In a Reverse Painting such as the pieces you see here, the image is carried on the acrylic in exactly the same manner as on canvas, paper or wood; but when we look at the image, we look through the glass - which serves both as a support and a protective varnish. Everything is backwards from traditional painting. The working image is on the back of the acrylic. The viewer looks trough the plexi-glas on to the painted layers. Letters, symbols, and images are painted as the mirror image to how they normally read, in order to be correct when the glas is turned over to be viewed. Details or accents which would ordinarily be painted last, are painted first; the background, instead of being painted first, is last. All the details have to be correct as it is not possible to make corrections without destroying the underlying work. When the painting is finished the acrylic is turned over and displayed with the paint behind the plexi-glas. Therefore, three "reverses" take place: the paint is applied in reverse order, the glass is turned over when the painting is completed, and the design or painting is seen in reverse -- that is, the right-hand side of the pattern appears on the left-hand side through the acrylic. When painting on plexi-glas special care must be taken in the selection of the color palette due to the primacy of color. The synergy of paint and acrylic has a depth and luminousness unlikely in any other medium. Painting on acrylic is a very time-consuming and difficult handicraft operation. There is no place for a mistake because this what you first paint will always be in the front of the painting and you have no possibility to change it.

Katherine Houston

katherineh@usa.net

713-703-8274