Turpentine diaries 1/20/2019
NE Ohio was pounded by a winter storm overnight. At noon, we–my wife, daughter, and me–braved the gusting winds and blowing snow to clear the driveway. We had to shovel through snow drifts just to get out the front door. We made short work of it, however. The snow blower my brother-in-law gave me works
Turpentine diaries 1/13/19
Booth at the Fair ( or At the Fair or The Fair) is 44″ x 60,” which makes it one of the larger canvases I’ve worked on recently. I am working on the drawing for a larger canvas–54″ x 66.” I also have a passel of 48″ x 60″ canvases waiting for attention. So much
Fat over lean
So you’ve embraced the two related studio aphorisms I discussed in this recent post: fat over lean, and make the lights thick but keep the darks thin. In practical terms what does this mean? Oil paint, tube paint, is stiff and unmalleable. Adding oils and solvents to the paint makes it manageable. But these additions
Turpentine diaries 1/6/2019
This morning I finished the first painting of 2019, Along 4th Street. Today’s session was the 14th with this painting, which is par for a painting of this size, 40″x 50.” I used my normal medium throughout except for some of the lights, such as the those in the large orange bag. I added a
Turpentine diaries 12/31/2018
Art is filled with aphorisms. Fat over lean, for instance, is a famous adage. The meaning for this old saw that is the most straightforward is to paint thickly-applied paint over thinly-applied paint. Why this distinction? Well, if you paint in layers, that is, if you paint over previously painted areas, you ignore this practice
Christmas 2018
This was the first Christmas when our children didn’t wake at dawn. My youngest, home from his Freshman year at college, didn’t get up until lunchtime! So we had a leisurely morning around the stout Christmas tree. The tree, besides being too wide, was too tall for the living room but we managed. That’s our
Venice turpentine
David Davis was an art supply dealer in New York. He closed before the turn of the century–well before, so I have no idea how old this Venice turpentine I found this morning is. At least 20 years old. At one time, Peal Paint and David Davis were art supplier royalty in NYC. I spent
Spike
Oil of spike lavender fills the studio with its strong and fragrant aroma. Oil of spike is more powerful than the other common solvents–turpentine, and mineral spirits–but it’s also slower drying. Because it is slow drying, paint stays open longer. This means that thin layers remain workable longer than other solvent-thinned layers. This feature is