As I am in the middle of writing my next novella, sometimes I day dream which is an articulation of extraneous ideas that I will not use as to be able to concentrate better.
I day dream as I clean my studio. There’s a vague idea that I have had of an artist who has all the equipment he needs to do his thing and in variety. In his mind’s eye, this makes him “rich” as he let’s slip at a bar (This leads to trouble).
When I first started doing visual work, I used the pages of the newspaper (for the youngsters: this was like a twitter news feed but accurate and truthful, made from thin slices of a tree, which showed up on your doorstep every morning) I used black and red markers as to be able to see my drawings.
I then graduated to blocks of cheap paper filling every page on both sides.
Slowly, I worked my way towards legitimizing the need of good equipment. Initially, i was thrifty out of necessity, i.e using pencil extenders as to squeeze every drop out of a pencil.
Fast forward, I can now afford whatever I want for equipment, i can buy things merely to experiment with etc. I still use pencil extenders and observe other economical practices, not because I have to or even because I am cheap. It is a sign of deep affection for serving the process.
When working on a painting, the amount of paint which I use at most only takes up two ten slotted porcelain palettes. Not much but I often find myself when a painting is completed with a little bit paint remaining.
I started the practice of doing a smaller painting with remaining paints in my trusty Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches. Nothing is wasted and it often presents some manner of stimulating challenge for me. It’s my version of what great chefs like Paul Bocuse did in their every part of the animal philosophy.
The Mark Watercolor & Rembrandt 9×12 cold pressed fin paper
Gerd Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
I am currently working on a novella and so will devote my allotted time for visual works towards painting. At the end of the day of working in full sized painting currently underway I had a little bit of paint left in my palettes.
I used it to do a smaller work. I did this for same reason I use pencil extenders when down to nubbins, not out of cheapness but as further sign of deep affection for serving the process. (I will say though, for someone who is constantly drawing etc, it does add up)
“Reflexive” This piece was done in my trusty Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
Also few spontaneous photos I took as I worked, the poetics of the everyday.
Addendum: “How not to Look Like an Ass While Living History”
Yesterday, regardless of what side one might feel they are on or even what country residing in, was historic. While I do not begrudge someone not wanting to make a statement or gesture via their social media sites, in such cases the best thing to do is silence.
It looks tonally weird (and deaf) for some huge thing to be occurring and in the midst of it trying to rack up likes or views for what one does as if just another day.
No one’s career has ever been made via one blog post nor tweet. It can wait a day, I assure you. To think it doesn’t matter if one does not live in the country in which a thing is occurring is to get it wrong too. We, all of humanity are connected. Ironically, this notion seems to be forgotten more and more even as it becomes easier to interact with those afar from us.
It is not our duty necessarily to provide commentary or messaging on an event as it occurs, but it definitely is weird to ignore an event by acting as if it’s not happening. Years down the corridor of time:
“What were you doing when the regime fell grandpa” or “What were you doing when this huge thing happened Grandpa?”
“Me? Well Billy I was trying to get at least fifty likes for my latest blog post/I was trying to get people to listen to my band’s cover of a cure song on youtube.”
Just back from a trip where I was able to take photos to serve as fuel for my next Cinefield®. I lucked out and was able to get so much raw material it will allow me to do two which will lead me right up until next spring ( I won’t work on them back to back, taking a well needed break between which accounts for some of time frame)
While working on my Cinefield®, of course I will still draw every day and do my water soluble graphite work in pocket pads but this will be last painting for a while as my studio will become dominated by tiny confetti like pieces of paper laid out on sheets.
For this piece I wanted to try something a little different. I made the flesh appear without the volume and mass letting the lines tell that story of the body. I was very pleased with the results and enjoyed the challenge of going against my usual preference. That is one way for an artist to avoid falling back on pet-licks for a piece.
The painter Phillip Guston said that when one paints, at first everyone you know is in the studio with you and one by one they drop away until you are left only with the painting. I understand that, the pleasure of serving the process, everything else is temporarily suspended, where will the painting end up etc etc.
I am in the middle of typing up all my notes & stories from Europe. The visual work that I do, it is work but it isn’t. I have been going at a steady clip with my paintings but not because of any specifically set tempo. The visual work becomes a respite from the challenges of other things. Ideally, if nothing else my work offers people a brief cessation from the doomy bleakness of the news.
