So, there was an attempt...

My first fore-edge painting, complete!

To those of you who are new to the Inky Corner recently, I wish you a hearty welcome. By way of pre-amble, I’d like to introduce you to my recently-acquired hobby: the art of fore-edge painting (you can quickly skim this post to get an idea).

Several weeks ago, I prepped a book with a test sketch (see below)…

Aaaaaaand then it just sat there to one side of my computer for a month. Mostly because I was too intimidated to begin painting. To actually (gasp!~) risk ruining it. I work with colour very seldom, and paints almost never, so I’m in new territory here — moving out of greyscale into Technicolor…!

Yikes. Terrifying stuff. But, hey, at some point you have to face the projects that are looking at you reproachfully while they collect dust. And I’m pretty tired of being a person that ‘doesn’t finish things’. I’m actively trying to work on that. (I’ve found so far that it mostly consists of [1] limiting the quantity of projects you have on the boil; [2] not being overambitious; and [3] gritting your teeth and doing things when you least feel like doing them.)

Anyway. You didn’t come here to listen to me wail about procrastination. (Or did you? Dun dun dun.) And it turns out that, while it’s really painful sitting for six hours with the fear of failure/sense of doom hanging over most of the paint strokes you’re making, it’s also kinda fun to defy that inner critic and attempt a form of reckless, Chestertonian abandon.

So, without further ado, let me present the completed fore-edge painting (for reference, it’s approximately 3cm tall):

Am I entirely happy with it? Nonsense, I’m the artist, of course I can always find a lot to pick at. But not a bad first attempt, either. I particularly enjoyed painting the window shutters and the brick wall. And it looks pretty darn cool when it’s sitting on my shelf!

The book doesn’t have gilding, so the image doesn’t vanish when the book relaxes — the perspective gets a little squashed, that’s all. It’s only a pocket dictionary picked up for 50c, so I’m not going to bother gilding it (because getting a good gild is the really tricky part).

The Kuretake Art Nouveau palette is a joy to use, and it’s easy to create a cohesive palette with it. I’m looking forward to trying out other colour combinations with it.

I definitely broke a few rules (big brushstrokes side to side rather than small dabbing movements; brushing upwards; using too much water etc) and this led to uneven sections (particularly the bush) and some paint bleeding into the pages. Next time, I’ll have to be more careful (ease off on the Chestertonian abandon, perhaps).

Soon, I plan to start painting on the fore-edge of a pre-gilded notebook, so I can get the true ‘vanishing’ effect. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

xx The Inky Baroness