Halloween Goblin Heads Painted

I have been working on this project on and off all year.  After a few bumps in the road, I have finished painting the goblin heads.  I am pleased with the results.  There are always things I would like to have come out better.  Sometimes if I keep trying to "fix" a piece that I end up just making a mess.  So at this point I am calling the heads finished.  Note:  If you want more information on the construction of the heads, scroll back through my previous posts at folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com   (I have been blogging about these heads since the beginning of the year.)

The heads were  made with hangers built in because they will be hung on a rope.  
 
I liked the color of the heads.  They have a lot greens and reds, giving the heads a mottled color.  Ithought I would blog a little bit about the painting in case someone might be interested in how to achieve that outcome.  When I was new to crafts, I thought I could just slap on one color of paint and it was done.  I was always disappointed with the outcome.  It took some time to learn how to paint a piece so that it was interesting.

The heads are made from paper mâché.  Before the heads were painted, I sanded them fairly smooth using a sanding block.  I don't do a lot of sanding, I mainly want to get rid of any flour paste lumps and high spots.  There are a number of low spots, but I was not trying very hard to get rid of them.  The low spots help with creating the mottled appearance.  What I was really trying for with the sanding was to call it good enough. 

After sanding, I gave the heads two coats of white Gesso.  The Gesso covers over the print on the strips of newsprint used to make the heads.  It also helps seal it and fills in some of the depth of the low spots.  I let the Gesso dry thoroughly between coats.

I used acrylic paints for the project, but they are better quality paints, not craft paints. 

The inside of the head was painted with Mars Black.

Base color and tooth detail.

The areas around the eyes, gums, and lips were painted with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Cadmium Red Light.  I actually had to paint them a couple of times because my first mix had too much red in it.  The red was too bright.  I ended up going over the areas with a washes of Burnt Umber until I could knock the color down some.

Brushing Raw Sienna over a small area.

The teeth were painted with four layers of paints.  The first layer was a mixture of White and Raw Sienna mixed with a little Pearlizing Medium.  I was hoping to give the teeth a more enameled appearance.  I was not that impressed with the results though.  The next coat was a watered down wash of Burnt Umber.  I selectively painted it into the crevices and low spots in the teeth to make them look dark and decayed.  The third coat was a stronger mix of Burnt Umber in only some of the crevices and low spots.  The last coat consisted of tiny dabs of straight Burnt Umber in even fewer spots.  The multiple coats of paint gave the teeth a lot of depth. 

Wiping off excess to leave paint in the low spots.

 The base coat for the heads was a mixture of Cadmium Yellow Light (dominant color) and Payne's Grey (mixing color).  I don't have the proportions, I just mix until I like the color.  It created a bright green. If I had added more Payne's Grey, it would have turned a more gray-green color.  However, I wanted the base coat to be very bright.  The translucent nature of the color also allowed more light to pass through and hit the bright white of the Gesso, allowing more light to bounce back through the paint.  My husband came in at that point and I told him it was only the base coat.  He said, "You would never know."  I could have stopped there, but I felt that I could do better than bright green.

Raw Sienna is dabbed on, then lifted off.

The mottled appearance was achieved by working in a small area at a time.  Using a bristle brush, I scrubbed on Raw Sienna on a few square inches, feathering the edges so that there would not be a hard edge.  As soon as the paint was on, I used a paper towel to scrub the majority of it off.  The paint tended to remain in the low areas, and leave only a thing sheen on the majority of the skull.  I might have to do some areas a couple of times to be satisfied with the result.  Next, working in the same area, I would use a smaller stiff brush to dab on dots of paint.  Then, I would carefully dab the dots of paint with a paper towel trying for a dab and lift without smearing the paint to far.  I think the results were satisfactory.  If I did not like it, I could wipe it off and repaint the area again until I did.

I let the heads dry completely for a couple of days just to make sure they were well dried.  After that, I gave it two coats of Exterior Satin Acrylic Sealer.  I would have preferred a Matte finish, but I had not been out to buy any due to the Corona lockdown.  I used what I had available.

These heads are part of a larger project.  Check back in about a week and I will have some new pictures of the project.