The first In the studio post of the new year. On the Square is part of my Playhouse Square series. There are 15 figures in the 48″ x 60″ painting (16 if you count a figure reflected in a window). I’ve spent most of the past two weeks working on this painting. I spent several (5!) days just on…
Category: materials
materials, Shop Talk
Busy palette
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•I prepared today’s medium and took yesterday’s palette out of the butcher’s tray where I store it. (The rectangular palette is my workaday palette; I only use the traditional oval one to mix certain tones.) I use my workaday palette 2- or sometimes 3-days running before cleaning it. Even stored in the covered tray the colors…
materials, Shop Talk
Synthetic brushes
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•I wrote about my antipathy toward synthetic brushes. This photo illustrates the point I made in the linked post. The four synthetic brushes on the left are old and misshapen. In my experience, synthetics quickly lose their shape and become good for little other than effects or glazes. The best thing about them, by far, is their cheap price. But this…
Bio, materials, Paintings, Shop Talk, Studio Corner
In the studio 12/23/15
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•Bio, materials, Paintings, Shop Talk, Uncategorized
About mastic-based mediums
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•Recently, I wrote about my experience with maroger–a mastic-based medium. Maroger was my standard medium for a period, although I haven’t used it in a number of years. I stopped using it because details are difficult and, because it is such a soft resin, paintings are prone to scratch or show other surface insults. My…
Drawings, materials, Paintings, Shop Talk, Studio Corner, Uncategorized
In the studio 12/6/15
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•aesthetics, Bio, materials, Paintings, Shop Talk, Studio Corner, Uncategorized
In the studio 11/1/15
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•The ground on this painting, Three Women (VW Bug), is wonderful. It’s a traditional oil ground applied over acrylic gesso. A traditional oil ground is essentially white oil paint with the addition of chalk. The chalk makes the ground more covering and absorbent than oil paint alone, even when sanded. It’s really great to paint on. I…
materials, Shop Talk, Tips and Studies, Uncategorized
Transferring designs to canvas–update
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•I’ve written before about the various methods used to transfer designs to canvas or other surfaces. There are three ways to do it: projector, grid, or cartoon. Typically, I use grids. Grids can handle any scale and I like working out final design elements on the canvas grid before picking up the brush. I can grid off a sketch and…