I painted the red gesso undercoat for the gold leaf onto the panels this afternoon, as usual ending up wearing much of the stuff on my jeans. I don’t know why gessoing should be such a messy business for me, maybe it’s because it’s lying flat on the table, which is too low (gives me a backache, every time). Nevertheless, the panels are done, ready for gilding tomorrow, all bright red and nice and rich. I think this smaller version of As the Crow Flies is going to look terrific.
I ran out of time to visit with John this afternoon, so I’ll visit the lab with him in the morning. He’s started running with us at dawn, joining Rich and I in our quest to get some pounds off. It’s going pretty well so far – I can wear all my old jeans again, even the tightest of them. Anyway, tomorrow the reward for our efforts will be a visit to the lab to see the results of the reflux, and to begin the experiment again with the other half of the sagebrush. When we’ve completed that we’ll distill the solvent off the essential oil and bottle the remainder.
