Lessons learned

Upon completion of this last painting, thought I'd share a few lessons learned with the practical side of this creative process.

My initial intent with this painting was to paint on the un-stretched canvas thus allowing me to sew onto my painting and create a quilted painting.
1.) The painting was too large to do this because it was heavy and difficult to maneuver through the sewing machine.
2.) Even if I were going to try it, I should have done the stitching before adding the light source because the stitching would have interrupted the light source.
3.) How I did complete this painting was quilting the backing fabric with the batting and then adding it to the painting and binding them together. Because the size and stiffness of the painting, it had to be done where the entire piece was kept flat while sewing so I had to take it to the church, pop up tables to create a large enough work space and sew. It was not easy to move through the machine and keep the entire piece flat and smoothly moving.
4.) I discovered how much easier it is sewing on binding when the piece is laid out flat on a table surface! I love the hand sewing in the binding process but have never tried laying the piece out flat and doing the hand stitching while sitting at a table. It made it easier. It took over 2 hours of hand sewing on this binding because of the size.
5.) I would not use the highly textured mediums on un-stretched fabric of this size again. Too much movement causes little bits to break off leaving white specks.
6.) I think the concept of having a quilted painting would have worked for something large had I done all the stitching on my line drawing before painting. Then it would have been quilted and I would have been painting a quilt.
7.) Storage for this piece will be a bear due to the fact now that it cannot be folded and, my original plan of rolling won't work on a small tube roll now that extra thickness of the quilting process has been added as it caused the painting side to buckle. If I had a tube larger in diameter, I believe it would work but not sure where to find something like that!
8.) I still am drawn to the concept of being able to quilt my painting but will try it next time on a small piece that can easily be maneuvered through the sewing machine not requiring the fold over of fabric to get it through the machine's opening.
9.) And have I said how much I love products by Golden's? They just cannot be beat. Yes, they are crazy expensive but they are the absolute best!!!! I just went to an art materials trade show and spoke with the Golden's reps about some of the products I had not tried. I've wanted to try their new Open Acrylics giving a longer drying time. They are sending me some samples! Woohooo! I'll let ya'll know what I think when I get them and try them out. I also found that they have a product I can add to my current heavy bodied acrylics to allow for a longer drying time! Cool beans!

Okie dokie... think that is it for the lessons learned in the practical sense for this project. I need to print these out and put them in my journal along with process photographs so I remember. You always think you'll remember stuff like this but ya' don't. I don't, anyway. Thanks to all of you who have followed along with my process through this piece!