Twin peeks
Making multiple versions of a painting is an interesting exercise. The intent isn't to produce copies, but, rather, to create variations on a theme. It is especially useful for students. I prepared the drawing for…
Category: materials
Don’t go to art school
Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, likes to say that degrees from the nonprestigious schools are just expensive dunce caps. He means that today higher education is close to worthless, except that degrees from the…
White siccative
I've written plenty of times about my medium. My medium is perfect for me but there are some corner cases. The medium is darkish and for the high-key colors, it can be too strong. White…
My easel is not worthless
I wrote glowingly about the Utrecht easel that I purchased. I said that it was a great bargain--an under-$300 medium-duty easel. But soon a support broke and the mechanism to lower and raise the tray…
In the kitchen
For the most part, I've stopped showing the early stages of my paintings. One thing that I've learned after running this site for 8 years is that readers assume that I only post finished work--the…
Watercolors yes
I was a little rusty with watercolors when I started this painting. It's good-quality paper but I forgot to dampen it before I started. Duh. I finally got it going and finished it quickly (for…
Watercolor colors
My recently-started watercolor cycle represents the first watercolors that I've done for sometime. I still have a good supply of colors, papers, and brushes. Of course, I never use my watercolor brushes for oils. This…