See, I know I’m my own worst critic. Whenever I finish a painting, I put it away so I can’t look at it for several weeks. If I don’t put it away, I’ll find things that bug me every time I look at it. After a few weeks, I can look at my work with…
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…
Paintings take on a life of their own. Sometimes that’s good; other times, not so good and I argue with the painting. I am not arguing with Playhouse Square Visit but I am surprised at the direction it insists on taking me. Not unhappy–just surprised. Yep, I am getting ready to stretch more canvases, as…
The poor old thing finally gave up the ghost. I knocked the Pearl brand in my Brush Reference, but this old brush kept its usefulness for a long time. The once mighty Pearl Paints has been gone for–what?–5 years. I placed the brush alone on the palette for this photo. I was using it on the…
The cheery sunlight made me pause as I entered the studio and take this photo. The easel has the painting Break on it. Break is 40″ x 50.” Studio corner with some current work drying. Break is the painting in the lower-center. Break is part of the Playhouse Square series.
Sub Rosa, the unfinished painting on the easel, is moving along. The underpainting is nearly done. The white-seeming ground visible throughout the painting is actually a middle-ish gray tone. Compare it with your eyes to the dab of white in the middle of the palette. Sub Rosa is based on photos taken during last year’s Festival…
Here’s the studio corner with recently-worked paintings drying. The bottom-right painting, Sub Rosa, is still in the starting stages. You can see the gray-tone ground throughout.
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…