Turpentine diaries 1/7/18
I worked on Booth at the Fair these past two days. It's starting to move my way. I can struggle with paintings for a variety of reasons, sometimes technical, sometimes who knows what. This painting hit…
Category: Shop Talk
Painting nuts and bolts
My homemade palette has provided good service for several years. It has enough room to muck about in, but it's not so large that it's difficult to move or clean. I converted the glass-framed reproduction…
Turpentine diaries 11/25/17
Yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday was wonderful at our house. We had three of our children here to share my wife's delicious turkey and stuffing. Daughter Jane baked an apple pie, and son Keith made deep-fried mac and cheese. …
Wonderful sun-thickened oil
I've written about my everyday-medium plenty of times. I frequently modify my medium for certain situations. Sometimes, for example, I add a little Venice turpentine to the regular turpentine I use in my medium. I add…
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…
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…
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…
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…