"Aerial Bikes II", 13.5" X 22" gallery wrapped acrylic & watercolor

Aerial Bikes II by April M Rimpo

Aerial Bikes II

acrylic and watercolor

13.5" X 22" varnished gallery wrapped paper*

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More inspiration from aerial photographs I took in New York City resulted in Aerial Bikes II.  I am really happy with the clean lines I achieved in this painting. I decided to do this as a gallery wrapped painting so the image doesn't have to be constrained by a frame.  Since gallery wrapped paintings are varnished there is no need to put the painting under glass. The gallery wrapped edge eliminates any visible staples.

Here is a little on my process for this painting. Because this is a small, non-standard sized painting I decided to use an old frame as the stretcher bar. No need to buy special stretcher bars when other materials are available. The frame is cut to 13.5” X 22”, the final size of the painting.  I varnish the frame, as I would varnish a stretcher bar, and then stretch the paper over this frame. I put the drawing on the paper before wrapping it on the frame. A 1.5” boarder was left around the image which wraps around the frame. Normally I stretch the paper first so I don’t have to worry about the alignment being perfectly square on the frame, but since this is a small painting I believed I could control the stretch.  This approach worked out well.  I do like to experiment with different methods to allow me more flexibility in my work.

First step prior to stretching

While preparing the frame for stretching I went ahead and used very watered down fluid acrylic to splatter the paper, as shown at right. The splatter is an initial textural layer for the building and sidewalk.  A lesser amount of splatter is on the umbrella to unify the painting.   

Four colors of acrylic were used alone and in combination for the splatters: Cerulean Blue, Paynes Gray, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and Permanent Alizarin Crimson.  These same colors were used throughout the painting.  I used some granular watercolor pigments (Daniel Smith Buff Titanium and Olive Green) in the walk and in the bushes.

* Framing not required on gallery wrapped paintings
** Contact April regarding shipping outside the United States