American bald eagles are nested here. Yesterday I was able to get some photos of the eagles cartwheeling and cavorting above our house. There are a lot of bird species here: gulls (of course), herons, bluejays, cardinals, crows, robins, and many others. And these days there are flocks of geese. But the eagles are bird…
anecdotes, How to, materials
Another canvas ready
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•Vermilion, OH
Changeable Lake Erie
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•Because Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, it’s very changeable. Mild storms can transform into violet cataclysms instantly. Inexperienced boaters are regularly caught out. Small boats swamped while desperately making for the safety of the river is a common sight. But this changeability provides never-ending entertainment for those living along the shoreline.…
anecdotes, Bio, Vermilion, OH
Pre-dawn moon
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•When I woke at 6:00 AM, I thought a helicopter was outside my bedroom shining a searchlight onto the shore. The authorities still haven’t found the body of the man drowned in a recent boating accident. A helicopter searched my shoreline a fortnight ago looking for his body. I thought they were searching once again.…
anecdotes, Vermilion, OH
Christmas season 2021
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•As with every Christmas week in NE Ohio, the weather is dismal and gray. When I saw this gold stuff spread about our living room, I grabbed my camera to memorialize the strange event. “What is it,” my daughter asked in amazement? “Beats me,” my son shrugged. “I think it’s sunlight,” my wife suggested. By…
How to, materials, Shop Talk, Uncategorized
Mixing paint on the palette
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•anecdotes, Uncategorized, Vermilion, OH
Yesterday
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•Yesterday I was late to the studio. I dragged my lazy butt into the studio at 8:30. Morning people know how head-shakingly lazy that hour is. I painted until lunch at 12:00. After lunch, I was back in the studio until 3:00. The studio sessions were good–better than the previous day where my energy was…
materials, Shop Talk, Uncategorized
Naphtha
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•I’ve written before about the difference between paint thinner and OMS (spoiler: they’re just different names for the same thing). I’ve also written about the turpentine that I routinely use. Why haven’t I written about Naphtha? I use Naphtha to clean etching plates but for painting, I use it less frequently than the other top…
materials, Reviews
Review: Maimeri Puro oil paint
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•Grumpy review, materials, Reviews
Review: Bob Ross oil paint
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•Cleveland, Culture, current affairs, Uncategorized, Vermilion, OH
Woolybear
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•The annual Woolybear Festival in Vermilion was yesterday. The weather wasn’t perfect but that didn’t stop 100,000 festival-goers from converging on the little town of 10,000. I went armed with my Nikon Z7 camera and managed 875 pictures in 2.5 hours. The annual festival began in 1973 and has occurred every year except for the…
materials, Reviews
Oil paint brands update
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•How to, materials, Shop Talk, Tips and Studies, Uncategorized
Painting flesh
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•Artists find painting people and portraits difficult. Even artists who can paint complicated landscapes without too much difficulty stumble when they attempt people. Why? Part of the answer is the uncanny valley. The uncanny valley refers to the mechanisms people have for recognizing other humans. It turns out that these complicated mechanisms are difficult to…
materials, Shop Talk
New paint order from Blue Ridge
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•The more I use Blue Ridge oils, the more I like them. I continue to use their flake white, of course, but I’m enjoying their entire lineup. My recent small order contains colors I use all the time, cerulean blue and permanent crimson, and others I’m testing–terra rosa and cobalt teal. Earth colors like terra…