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My goal in this project is to make something similar to an Alebrijes Oaxacan painted wood carving.
I am sure this is a bit crazy, but I love Alebrijes.
Many years ago, my frequented The Hill restaurant in Austin, TX. It was one of our favorites. The restaurant had many Alebrijes crawling on its walls. A few years later, when it was going out of business, I asked if I could buy one, and it sold me a lizard for about $200.
My understanding is "real" Alebrijes are carved from a specific tree that has natural curls, and they are painted by a handful of Oaxacan area families.
More than 15 years ago, my youngest son and I painted an alligator. I had a great time painting this with Ben.
He also bought me an axolotl. The lizard and the axolotl seem to be "real" Alebrijes. The axolotl has a "Mandala-like" pattern, which is associated with Buddhism in India or Tibet.
I am using the reference photo on the left, which is of a real p. metallica tarantula.
I got this huge, unpainted spider years ago (~1.5 feet around). I don't know where I bought it. You'll note the abodomen is not the same as p metallica.
After painting, it will not be a true Alebrijes because it is not carved in Oaxaca from a single piece of wood, nor was it painted by an Oaxacan artist.
Step 1. Get brown paper to protect the table.
Step 2. Get painting tools: brushes, a water cup, and Sandy's Mandala point tools
Step 3. Remove legs and label them. So, I know where to put them back.
Step 4. Get Liquitex colors: black, gesso, cadmium yellow, cadmium red, black, teal, ultramarine blue
Step 5. Remove legs, glue legs, and let dry. Note: A "real" Alebrijes is carved from a single piece of wood.
Step 6. Create a gray base coat using Liquitex neutral black and Liquitex Gesso
Neutral black is made by mixing equal parts of burnt umber and ultramarine blue, and then adding a touch of dioxazine purple. This makes a more vibrant black than lamp or Mars black.
Coat the whole spider except the bottom
Paint all sides of the legs
Add a second coat of gesso. The photo only has one coat. There are some small pinholes and other spots that the first gesso coat didn't fully cover
Step 7. Create an Oaxacan geometric pattern on the spider using rulers and a mechanical pencil on top of a gesso base. (I planned to do it this way, but found it was easier and faster to use acrylic pens to outline the pattern, aand then paint over the outlines with the final color)
Oaxacan style has geometric shapes (dots, triangles, pentagons, concentric circles, and so on). See the photo on the left.
The abdomen should have a design similar to the p. Metallica design (and not the style of the Oaxacan tarantula shown in Step 7.)
Note: the abdomen of the wood piece is not the same shape as the real p. metallica
Sandy likes the orange and yellow on tthee thorax
Step 8. Paint the tarantula similar to a real p. Metallica tarantula (see top photo). However, the legs in Step 7 are better looking than on the real spider.
I painted one leg, andd then replicated this design on the other legs. I got better, more consistent results by only doing one part of the pattern on the other legss. And then doing the next part of the pattern.
Paint it in Oaxacan style: middle back (thorax), legs, and far back (abdomen)
Be sure to include yellow on the legs by joints, as in the photo. The yellow dots are also a good addition.
This is an intermediate photo. Painting straight lines or patterns on a curved surface is very challenging. I originally estimated this project would take 4 days. I am now thinking it will take at least two weeks. I can't concentrate on this level of detailed painting for too long without making mistakes. So, I am taking way too many breaks.
Step 9. Spray with a matte or satin Liquitex finish
Add a Gamvar coat to protect
The final version is in the photo on the left.
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