Sometimes, for whatever unknown reason, fixatives crackle. There is no rhyme. There is no reason for this. It just is.
The night I worked on this "Mini Haggis" resin I was working on three other horses. All were getting pastelled and sprayed at the same time. Only one crackled. There was no reason for Mini Haggis to crackle. Nothing different was done to him. His coat just crackled under the application of the fixatives.
I freak anytime this happens because it's so random and makes absolutely no sense. The only thing to do is repair. Here is how I repaired him:
The first step was to let the horse dry fully. I let this guy dry for about an hour. After which I took a very fine sandpaper (wet) and proceed to lightly sand down the bumps of the crackled areas. The paint during this sanding DID come off. I let it come off. The only object at this point is to get the body as smooth as possible. Keeping the sandpaper wet helps reduce scratching on the surface of the paint.
the crackled areas
6 coats of acrylics to cover
Once sanded several layers of acrylic paint were then added in just the damaged spots. For this bay I mixed burnt sienna, cadmium red medium and primary blue together to achieve the bay color. A hair dryer was used to dry each layer and make the repair go quickly. After which one more layer of pastels and yes, fixatives were used. The horse is now ready to continue with detailing work on the body in oils.
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol
“The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.”
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