe its some sort of thinly mixed plaster – you can use it to built up texture if you like. Any art store that carries paint should have some; its a very familiar, non-obscure item.
I am going away for about ten days and I won’t be around to encourage/pester Audrey Levins to post a picture of Teeny Parrot on Melting Conch and I fear the thread really *will *die in my absence. Please do the decent thing, I’m counting on you guys.
You’re using canvas pliers and a staple gun, right? If not, that’s your problem. Go to an art supply store, and someone there will be able to show you how.
Please, * please* post a picture of the Creepy Midget Parrot? I want to see! I’m sorry I don’t have any great advice for you (I’m not a serious artist, so any ruined paintings I make usually just end up at the back of my closet), but I think the more knowledgable Dopers have answered your question already.