This unfinished painting, Lunch Alone is 32″ x 46,” is part of the Playhouse Square series. I like my medium a lot but I’m always willing to try new things, especially when they come from James Groves. I’ve written before about how much I like his products, copal varnish, and Courtrai drier. In yesterday’s session,…
I’ve written several times about the oil paint manufacturer RGH. No, I don’t have a relationship with them, it’s just that I use their product a lot. Their flake white is my current go-to white. They also sometimes send me free paint when I order from them, such as the jar of blue ochre on…
I was going to write about some medium-related topics today but I am tired and want to keep this brief. Today’s sessions with Down on Prospect Avenue were filled with pushing and pulling. Not struggling but pounding things into shape: somethings lighter; somethings darker; somethings cooler; somethings warmer–you get the picture (no pun intended). I…
I’m using a touch of a new medium today–Grove’s Cole’s varnish. It’s a copal-based varnish, which makes it close–first cousin–to my normal medium. I plan, after more work, to write a review, so I won’t linger over it today. Phone Call on Main Street is close; almost finished.
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 a groove straightaway and began to slide into place, except I didn’t want it to go that direction. Now, like…
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 I found at a secondhand shop into an everyday palette by removing the print and then painting the backing a middle…
One day in the park at Playhouse Square, I saw a young lady sitting alone and eating her lunch. As usual, I was taking photos and I wanted to take some of her but I didn’t want her to freeze as people sometimes do when they see a camera. So I asked if she would…
At the Whitney Biennal last spring, protestors made headlines when they demanded that the museum destroy an artwork they found offensive. The protesters didn’t want the painting removed from the Biennial, they wanted it destroyed. The painting by Dana Schutz, Open Casket, is based on a well-known photograph of Emmett Till in his coffin. Till was an African American…
I feel like Sisyphus. The batch of paintings that are working me over are all in mid-flight. I keep rolling the rock uphill but I haven’t reached or even seen the crest of the hill. Not only that, I’ve fallen backward with some of them–bah. The Press is 40″ x 50.” Studio corner with The Offensive in the…
After flavoring my medium with additions for several days, today I used my normal medium. I worked on this painting during both of today’s sessions. When the painting surface is right, as with this painting, my normal medium is unbeatable. What is a good surface? I like smooth surfaces. ‘Smooth’ means the canvas weave is…
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. The latter was something I’d never eaten. Everything was excellent and, for once, I didn’t eat too much. This morning…
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 a very small amount of the sticky Venice turpentine to the medium. Other times, I add a small amount of sun-thickened…
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 rule-of-thumb still holds as far as I’m concerned. Three Women in Sandals, part of the Playhouse Square series, looks OK…
Today’s session with Booth at the Fair is my 5th. By contrast, yesterday’s sessions with On the Square was the 20th and final one. I have a long way to go with this painting. It’s 44″ x 60″ but it feels larger, perhaps it’s the amount of detail or the eleven figures that make it…
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 instead on some narrow aspect of the painting. After a 45-minute walk, I returned to the studio and the painting…