01 March 2015
by Rey Armenteros
The stacks of skins I will now go through are a collection of small paintings and drawings that are not on paper or canvas – they are on acrylic skins (comprised of some combination of molding paste, gesso, acrylic gel, and paint) which I had made with the intention of one day adhering them to panels such as the latest batch I have been working on. Before even making these panels, I have certain skins in mind whose image would coalesce well with whatever concepts I might have of these new paintings. For instance, for a recent show, I focused on father and daughter images.
When I go about the ritual of marrying a panel with one or more skins, I place the skin over a panel and move it around to see what works and then place it on another panel and so on, until I do find something that works; and if I don’t, I put that skin aside and go on to the next. Sometimes, I make a panel around the parameters of a skin, such as producing elements in it that somehow accept the qualities of size, shape, color harmony in the skin. It is a laborious process that is like matching two jigsaw puzzle pieces from a heap of several hundred.
After I find some feasible combinations, I sleep on it, and then think about it a few days later, and then go back to them again the following week to make sure that this is what I want. I make alterations as needed and sleep on it some more, extending the moment before the decision, because once you stick it on, it’s permanent. When I’m quite sure of what I want, I adhere the skins to the panels using an acrylic medium, such as a soft gloss gel or a fluid medium. In that way, I am sticking acrylic onto acrylic using acrylic, allowing the individual elements to fuse together under one paint medium, unifying everything.
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17 February 2015
by Rey Armenteros
After finishing the backsides, I turn my attention to the fronts. What I try to do with them is prepare them to receive paint skins that had been made before this stage. (I will show what a paint skin looks like in a future entry.) Until I adhere the skins, the panels usually become abstractions of color that are geared toward the skin(s) that I planned to go with the panel.
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09 February 2015
by Rey Armenteros
Since I paint on Plexiglass, you can see the underpainting on the backside. The idea is that since my paintings represent my own take on Tarot cards, my paintings logically have two sides. This is what they look like on the back. 
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04 February 2015
by Rey Armenteros
This is the final stage of the underpaintings. The transparent panels have been sealed with paint, and they are now ready for the front part of the painting.
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31 January 2015
by Rey Armenteros
Here are some shots of the next stage in my process. The plexiglass is slowly filling up. When it gets completely covered, the underpainting part is done.
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28 January 2015
by Rey Armenteros
I’m gearing up for the next show. This one will be in Oregon, at the FireHouse Gallery at Rogue Community College. It will be my first long-distance show.
Here are the newest paintings in their early stages. What you are seeing here is the underpainting of thirty paintings, but since I paint on plexiglass, it is also the backside, thereby making each painting double-sided.
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