A Slow Start

It has been slow to get going on the actual painting.  First the paint order took longer than expected to arrive.  I am also a little concerned that I did not purchase enough paint or the all the ones I need.  It is so difficult to guess in advance what and how much will be needed especially for a project of this scale.
I had decided to test paint a section to see how it would work to have students help with the painting.  Well!  All I can say is that it's a good thing I tested.  Painting on the wood  is difficult even with the coat of gesso.  I tried a number of combinations of plain paint, paint with retarder, paint with polymer, etc.  I found that the paint still slides off the surface if the slightest bit too thin.  The problem is much worse than when working on canvas.  It took multiple layers to get the sky right as the paint went very streaky.
I have come to the conclusion that the rest of the work on the heart will be up to me.
Fortunately, students should be able to handle the native American figures of the beaver and the salmon with a little supervision.  Perhaps I will create more figures - something to think about.