Finished? Not finished? Finished? Not finished?
Many artists have trouble determining when a painting is finished. It can be excruciatingly painful to let a painting go, especially after you worked on it for a long time. If like me, you focus on problems as you work, it can be easy to fixate on them. But fixing problems does not equate to
Turpentine diaries 7/22/18
I used my homemade drying oil in recent sessions with Down on Prospect Avenue. I substitute the oil for black oil in my medium recipe. Large paintings (Down on Prospect Avenue is 44″ x 60″) have issues that smaller ones don’t have. Matching tones previously used, to name just one. Anyway, it’s getting there. It’s
Homemade drying oil
The crude container that I made with a lead sheet contains 16 oz. of cold-pressed walnut oil. I’ll leave the oil in the container for several months before straining it into a jar, like the one in the upper-left of the photo. The lead imparts drying qualities to the oil making it excellent for mediums.
Turpentine diaries 6/24/18
The drawing on the easel in the following photo is lead on pastel paper. I’d intended to highlight it with white but decided it was OK as it is. The painting on the easel, Woman in the Plum-colored Hat, is still newish, not many sessions yet. It’s 30″ x 40.” I was satisfied by today’s
Turpentine diaries 6/17/18
The thing about this Fabriano drawing pad is I can work-up drawings with pencil or pen–my two favorite materials–without mess or fuss. The really good paper I save for charcoal or pastel, but this paper is terrific for pencil drawing. This photo shows two recent pencil drawings on Fabriano bristol. This morning, I finished a
Turpentine diaries
I got Along 4th Street on the easel yesterday and had some good sessions. I used walnut oil instead of linseed. I find myself reaching for the walnut oil instead of the linseed more often. I picked up several drawing pads. I have a pile of good, loose paper but ran out of pads. Strathmore
Turpentine diaries 5/27/18
The Woman in Red Pants is not over-large so I finished the underpainting, shown here, in 2 sessions. The Woman in Red Pants is 36″ x 48.” We live in a great time when information about nearly every subject is at-hand, right? Create a battery? Create an electric motor? Build a house? There is also
Turpentine diaries 5/19/18
The morning session with Agamemnon and Orestes was slow and easy. With a large painting like this (44″ x 60″), I use hog bristle brushes for most of the work. Today I used 5s and 6s. You can see some of them on the easel table. I always dip my brushes in oil when I