New goodies

Guess what! Bright Idea is finished! I'm waiting for it to fully dry so that I can put a coat of Liquin on  it (to seal and finish it) before I unveil the finished piece. Stay tuned! In the meantime...

I love new art supplies! After finishing Bright Idea I decided to take a little break from painting on metal and give some other surfaces a shot. So, I headed over to Forstall Art Center and got a couple new things to try.

First up- this lovely artist panel. Already primed and ready to go. I like the deep profile (it comes in a smaller profile as well). The surface isn't as smooth as metal (what is?), but it's smoother than canvas. Plus, the fact that it doesn't give and flex like stretched canvas will preserve the painting over time.

I also got this Birch panel. It's got a deep profile like the artist panel. It would actually be fairly easy to make yourself- it's basically a shallow box, but time is at a premium for me right now. I love how smooth it is- almost as smooth as metal. Look how pretty! Plus I like that if I wanted to I could let some wood show through in parts of my painting. The downside is that you can't use oil paints directly on wood (it degrades over time), so it needs to be primed. I think I'll use some clear Golden Matte Medium to prime. So, I'll try these out and give y'all a full report.

P.S. I also got a new filbert brush. Not that y'all REALLY care that I got a filbert. I just like saying the name. It makes me feel like I've given my tools a nickname. Maybe I'll come up with nicknames for some art supplies as well!

What about everyone out there? Are you trying something new? What's your favorite thing to paint on and why? Do you nickname inanimate objects (like Filbert)? You're not alone. Let's chat!

Lessons learned

I mentioned in my last post that I had learned a few things from my most recent painting experiment. So, in no particular order, here they are!
Lesson #1: Prime, prime, prime!

It's important when using oils on wood that you prime the surface. Over time, oil degrades wood and paper, so you need that primer as protection for the wood. This I knew and I did apply a couple of coats of clear matte medium to protect the wood. What I didn't fully appreciate was the importance of preparing the surface for me, specifically. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the bumps and roughness in the surface of the wood. I didn't realize how much that would distract me. I swoon for super smooth painting surfaces, so the texture of the wood bothered me. 

So, in short if you're working on wood with acrylics and you like rougher surfaces and texture in your work, don't worry about priming. Jump right in! If you're using oils on wood and like texture, a couple of coats of gesso or matte medium should work fine for you. But if you're a lover of glassy finishes like me, sand, prime, repeat ad nauseam.

Lesson #2: Use a good reference photo (or model if working directly from life).

This was my reference photo, which wasn't absolutely terrible, but didn't provide me with what I needed for this picture. Had I been striving to recreate this picture, it would have been doable, but to recreate the patterns and shadows of the face in muscle and patterns, I should have used a clearer, not so blown-out picture. 

Lesson #3: Get out of your comfort zone.

This experiment was pretty far out from realistic portraits of everyday objects and their reflections and that was great for me. Try a new painting surface, subject, or technique! You'll never know your own style unless you explore. Who knows, it may turn out even better than you imagined! Or it may turn out that it's not your cup of tea at all. Either way, the experiment will be a success. 

So what about you? Learn anything new lately? Discover a love of a different subject or technique? What have you been experimenting with? Let me know about it!

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