Blog

Round and Round

Fuzzy, exhuasted but content

A month or so ago we added a new feline to the household. She is a rescue cat named Penny (although I call her Fuzzy). At ten months she is not really a kitten but not yet a cat. One of her favorite activities is to chase her tail. She spins round and round like a whirling derivsh (whatever that it) until completely exhausted and then drops to the floor with a contented look on her puss and takes a nice nap.

I kind of know how she feels.

I just spent the day at the studio working on a new painting. So much to think about! I am working in oils so my comfort zone of handling acrylics is gone. I also have to think about composition and design, values, keeping the lighting consistent, color harmony, edges - a hard edge here, a softer one there- variety of brushstrokes, etc. The more I learn, the more I need to learn. By the end of the day after going round and round I had messed things up a bit. I scrape away some of the mess and head home to rest up for tomorrow.  I am content. I had fun. I think I even learned some things. What better way to spend the day than working on a painting even though it seems I didn't get anywhere. Hey Fuzzy, I completely understand the attraction.

The Lewis Farm

My newest painting was a labor of love. As you drive out of the small village of Scotia NY where I live, there is a sprawling farm on Route 5 connecting east to west. It sits down a hill overlooking fields that stretch down to Lock 8 and the Mohawk River. This past summer the river flooded during Hurricane Irene and tropical storm Lee. The fields of corn were drowning in mud and water jumped the river's banks and formed new channels around the concrete locks. Luckily the farm sits just far enough from the river to survive the worst of the flood damage. I was compelled to paint this beautiful farm that is within walking distance of my house. I am hoping to do a series of paintings showcasing the natural beauty of this farm as it passes through the seasons and in the future not take for granted the beauty so close to home.

Fun With Watersoluble Oils

This past year I have taken advantage of having my own studio space to explore oil painting techniques as well as acrylics. I am using water soluble oils to try to maintain a green studio environment as much as possible. The nice thing about using these type oils is the ease of clean up. I keep a large glass jar with about an inch or so of Dawn dish detergent mixed with a little water near my palette. When it comes time to clean my brush/change colors, I just swish it around in the detergent mixture (much the way you would use turp/solvents with regular oils) and then in water and they are ready to wipe dry with a paper towel or cloth and use again. The end of my painting session I clean my brushes with Masterson cleaner or Murphys Oil Soap. Cleaning up my palette is just as easy. A quick spray with water and then wipe clean. I use water with these paints only in the beginning of the painting process when I block in my shapes. After the initial block-in I use the paint directly from the tube ( I prefer Holbein Duo Aqua brand- I found the Winsor and Newton to be a bit too sticky) or thinned with water soluble linseed oil for detail work. I find that the drying time is the same as the Gamblin regular oils I tried at first. Basically the difference is in using water as the solvent rather than turp. Numerous mediums are available for use including quick drying and regular painting mediums. There is a definite learning curve for me after using acrylics for the last few years. Oils of course dry slower, but the ability to control blends and the luminosity of the colors make these unique paints a definite pleasure to work with. I'm hooked!