Do not be an art appreciator
When I hear someone say, "I appreciate art," I cringe. The speaker means, "I understand that this boring subject is somehow important to you," or, "I see how much effort you put into this pointless…
Category: Uncategorized
Basic oil painting medium
There is a lot of information about painting mediums on my site but if you're new to painting, an abundance of information is the same as no information. Where to start? The good news is…
Turn toward realism?
Realism is becoming popular once again in painting studios. This development is welcome but it's also sobering. Looking at the growing number of realists demonstrates how much has been lost. Much of it is Impressionism-adjacent…
How to save your brushes
Many oil painters keep their brushes upside down in turpentine or thinner. This practice is horrible; it's the worst thing you can do to your brushes. In defense of painters who do this, I used…
Rublev Sun-thickened oil
Rublev's new version of sun-thickened oil is much improved from its earlier offering and is good oil. This is far different from my conclusion of their first attempt at this product. Sun-thickened oil's consistency should…
Palettes everywhere
The hand clamps I use for carpentry are versatile. Here, I've used one to attach a palette to my easel. My big palette, the one that spills over my paint cabinet, is movable but when…
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…
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…