Indirect Painting for Texture

The still life at the school is progressing. Nearly every area is ready now for the second painting stage except for the cloth. In the winter, I painted several layers of white over areas of the the red (an indirect painting technique) to create the foundation for highlights, primarily on the front flap and the middle of the roll. Later I applied several glazes of red back over the white areas, and then the highlights I wanted emerged. What I didn't get was a sense of texture. The cloth has a strong weave in two directions and its edges are very frayed. I should have built that texture into my original layers of white when doing the indirect painting because I can't achieve it with the cadmium red paint on its own. So I'm back at it again. Over the last month, I've applied several fine white lines and white blobs to mimic the pattern. Now when I re-glaze it with red the pattern should be retained... We'll see.