Sunday, November 23, 2008

Daily Painting Practice - Tagged again

Tagged again! Looks like tagging is back making it's way through the blog world again. ( did it ever go away?) Last week my ex-engineering/now artist friend from Colorado( Stacy Peterson) commented on my blog and let me know she tagged me. ( Thanks Stacy I owe you)...Just kidding.
For those who are unfamiliar with this game of blog tag. It is a way to share a little about yourself and let others know about bloggers you find interesting.
You are supposed to list 7 things about yourself and tag 7 other bloggers so that they do the same and so on and so on...

I've done this before so this time I think I'll change it a little bit. Rather than just list 7 things about me, I thought I'd show 7 things with photos.
First, I have been getting a lot of questions about my new little palette and whether I will continue to use it. I'm still in the experimenting stage but I can share a few lessons I have learned: 1. You need to keep it clean. Both front and back. ( Don't sit it on your lap unless you mean to walk around with striped pants.) 2. I save all of my paint scrapings and mix them together. You can see the beautiful neutral gray/brown it makes. When the pile gets big enough I use this to pre-tone canvases.
Second, I don't know why but I can't seem to throw away small brushes that go bald. The handles are still good....that's got to mean something. I have no idea what these can be used for but I continue to hope someone invents a way to replug them.
Third weird art habit. I save all of my charcoal dust. Didn't you hear we are going into a depression.... I want to be prepared.
Fourth, This is a great art recycling idea for all of you who want to go green or who can't find the guts to throw out old art magazines. Use them in between small framed daily paintings. They keep the frames from getting nicked and scratched.
Here's number 5. If you do daily painting be prepared to have a lot of leftovers that don't sell. Plastic bins are a great way to store them in neat piles... so relatives and friends can browse and pick the ones they like.
Number six... I hate the caps on oil tubes. I throw them away.
I can't think of number seven so I thought I would show the progress of this painting from last week's post.
As you can see I changed the arrangement of the apples. (She who must not be named made the suggestion... I hate to admit it but she was rrrrr) I plan on completing the bottom half of the painting before starting on the detail of all that wheat grass for the top half.

I am supposed to tag 7 other people but I'm going to skip that part. I need to keep all the friends I have.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought I was the only one with piles of hairless brushes. I do like them when about half the bristles are gone though.

I would like to know how you save the palette scrapings to tone canvases--what do you put them in??

I follow your blog and really enjoy your paintings.
Judy

Cara said...

Oh, I wish I had a dollar for every worthless brush in my jar (then I could buy new brushes) I just can't throw them out, I keep thinking they will be good for something down the line...

WOnderfulpost - thanks.

Cara said...

By the way - please tell me what you do with your tubes after you've thrown away the caps - how do you keep using them?

http://www.onpainting.wordpress.com said...

Interesting little tips. Thanks.

Peter Yesis said...

I am sorry. I have been very bad in following up and answering questions.

Judy- I just scrape the paint into a pile on my large palette and use it up when I get a break. I may add some linseed oil to make it last a bit longer.

Cara- The paint will form a thin skin at the opening. I just cut off the dry paint with a palette knife and squeeze away. The paint never dries out but the skins can get messy. Be sure to wipe the end of the tube with a rag when you are finished.

soobeedoo said...

About the charcoal dust: in school we used to actually shave down perfectly good charcoal and use the dust like a watercolor wash, but with alcohol. It's editable, though.

Weird, eh?

---sue h