Black.

The next step in our process was to finalize details and to add black.  Black could be added to the colors or to cover up mistakes.  I ended up covering up a lot of mistakes!  It is so hard to control the brush within such a small space.  Melissa and I were happy to learn that this was an acceptable part of the technique.  It made us a little less nervous when we were painting.  We ended up using the black paint as an eraser.  

 As I have mentioned in a previous post, the brushes that we are using are made out of squirrel hair.  We were lucky enough to use one of our instructor's handmade brushes today.  I think she was holding out on us until we got better at the process!!  This brush was very nice and painted an even, thin line.  You can see a couple photos of the brush here:

In many of the photos, you can see that we are leaning our wrists on a brace.  This is important because it allows you to paint in a more controlled manner. We were happy to have it and have learned to paint using the brace.  At first, I found myself moving my entire arm around so that I would not have to use it but the instructor put a stop to that habit!

We have found that we have to get up every hour or so and walk around.  Melissa enjoys looking at the artwork around our classroom.  Here, you can see her in front of the iconostasis.  We never tire of studying all of the details!  We also have a couple of different work stations.  We usually spend most of our time painting, however, when we have down time, we end up studying or practicing drawing and patterning.  You can see some of the photos of our different work stations below.  

I have been so impressed with the quality of the school.  They make sure to give us tours and show us around and the quality of the student work is amazing.  I am even impressed with the chairs that we get to sit in!

The final step that we completed was to put a thin layer of lacquer over our painting.  This step made us both very nervous but it really helped bring the colors to life!  During the entire process, we have to take care not to get any dust or small hairs on our painting.  We are constantly brushing a feather over our brooch to remove any possible dust.  This was exceptionally important before we applied the lacquer.  Next step.........GOLD!!!!