#beloved monsters

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Jinni (Nik), 2022, oil on canvas, 24x36in
Click through for background info, poem, and high res in rare public Patreon post!

#nonbinary #djinni #fire elemental #beloved monsters #oil painting #queer artist #artists on tumblr #janet bruesselbach #portrait #fantasy art #psychedelic art #wicked sir nik #disabledandcute #figurative art #mythic creature 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Wed, 11 May 2022 17:25:28
Sometimes the glue has seeped onto the painting surface, and needs to be trimmed and peeled back to the edges of the tear. It’s important to preserve the painting layer structure and keep water-based media at their lower level.
I use a starchy paste adhesive to fill the bottom level of the crack above the patch. This may be better done with more PVA of a denser consistency.
I wipe off the water-based glue with a damp cloth so it only fills the patched area.
Another fill and level using spackle. On re-reading of the Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques, I’ve realized this isn’t ideal due to greater rigidity than the surrounding media, and I only did it because it’s what the pro restorer did. A thick acrylic gesso would be preferable. This gets scraped down to surface level, and the areas on top of oil paint wiped clean.
This is a crucial step: while the spackle or gesso paste is wet, I line up a piece of the same type of canvas, and press it against the filler to replicate the texture.
Once the filler dries, I sand and razor it down to be flat with the surface.
Now we’re into the oil-based layer! I mix cold wax medium with oil gesso and apply with a palette knife and rough bristle filbert brush.
We’re still just filling in, but starting to follow the lines of the painting. This is when we compensate for the pucker and the shallower valley effect around the tear.
After at least two days to let the oil gesso dry, I wipe down the area with linseed oil to prevent a dull spot. Then I use oil paints mixed with cold wax medium to approximate color transitions and brushstrokes matching the surrounding painting.
Finally I look to my photos of the painting before the damage, and paint another oil-thinned layer reproducing that area while touching up the painting otherwise. As this is, you can see an unevenness, because I was leery of sanding or scraping the area and scuffing up intact parts of the painting. But that’s just more learning, and to the unexpecting eye, this is again whole. I can only hope this proves to be a long term archival method.

Part 2/2 Part 1 here

Previously exclusive to backersandpatrons, but I wanted to share more on socmeds.

#art restoration #painting repair #oil painting #beloved monsters #portrait #material healing as somatic work 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Sun, 08 May 2022 17:00:38
oil on canvas art restoration process example Selkie (Rain), from the Beloved Monsters series by Janet Bruesselbach @limnrix
I painted this fantasy portrait in July 2021, of my friend as a contemporary selkie, for a series about queer identification with mythical creatures. I built the canvas myself, so I have almost all the original materials. The structure started with single fill cotton canvas with PVA size, stretched on bars, then three layers of acrylic gesso, Gamsol thinned oil paint and a second session with some varnish and linseed oil medium (which I’m phasing out for reasons that are becoming obvious working with my older paintings).
In September 2021 a man I had rented a room to, and was trying to evict, went on a destructive rampage with an ice pick, stabbing and slashing half of my best paintings. This one particularly shows the malicious intent and intimate violence of his vandalism, as he had appreciated this model in his way, and as with many paintings that depicted femmes or me, targeted their face.
It took months before I had the paintings out of storage in a studio space and could think about restoring. I hadn’t done restoration before and it was intimidating. I consulted with several professionals, one of whom suggested doing it myself would damage it more. I hired another to patch a different painting and he was kind enough to tell me some of his process. I knew healing the art would be healing the trauma of being attacked through it. I would most trust myself to do the repainting stage especially. This damage was comparatively minor despite its targeting, so it’s one of those I felt competent repairing, after practicing on others damaged in less critical parts of the composition.
This is what the punctures look like from the back. The first task is tidying the hole up. This means trimming off strands of canvas with an x-acto blade, tweezers, and nail scissors. The bigger holes can have the damaged parts removed to make an orthogonal shape.
I saturate a patch of the same canvas material with PVA size and brush it flat over the larger holes, which are ringed with PVA glue. It’s best to have unraveled strands at the edges of a rectangle.
Where there is more of a slash without missing or disturbed painting surface, it can just be flattened with PVA glue and held together with acid-free paper tape.
This is all done on a flat piece of masonite shielded with wax paper to prevent glue from sticking. I don’t have a vacuum table, so it’s the next best thing. I put another piece of masonite on another piece of wax paper over the patch.
I weigh the masonite down to flatten the patch and glued punctures while it dries.
After at least 12 hours to dry, I remove the masonite and wax paper, and unpeel any temporary tape.

