11_Rebecca fresco

I had a hard time with the fresco Rebecca painted on 19 September, 2009, at The Drawing Studio. When the model started posing, the fresco was way too wet to paint on. Therefore I baked the fresco panel in my hot car, under the Tucson sun, for 30 minutes. We lost an hour of painting time, and the fresco cracked while she was painting, but at least Rebecca had the experience of painting on a fresh buon fresco surface.

I soaked the Hardibacker tile overnight, for the first time, and did everything I could to keep the fresh tile wet, such as transporting it in the airtight Masterson Palette Seal. The lime/sand mix was probably too wet, but this hadn't been a problem before. I also sprayed the trowel and putty knife with distilled water when I smoothed out the edges and surface. Ironically, all this extra care made the tile too wet to paint on.

Now I figure that I should probably use the drier marble dust and lime combination, on a Hardibacker tile soaked overnight.

Final painting:


One scoop of sand:


One scoop of fresco lime:


Mixed with putty knife:


Mix stiff, but probably too wet:


Soaked Hardibacker cement tile overnight in distilled water (which I had not done before):


Waited until the surface water on the Hardibacker tile dried, so that the tile no longer glistened:


Applied fresco plaster on tile:


Sprayed distilled water on trowel and putty knife to smooth and edge tile:


Placed glistening tile in an airtight plastic box for transport:


Put lid on Masterson Palette Seal:


Laid box in busboy tub, with the rest of the fresco supplies:


Loaded all the fresco supplies in my car for transport:


Drove to The Drawing Studio in downtown Tucson:


Fresco set-up:


Surface of the tile was too wet to paint on when the model showed up. Still glistening:


Baked tile on the dash of my hot car for 30 minutes, under the Tucson sun:


Finally ready to paint:


First sitting:


Fresco started cracking right away:


Covered fresco with box during model breaks, to keep tile moist:


Second sitting:


More cracking:


Fresco place in covered plastic box for transport, and to retard drying (in hopes of keeping it from cracking more):



Update, 4 November 2009 --Cracks more pronounced as fresco dried:


We had Aaron Brothers frame the fresco: