Here is today’s activity. As usual, both paintings are unfinished. Both are part of the Playhouse Square series. Lately, I’ve been using Utrecht’s flake white. It performs decently and is decently priced too. I actually like it better than Winsor Newton’s flake white.
I worked on The Picnic and nothing else for the past few days. The Picnic has a painting surface that is difficult. This doesn’t happen often anymore but it’s annoying when it does happen. It slows everything down. Luckily, an intermediate varnish solved the problem and things are more to my liking and moving swiftly…
I spent the last two days hammering the armor on the middle-lower painting. (Painters will know what I mean.) It’s not done but it’s getting there. The small painting is for me. It’s a painting of my son John and I’ll never sell it. It’s not finished either but I managed a good session with it…
The Press, the middle painting, is giving me trouble–the ground is, I mean. It’s lifeless. It’s one of two things, so I’ll soon know the cause. It’s not too bad but it’s frustrating because things go so some much more smoothly when the ground is well behaved. The ground isn’t the only thing…
I worked on these four paintings today; finishing the two smaller ones. The finished paintings are part of a series about Colorado, which I started some time ago. The large painting is also part of a series started some time ago. It’s the last painting in that series. I wanted to make it look from…
As usual, here is a shot of recent stuff. I really like the surface on the new painting, Grand Army of the Republic Highway. The gray tone of the ground, which can be seen throughout the painting, is just right: not too dark or too light. The surface is nice and smooth, which a big…
The Candidate, on the easel, is 36″ x 48,” which a format I’ve used a lot recently. The design is based on photos I took during the RNC in Cleveland last summer. I use the stick, or pole, leaning against the painting as a maulstick. Even with my fast-drying medium I have to be…
The day ended much too soon. Some days, I can paint all day long and by the time I put down the brush, I feel refreshed and recharged. I worked on the two paintings in the photo and then on another one. When I was young, I would frequently continue painting far into the night. I…