For today’s session with Lunch Alone, in addition to my usual medium, I used ‘flavored’ turpentine for my solvent: turpentine with some homemade drying oil, plus drops of Courtrai siccative.
Readers of my blog know I post a lot about mediums and other arcane elements of art making. If you want to start experimenting with mediums, my advice is first to become familiar with the different surface or canvas preparations. The surface significantly affects medium performance; don’t confuse surface effects with medium effects. If what I’m saying makes sense, you’ve probably already sorted this out.
Painting can be like math problems (I like math). Solving a problem is often frustrating; you can spend a lot of time and make little progress. But when the light goes on, it’s fun and easy; painting is sheer joy.
The unfinished Lunch Alone is 32″x 48.” At this scale, drawing misses–even small ones–create roadblocks. Sketchiness is desirable in some areas–I don’t want all-over, equal focus, after all. But other areas must hit the mark.