I had a nice three-day weekend, and I spent quite a bit of time in the studio.  I am working on a new painting in the "Invented Faces" series, and I finished the small spider painting (even though it was exhibited in the show on the Eleventh, I didn't feel like it was quite "finished", so I kept at it.  I wanted it to be "right")

I mixed up another batch of Gamblin's "Traditional Gesso" Saturday night, and tonight I (finally) applied a couple coats to a couple of panels (after the initial three coats of Liquitex "gesso" (acrylic-based materials aren't really "gesso", but they are a sealer and primer--which gesso is, as well--so the term stuck.).

--the photo shows the double-boiler with the "Traditional Gesso" mixture...

Im going to try something with these next few panels; the panels I've made up to now, I've been able to achieve a very smooth surface, but the "Traditional Gesso" is incredibly absorbent; in some cases, the first layers of oil paints applied to the surface have dried as fast as acrylics!

Not all all what I want.

So, to these next three panels, I'm going to apply a thin coat of linseed oil, hoping that it will be absorbed, and saturate the layer of gesso, hopefully blocking the oil paint from being as readily absorbed.

I guess I'll find out when the painting commences on these panels in a few weeks; I still have to make the drawings for these paintings, before it can actually start painting.

But, it feels good to have some new panels prepared and ready to go...