My paint palettes are now exactly as I want them, incorporating professional grade half pans from several companies.
This piece is 9×12 watercolor & Rembrandt cold press/fin grain 140 lb
Royal Talens were nice enough to give me some supplies to try out (no strings attached). My initial, more technical posts can be found on these two links:
For these two pieces, I used half pans from the two sets sent to me which I previously wrote about, incorporating them into my preexisting palettes which include half-pans by Sennelier, Schmincke Horadam and Charvin.
Once at the professional level paint quality/grade wise, it is not about which is better. It is not even necessarily about brand preferences. I have found each brand had specific qualities and properties which dictate what I will use. I equate it to cooking. One can have favorite spices, but it would not make sense to use them in certain dishes.
The new paint sets have certain colors which regardless of brands I do not find myself reaching for often. For the colors most utilized, I have absorbed in the hues from these new sets into my palette boxes.
These two pieces illustrate how seamlessly they work when mixed with other brands on a painting.
Bath 9×12 Rembrandt watercolor paper 140 lb cold press. Fin
Lucky Shirt Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
Royal Talen was nice enough to send me equipment to try out (no strings attached). This is the next round of things I tried.
Rembrandt half pan set. The Rembrandt line is professional grade. The pigments are triple ground and suspended in gum arabic. The colors really pop and appear even with every brush stroke.
This set is twelve half pans. They come in a hinged black metal palette box with the logo on the lower left corner. It is compact enough to fit in a coat pocket and has a sturdy build. Two long struts cradle the half pans. Individual metal clamps hold each half pan in place. The entire strut is made to pop out, ease of doing so facilitated by two small handles at either end. This is so that you can replace the cradle once crimps are too loose.
(all pics by me)
Some painters have specific configurations for various subjects and places that they work. They have multiple cradles which they leave loaded up in work specific arrangements. One is popped out or in easily as needed.
There is a hinged metal cover that goes over the half pans when the box is closed. When the palette box is open it lays at an angle. This is a mini paint palette to mix or wet brush. The lid of the palette box can also be used as a larger three section palette or to hold water.
On the underside is a finger loop to hold the box while working plein air. In Paris, on Rue Mouffetard I have seen an aquarellist run a thick elastic through the loop, attaching it to her drawing board.
Some people intentionally want to work from a limited color palette. Others have travel in mind where luggage is often a factor. The size of this kit is perfect to suit either motive. This kit practically demands that one get out there, be it someplace in nature or an out of the way spot on the street, or perhaps a café table and get to work.
I do mostly portraits/ casual faces so some of included colors I would infrequently reached for. I did try all of the colors, they were all noticeably vibrant, easy to darken or lighten using an eye dropper and water (in a porcelain palette).
The kit comes with a travel brush/ A Rembrandt 110 Red Sable. This is a better-quality brush than is often included even with the bigger names in paint companies. It has a cap to protect it when not in use. It cleans up easily with water and watercolor brush soap.
There are water brushes which are a brush with fatter barrels into which you add water. Anyone who does street or café painting could use the kit as is in conjunction with a waterproof pen to create street scenes.
Draw the scene and use one or two colors to stand for in light and shadow (i.e. light blue for the front of a building, dark blue for the side in shadow).
The exciting thing about this kit is the possibilities. Two water brushes, a pocket pad, pencil and the palette box all could easily fit into two jacket pockets or the small section of a backpack.
The thing I have always liked about half pan sets is their portability. It is easy to swap out colors for ones preferred or as they run out, to replace them. Even though not all the colors included in this box were to my preference, I had already been using Rembrandt in my permanent studio set up. All the colors share the same properties and quality.
This set did get me enthused again about doing still life’s which in my body of work had sort of fallen by the wayside.
“Brown Eyes” 9×12 Rembrandt watercolor paper 140 lb cold pressed
“Fig” Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
I was lucky enough to be sent, with no strings attached, new equipment to try by Royal Talens. Over the next month or so I will be using and writing about what I was sent.
First up: Van Gough half pan watercolor set (24x half pans). These are artists’ grade. Artist’s grade is not necessarily “lesser” than professional, once you are past student grade it becomes much more matter of what you are going to do with them and your technique.
