Let’s pause and view the in-progress painting for a moment. The purple toned background is created largely with over-beaten abaca and treated with a mixture of water and paper sizing to prevent the surface from absorbing stained water that might leak from the addition of any new colored pulp that is applied. In the case of this painting, that would refer to the green toned pulps in the foreground, which are a combination of cotton and abaca, beaten for 20 to 30 minutes in a hollander beater. The sky area is created with the same cotton/abaca mix, and pigmented in blue tones. At this stage, the painting will be allowed to dry under weights for several days, at which point another review of its completeness will be determined.
