Turpentine journal 11/19/17
Upsidedown. It’s useful to look at your paintings in mirrors or upsidedown, as I’ve down here. The old rule-of-thumb maintains that a painting should be balanced when looked at normally and in a mirror. That old rule-of-thumb still holds as far as I’m concerned. Three Women in Sandals, part of the Playhouse Square series, looks OK
Turpentine diaries 11/12/17
Today’s session with Booth at the Fair is my 5th. By contrast, yesterday’s sessions with On the Square was the 20th and final one. I have a long way to go with this painting. It’s 44″ x 60″ but it feels larger, perhaps it’s the amount of detail or the eleven figures that make it
Turpentine diaries 11/11/17
I finished On the Square then put down my brush and took a walk. Sometimes I have to get out of the studio to cure “studio blindness,” during which I lose my objectivity and focus instead on some narrow aspect of the painting. After a 45-minute walk, I returned to the studio and the painting
Turpentine diaries 10/22/17
To some, my studio might look like a jumbled mess, but to me, it looks ordered and purposeful. I have three easels. I use the third one, the one not shown, for drawings. I expanded my palette from my habitual dozen colors to what you see now on my home-made palette. Just because I no longer count
Turpentine diaries 10/21/17
I finished Spring during my morning session. I added a tiny little bit of sun-thickened oil to my usual medium. A small amount of this oil dramatically affects the paint. Sun-thickened oil, unlike stand oil (which I don’t like), maintains good handling qualities even when the paint is thinned to a gouache-like consistency. Before starting, I applied
Multiple treatments of the same subject (yet again)
I spent another morning working on several versions of the same subject. The top version is charcoal and chalk on toned ground. The paper is extremely thick. I don’t remember the supplier (I bought it some time ago) and I no longer like the super-rough surface. The bottom version is oil on canvas. I used to
Multiple treatments of the same subject (again)
Here are two more treatments of the same subject. I’ve written about this before. This time, I made two drawings. The top drawing is charcoal on toned paper heightened with chalk. The bottom drawing is pen and ink on bristol board with watercolor washes. The subject, although obviously the same in both instances, feels different, which
Multiple treatments of the same subject
Just now, I’m interested in multiple treatments of the same subject. I make drawings (cartoons) and transfer them to multiple surfaces. So far, I’ve limited the process to two instances per drawing. When I do an ambitious drawing perhaps I will expand to three or more treatments. This photo shows two versions of a small winter