The Press, the middle painting, is giving me trouble–the ground is, I mean. It’s lifeless. It’s one of two things, so I’ll soon know the cause. It’s not too bad but it’s frustrating because things go so some much more smoothly when the ground is well behaved. The ground isn’t the only thing…
I placed a paint order on RGH’s website, and the agile boys at RGH promptly shipped two 250 ml jars of Paynes gray to me. Unfortunately, I’d ordered two 250 ml jars of flake white. I probably haven’t used more than 40ml of Payne’s gray in the past five years. I checked the RGH website. Sure…
I spent the day working on Picnic. I’ve written before about how I stalled out on Picnic. The issue was predominately the background figures. I put them in; I took them out; I put them back in again. I use ultramarine violet a lot, it’s especially useful for cool grays. I used ultramarine violet on the shirt of the guy at the…
I used some of the Lukas 1862 oils I wrote about before. I’m still not ready to add the brand to my oil paint reference because I need more testing. In their marketing material, Lukas emphasizes the ‘smooth, buttery’ quality of their paint. Virtuality all low-end brands make this claim. I can attest that…
Euclid Avenue #1 took up my time today. Euclid Avenue #1 is part of the Playhouse Square series. Push-pull. I’ve disdained synthetic brushes in the past, but I finally found a model that behaves decently: Escoda Primera. The Escoda Primera model, like all synthetics, is rugged. It handles well for a synthetic; not as sensitive as a sable…
I worked on the 48″ x 48″ oil, Two Cakes. Two Cakes has been long in hand. I really do not like the surface; a commercial canvas by Fredrix. I bought an assortment of Fredrix canvases from a NJ supplier who was going out of business. Even though I got a great deal on the…
I thought I was going to finally finish Main Street #1 today but I fell short. I am still not satisfied with the right-most figure. So, I keep working until I’m happy with it. Today I used walnut oil that I bought from James Groves. Really good stuff–for walnut oil. As I’ve written before, James really…
I worked on 4 paintings today, including the 3 small portraits in this photograph. Recently, I wrote about breaking my palette knife again. My favorite knife is (was) marketed as a painting knife, although I rarely used it for that purpose. But I painted with a knife today. I finished Garth in a Yankees Cap with a…