The half pans come in a white plastic case. Despite being 100% plastic, it feels substantial. Some artists prefer plastic palette cases as they do not dent and are easier to clean.
The half pans fit into slots instead of there being one long metal slot or rut with metal crimps which bend over the edge of the half pans to hold them in place. These always loosen over time even if you do not remove the half pans often. It also has two slots which included a narrow natural sponge and a #6 Van Gough selected filament brush.
Crimp style
slot style
The lid is attached on an integrated hinge and opens to lay flat. The inside of the lid divides into six sections which can be used as palette.
Each half pan has easy to see/read info on the color located both on its side and top, the latter which pulls off like a snack pudding.
The color selection is several hues of red, yellow, blue, brown, green, orange, a gray and one white.
Usually, I eschew using gray regardless of the company. I find that they lean too towards blue or the truer gray has a murky/cloudy look. This gray has a light blueish undertone but is perfect, especially if depicting hair.
The paper I was givn is Rembrandt watercolor 9×12 140lb. It is an artist’s quality. 10x sheet, cold pressed.
The paper is secured via a glued top in pad stye. It has a soft cover and hard cardboard back. Only the top is secured, as I worked on a painting at end of each session there occurred minor curling. Once the paper was dry, I weighed it down overnight and next day it was fairly flat. I also tried using small clips in each corner and just leaving it. Both ways allowed me to get to work again easily. Once the painting was completely done and I cut it off the pad there was some minor curling. I let it dry and at the end of day put a few heavy books on it over night and next morning it was flat.
This is a heavy paper and would be great for anyone who does the wet-on-wet technique. It is a clean natural white which doesn’t distort the nature of the paints. I do pencil outlines of what I am going to paint and when applying the eraser it didn’t tear nor drag, there was zero pilling of the paper as can sometimes occur with other brands.
My technique is to fill the slots of white porcelain palettes with water. Then using a damp brush mix in the paints.
These paints mix in smoothly. It is very easy to darken the hue via dipping the brush back into the half pan or to lighten the hue by diluting the palette section with water.
On the paper it gives true color representation right away as opposed to having to wait for it to dry a little. The paper allows for blending to achieve volume and mass, for example when portraying flesh. I found it behaves very similar to the 100% French cotton paper I sometimes use. It is a little more forgiving if one is quick enough, to fix any minor mistake.
With my style of painting, I found that when working on a face, I must give time in between brush strokes for them to mostly dry as to keep it from running. Once one has timing down, which doesn’t take too long, it is far from a hinderance.
I have always incorporated several brands into my palette. I will definitely be adding some of this set into my palette. The ones which are not making the cut, it is not about the quality but rather they are just colors I do not use and I only have so many available slots.
“Blue Eye” 9×12
“Tagliatelle” Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches
At least until Mid-July I will not be able to take photos to use as raw material for my Cinefield® work. I continue to happily paint, enjoying myself. As I am locked into a groove, this piece too was done in my Talens Art Creation Multi Media 4×4 inches pocket pad.
Watercolor & paper 4×4 inch Pad
I had a little bit of paint left in my palette. I also had few of a different style I had bought while doing residency in Paris. These have a different style of pigment and look to them. I decided to do a loose experiment. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong pad of paper. I have a tabouret drawer for every style I use. Some are for different mediums but look the same unless you take a beat and read cover. I meant to use multi-medium paper which can be used with watercolors and other wet mediums.
Instead I ended up with regular tan toned sketch paper. This meant that among other handicaps I could not do my proper blending. I decided to continue on anyways. Despite it being my first time with the paints and the wrong paper for the wet medium, I was pretty pleased with result, especially for a first foray.
Still not sure when I am going to have a chance to take photos to use as source/fuel for my Cinefield® work. In the interim I have been enjoying painting and drawing in my trusty pocket pad. A few people had commented on noticing I had changed type of pad I use a few months ago.
Always on me now is Talens Art Creation Multi Media 4×4 inches. It stands up to blending I do when watercolor painting and same with water soluble graphite. A small thing, but which makes a big difference for the times I throw it in my bag instead of pocket is that it has an elastic which holds it closed. This means that the pages are never torn nor bent.
This piece is watercolor & multi medium paper 4×4 inches. As always, if you have interesting photo of yourself that I might be interested in drawing, drop me a line
Paper Life Painting 