Ever watch the movie called "Bean?"

If you did, you'll remember he was that odd, inept museum security guard who was shipped from Britain to America to accompany the famous painting "Whistler's Mother" and lecture on it at a huge art show.

In a moment of solitude with the painting, he tried to blow dust off it to get a better view.


"Achoo!"


So he pulled out a handkerchief from his suit pocket and nonchalantly wiped off where he sneezed.

He looked again at the painting and noticed a black blob on Whistler's mother's face! 

![Reproduction_of_Whistlers_Mother-ink.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmc1s6q1fKR8a5RZcms5N8AjMtAYLW64CSRr1cvsCpR3D6/Reproduction_of_Whistlers_Mother-ink.jpg)



He stared in disbelief at his hankie, which was covered in ink, from a leaky pen. In a panic, his eyes bug-eyed, he tore the painting off the wall, and took it not so-discreetly back to a janitor's closet, where he proceeded to clean off the ink with turpentine. It came off like a charm.

"Ahh..." he sighed. Problem solved.

Not!

As the turpentine sat on the surface of this historic work of art, it ate into the oil paint and Bean saw bubbles form at the surface. Now, in a frenzy, he wiped off the turpentine, and with it, the entire face of Whistler's mother!

I don't know how hard I must have laughed when I first saw that scene, but if something like that happened to you in real life, it obviously wouldn't be very funny.

Something like that did happen to one of my students recently. (Oh, and I've had my share of "Bean" moments with my paintings, too, believe me!)

She had sent me an image of a painting in progress, and I complimented her on it. It had many good qualities to it, and in-progress paintings (including mine) never look perfect.

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Here is her reply to me:


>Hi Matt,
That’s kind of you to say but I kind of panicked and threw paint at it.
I was so excited about the sketch but I was scared that painting that clear glaze coat to seal it would result in the sketch bleeding too much. In what I thought was a stroke of brilliance I sprayed it with this stuff called “Workable Fixative”. That seemed to do the trick but when I painted a coat of clear matt medium the whole thing went gluggy.

>I totally panicked that I had ruined the whole thing and in a fit of hysteria I tried to calm down by doing step 3 of the shading road map. “Blocking in the cool tones”! My eyes were watering so much that I totally missed the word SLOWLY. Actually I reached for what I thought was ultramarine blue but it was phthalo blue ahhh! Even though I thought thats an odd colour I was in such a state I foolishly painted it on anyway. As I calmed down I realised my mistakes.

>Now in the calm of the next day I am clinging to your comforting words that every mistake can be fixed with enough effort. I am sorry that I just went too fast but now I will try to SLOWLY do some glazing.
Matt, for next time how do I stop the sketch bleeding?
>Cheers,
>Judy

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And then this is what I wrote back to her...

*Aggh....the workable fixative strikes again! I had a student who put on something like that to seal in her sketch during a class in my studio (she didn't use it on my watch) and when she went to apply her first layer, it was really blotchy!*

*Fortunately, it was on a dark colored suit. The solution? Wait for the paint to dry and then spot prime the area with gesso.*

*Then when she went back to glaze, no problems.*

*I saw someone use that spray fixative at the same summer class where I learned the glazing technique, back in 1993. When I saw how it destroyed her painting, it made an indelible impression on my 16-year old mind. I said, I will NEVER use that stuff!*



![content_dont_use-sm.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXGgv5g3jAr48QuQjqonX3pPS8UwkrqCXMQFKxCNG9m7U/content_dont_use-sm.jpg)




*So, NEVER use spray fixative on your painting. Now you know.*



Here is my answer to her original problem of the sketch bleeding during the sealing in process...


1. Have you prepared your canvas with a mixture of 75% medium to 25% gesso? (It doesn't have to be precise, but just along those lines.

2. Do you sketch with a high quality colored pencil like prismacolor?

3. Are you using pure matte medium to seal in your sketch?

If you answered "yes" to all the questions, you should be in the clear!

But to help you more...it just so happens that today I recorded a video on a new technique I've developed during the "seal-in" stage of the sketch.

I've successfully used it on a couple of my paintings, and today was the third one.

With this, the bleeding becomes less of a liability and more of an asset. :)


__Have you had any problems with your sketch bleeding during the "sealing in" process too? If so, this should help!__

*Let me show you here with this short video...*


https://youtu.be/z25ZT5Q3va0


Let me know how this video helps.

Have a blessed day,

![Signature_200dpi_sm.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQme9bNQFGcRh2U1rdE1BKQP6PgXkF7asr6qD67Vc8uYu6M/Signature_200dpi_sm.jpg)

*If you like this post, please upvote, follow and resteem. I post regularly on art, tips on painting and drawing, and encouraging thoughts.*