Part ½
Previously shared only exclusively with backersandpatrons, but I’m going to start trickling in out onto the socmeds.

#art repair #painting #restoration #beloved monsters #oil on canvas #patching #material healing as somatic work 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Sun, 08 May 2022 16:52:53

Selkie (Rain), 2021, oil on canvas, 60x80cm

Support on Patreon for the story and process of repairing violent damage to this painting:

Janet is creating portraits of humans and other segmented tubes | Patreon

#portrait #selkie #mythical creatures #coney island #sealwife #da escapee #oil painting #beloved monsters #queer artist #queer art #fantasy art #artists on tumblr #janet bruesselbach 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Tue, 03 May 2022 10:18:01

Succubus, 2021, oil on canvas, 23x32in.
belovedmonsters.art

#janet bruesselbach #succubus #sex demon #portrait #oil painting #beloved monsters #artists on tumblr 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Fri, 06 Aug 2021 20:24:19

Manananggal (Amanda), 2021, oil on canvas, 24x40in diptych

#janet bruesselbach #oil painting #female figure #fine art #fantasy art #horror art #manananggal #aswang #phillippine folklore #beloved monsters #mythic creature #bisexual #biracial #bilingual 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Wed, 14 Jul 2021 20:20:39

bruesselbach:

Beloved Monsters is my current, partially explored series of oil portraits exploring the sympathies of sexual and gender minorities and neurodiverse cyborgs with the archetypes of storied and feared mythical creatures. Kickstarter selling catalogs, prints and originals to cover models, supplies, my labor, printing and exhibition costs, runs through June, all or nothing, back what you can and share widely! ‍♀️‍♀️‍♂️‍♀️‍♀️

One day left to back! Get some art!

#beloved monsters #mythic creatures #oil painting #portraits #queer artist #neurodiverse #fantasy art #illustration #traditional media #figurative art #queer imagination #lgbtqia #janet bruesselbach 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 10:49:47

We’re successfully funded, now let’s get the Beloved Monsters Kickstarter to 30k by Friday to commission short fiction for the catalog! There are only days left to get in on originals, prints, invites, and the catalog, so please back now and share widely.

#beloved monsters #speculative fiction #fantasy art #illustration #reptilian #oil painting #queer monstrosity #lgbtqia #art for sale 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Tue, 29 Jun 2021 10:32:16
A slim, tawny-skinned nude figure with pink hair dances with one arm up and away and one gesturing forward, in an abstract swirl of blue, green and pink clouds.

Sylph (Aster / @pieartsy), 2021, oil on canvas, 60x80cm.
The Beloved Monsters Kickstarter has reached its goal! Back before July 2 for exclusive updates, show invite, affordable prints and originals, and catalogs. Push to 30k to commission short fiction for the catalog! Go to belovedmonsters.art

#beloved monsters #figurative painting #fantasy art #speculative art #semi abstract #mythic creature #air elemental #kickstarter #lgbtqia #neurodivergent #dancer #art series #art for sale 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Fri, 25 Jun 2021 17:03:20

AKickstarter post about Louisa Ashe as Medusa Please back now as much as you can and share widely!

#kickstarter #crowdfunding #beloved monsters #mythic creatures #queer monstrosity #lgbtqia #medusa #oil painting #portrait 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Sun, 20 Jun 2021 17:07:59

Posted an update to the Kickstarter about Reginald as The Minotaur.
Only two weeks left to back Beloved Monsters for affordable catalogs, prints, and original paintings! Push it past the goal and we can work toward commissioning short stories for the catalog from queer and trans sff writers!

#kickstarter #art for sale #artists on tumblr #queer artist #queer monstrosity #figurative painting #oil portrait #fantasy art #thriving positive #beloved monsters #minotaur 
Janet Bruesselbach@bruesselbach
Thu, 17 Jun 2021 09:54:02
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