After flavoring my medium with additions for several days, today I used my normal medium. I worked on this painting during both of today’s sessions. When the painting surface is right, as with this painting, my normal medium is unbeatable. What is a good surface? I like smooth surfaces. ‘Smooth’ means the canvas weave is…
Yesterday’s Thanksgiving holiday was wonderful at our house. We had three of our children here to share my wife’s delicious turkey and stuffing. Daughter Jane baked an apple pie, and son Keith made deep-fried mac and cheese. The latter was something I’d never eaten. Everything was excellent and, for once, I didn’t eat too much. This morning…
I’ve written about my everyday-medium plenty of times. I frequently modify my medium for certain situations. Sometimes, for example, I add a little Venice turpentine to the regular turpentine I use in my medium. I add a very small amount of the sticky Venice turpentine to the medium. Other times, I add a small amount of sun-thickened…
Upsidedown. It’s useful to look at your paintings in mirrors or upsidedown, as I’ve down here. The old rule-of-thumb maintains that a painting should be balanced when looked at normally and in a mirror. That old rule-of-thumb still holds as far as I’m concerned. Three Women in Sandals, part of the Playhouse Square series, looks OK…
Today’s session with Booth at the Fair is my 5th. By contrast, yesterday’s sessions with On the Square was the 20th and final one. I have a long way to go with this painting. It’s 44″ x 60″ but it feels larger, perhaps it’s the amount of detail or the eleven figures that make it…
I finished On the Square then put down my brush and took a walk. Sometimes I have to get out of the studio to cure “studio blindness,” during which I lose my objectivity and focus instead on some narrow aspect of the painting. After a 45-minute walk, I returned to the studio and the painting…