More RGH oils
I’ve written a lot about the small paint manufacturer RGH for several reasons. First, I always support the small suppliers who are inspired by a high view of the craft. Suppliers such as RGH and James Grove are rare. Importantly, they continue to produce the all-important lead-based paints. Also, I use their stuff in my
RGH’s atelier series
RGH’s atelier series of refined painting oils is good stuff. I’ve used most of the pictured 4-oz jar and I’m very happy with the results. I just placed an order for a full pint. Good oil is critical for painting. RGH refines their oil by “historical methods.” I put that in scare quotes because one
Sable brushes
Sable brushes are the best. There’s no debate about this. Sure, there are some use cases where the benefits of sable are irrelevant. The fine control provided by sables is lost on large-format oil paintings, for example. So on large paintings, why go to the expense? And–oh boy!–sable brushes are expensive. I paid $60+ over
Almost ready
I put the final toned ground on the linen-cotton blend canvas that I recently wrote about. The canvas is dry, indeed, it was dry the same day I applied the ground, but it still needs to cure for a few days. Dry to touch doesn’t mean really dry. When it’s done curing, I’ll sand it
Commercial canvas
I spend a lot of time preparing canvases–stretching, priming, and grounding. The process works well for me but it’s time-consuming. I would gladly buy commercially-prepared canvas but my experience with it has been bad. In the past, I’ve paid premium prices for inferior products. The art supply market is filled with hucksters and amateurs. Knowing
Smooth is best
Rereading what I wrote about preparing a canvas, I realized that I didn’t emphasize the main goal enough. Yes, it’s important to protect the canvas, but the real goal is to make a great surface. The best surface is smooth. How smooth? If you’ve done lithography, then you know how wonderful litho stones are for
I bought manganese violet
Like the title says, I bought some manganese violet. Some artists maintain that they can reproduce every color by using a small collection of paints. While it’s true that you can create a tremendous variety of colors with a limited palette, it’s not true that you can reproduce every color that way. There are a
Ragged easel
My Utrecht easel has served me well. True, it’s held together with glue and clamps, but it still handles the large-size paintings that I make. One thing the easel lacks is a place to rest a palette, even a small one. I keep my normal palette on a mobile cabinet that I wheel around as