Canvas, Gesso & Thunder

Yesterday was a busy day of stretching canvases and applying homemade gesso before the thunderstorms began. 

I bought cheap pre-stretched canvases in a package from Michael's store. I removed that canvas, and added unprimed 10 ounce cotton duck. During the gesso/priming stage, I learned that my homemade gesso needs more water to flow well. Dry overnight between sanding prepares the canvas for paint. The more gesso, the smoother the surface. I prefer a roughish surface.

The smaller canvases (off frame) are gessoed over to reuse for plein air painting excursions. I need more bug spray for that to happen. Already 3 cans are at their last sputter. 

For the outdoors painting sessions, I plan to use a plastic container that seals well. Spritzing water over the paint will keep them from drying out. The covered palettes I've bought, do not seal well enough to prevent acrylic paint from drying out. The problem is finding a sealed container flat and large enough to use as a palette. I may need to use two containers.

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About the thunderstorms:  Around 9 PM EDT, there was a system that flashed regularly for well over an hour at a location south of Vergennes, Vermont. I can't imagine the horror that must have been for those people and animals that do not like thunder storms. Relentless lightening it was. 

In the late afternoon, around 4:30 PM EDT, it was so dark outdoors the outside lights came on. It was a scary 9 PM light. I then began to take regular notice of the sky and weather warnings. The pattern of rage and calm was unsettling.

The  photograph is the horizon view from my patio window. It was around 9 PM EDT when the picture was taken. That is how bright the sky was, and in some events, pure white. I saw lightening bolts going straight down to wherever.

The rain at times was torrential, sideways sheet of rain almost a white out. There is a lot of flooding in Vermont, Update New York and New England areas where the storms passed through.

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On a side note, Blogger has made changes here in Blogspot. The Add photo has a different format. And, the editing page where you type in, is wonkier than usual. For example, on the Paragraph choices, selecting Normal seems to jump in an extra space. Instead of single space, it adds a double one. Ugh. Try to fix it, makes things worse. The photographs on this post, are all selected to be on the left, not centered.