RIP faithful laptop
My 10-year-old Dell XPS laptop finally died. With its core i7, it was pretty hot back in 2013. I replaced its Windows OS with Linux some years ago and it was still performing acceptably. There…
Category: Uncategorized
Titanium white sucks
I take back all the nice things I said about titanium white. I was never a fan of titanium white but after trying some of Michael Hading's versions of the color, warm white and unbleached…
What happened to Kremer pigments?
The Germany-based art supplier Kremer was the best source for hard-to-find items not long ago. Now? It's impossible to complete orders online, not difficult--impossible. I recently attempted to place an online order with Kremer's U.S.…
Death of history painting
At the end of the eighteenth century, art flowed along several currents. History painting, the primary current, was in its heyday and remained the undisputed champion until 'history' intruded into contemporary events with the French…
Transparent earth colors
Oil paint can be profitably judged for either its covering strength or transparency. This comports with some well known bits of studio wisdom: "fat over lean," and "thick lights, thin darks." Covering colors, often called…
Poem: The Poet’s Wife
Sometimes I post my poetry here on my blog. I still have the painting mentioned in this poem, which is I am showing here. The Poet's Wife The poet’s tiny wife suffered from the cold.…
Review: Michael Harding oil paint
In the past, I used enough Michael Harding paint to add it to my oil paint reference. My initial rating was "good." Later, I tried their titanium white and was surprised to discover that it…
Castles in the air
I knew a writer who wanted to transition from the technical documents that he wrote to pay his bills to fiction. His vision inspired a whole universe; not one novel but a series. He spent…