Some useful suppliers & sources

SUNDAY AT CROSSROADS 

Venice, I'm not through with you yet! 30x30 oil on linen (4-24-16 canvas 1036)

I'm often asked what materials I use - for me, I understand the question well. It was one of the more difficult things I had to do as a painter..... finding, and getting comfortable, painting with materials and tools that work with me, not against me, at the easel and my pocket book. I also look for suppliers with free and quick shipping at the best prices possible. Along with establishing the best cut on a roll of canvas so there was little to no waste. This lead to personal standard sizes that allowed me to use pre-made and custom frames that can be easily interchanged. Recycle everything possible, stretch your own canvas, buy stretchers by the box for the best possible price and never buy unless its a 25 to 30% sale. It's their nature to have a sale - so wait a bit. Buy enough to get the biggest discount. A roll of 54" canvas will cost more per square inch than an 84" roll.......nickles and dimes count.

Canvas: Centurion double oil primed linen 54", 60", 72" and 84" rolls. Also comes in pre-stretched, panels and pads. Online from Jerry's http://www.jerrysartarama.com/

Stretchers: I found "Jerry's by the Box" the best deal for small works up to 24x24 (I don't go beyond that) http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/canvas-and-boards/stretcher-strips-and-cross-braces/pro-lite-artist-stretcher-bars.htm.

I use a new Blick Standard Stretcher 3/4" deep for small works up to 30x30 - these are clean, sturdy bars and can go much larger with cross bracing. http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-standard-stretcher-bars/ -

 "Best Heavy Duty" 1 1/2" deep for gallery wrap and anything over 40x44 http://www.dickblick.com/categories/stretcherstrips/

NOTE: Jerry's has larger minimums  - not always good if you need a few bars. Blick does not have minimums and for that reason alone the better supplier. They offer excellent price breaks if you buy volume........works for me:=)

Jerry's shipping is a bit faster than Blick's.

Brushes: Royal Long Handle Soft Grips (by the dozen). This supplier has a vast range of brushes to fit every need at wholesale prices.  http://www.artistpaintbrush.com

Oil Paint: Williamsburg handmade oils, Gamblin, Winsor Newton and a few colours from Charvin (premium only}. My preferred is Williamsburg..... the rest revolve around certain colours - supplier, Jerry's or Blick's

Medium: Gamblin Neo Megilp - Supplier Jerry's or Blick's

Brush Cleaner: Odorless mineral spirits - hardware store by the gallon - I never use it as a medium.

Varnish: Gamblin - GAMVAR picture varnish - 32 oz. bottle - Supplier Jerry's or Blick's

 Studio Easel: Hughes counter balance wall easel http://www.hugheseasels.com/

Crossroads studio easel: is a counter balanced with fingertip side-to-side and vertical control by Paint Master. This one was purchased online through Jerry's. It's sturdy and will take a fairly large canvas up to 78" high. However, while it works well in an 8' ceiling it requires a ceiling higher than 8 foot to maximize it's potential.

Lighting: LED 4500 to 5000 bulbs or lamps - Lowe's or Home Depot - expensive yes, but very effective.

Note: My studio has skylights north and south plus good side lighting from windows. The LED lamps helps maintain a strong constant daylight effect - especially good on cloudy days. Plein air painting in the sun was enlightening with regards to colour and how I saw it.....Best way to get close is the use of LED technology.

Framing: JFM (need resale number) Wholesaler, stock, custom, framing and Giclee printing

JFM Enterprises, Inc.

4476 Park Drive

Norcross, GA  30093

Phone:	(770) 447-9740
Toll-Free:	(800) 462-3449
Fax:	(770) 409-1013
Email:	customerservice@jfm.net
Map & Directions: Google Maps

Showroom & Office Hours

Monday - Friday 9:00 - 5:00

Pickup Hours

9:00 - 4:00 daily with preference given to advance orders

 

Camera: Nikon D5200 (32 focus points) - seriously good high resolution and acceptable to capture digital images for Giclee printing.

Note: Technology moves fast and newer models are at our feet. 

Photo Shop: CS5.1

Art Shipping boxes: AirFloat Systems 1-800-445-2580, www.airfloatsys.com  - approved by FedEx  and most preferred by juried exhibits, galleries and museums.

 

Shipping: FedEx air fright - call for or ask about "Great Rates"- phone weekdays, central time 877-463-7408 (need an account). They can give you onetime rates off normal shipping rates.

Web site: Powered by FASO - cost $28.00 per month - user friendly with excellent technical support.

"What medium do you use?"

Or do I make you nervous talking or watching while you work?, are questions I often get painting plein air. You become familiar with the curiosity people have watching a painter paint. I suppose it can disrupt focus but generally the questions during my Sunday "In the studio" are expected and a result from what I'm doing, often by other painters. The most common one is "what medium do you use?" 

I started with Copal Medium because I found the old Masters, like Rembrandt used it long ago as a medium and drier. I read it in a library book as a kid - "Technique of the Masters" I believe was the title. When I returned to painting in oil in 2009, copal was one of the first things I purchased for my tool box. Still have it, however didn't like how it worked anymore. I understood the formula changed - most likely because of EPA concerns. I complained to the art store clerk and he  turned me on to Neo Megilp by Gamblin......not sure I knew about buying art materials online yet. Looking back, online sales killed that particular retail art store and I'm sure many others like it. If you're serious you need to buy your supplies at wholesale or as close as you can get to it. It won't take long before you understand being an artist is an expensive profession to be competitive in.

 NEO MEGILP

A few shakes will get it flowing. But this stuff is magic to paint - learn how to use it - mess with it but don't use it as a top coat, it will stay sticky without pigment......it only takes a bit to make it work wet over wet. One stroke is all you get over an equally wet surface. But magically, it will sit on top and not directly merge with the lower layer because pigment is suspended within the medium. It intensifies colour and often depending how you apply it with pigment, cause wonderful rainbow colour effects. 

The biggest reason besides some special effects is it makes paint flow better. I also never use mineral spirits as a medium. It dilutes colour as it dries - varnish may improve it later but won't return it as I left it, wet.

Aside from my Sunday studio, I'll be in decorating mode for the next few weeks - the kitchen was annoying me to no end. Well in truth, my surroundings are really piss poor visually these days.  My own fault because my surroundings don't have my full attention like painting pictures does. In the past I always had my own crew to get home work done.....now I don't! The only thing I really miss about my past life. Another question answered and asked by former clients! Other than that I'm a happy camper:=)

Canvas 1035 - "In The Studio at Crossroads" April 17th

This one will have a bit of action going for it. My intent here is a one session painting - no homework allowed:=) So within my 3-hour time frame I want fast expressive movement at every level to suggest movement and transparency in the most convincing way possible. A bit challenging but more fun on a larger 30x30 linen canvas.

 REFERENCE - BEACH WAVE

Virginia beach - hight noon

WHY I DON'T TONE MY CANVAS

I always start  with a white canvas because I need light to bounce through my paint off a white surface. Several times during the process I'll wipe off paint with a rag dipped in odorless mineral spirits to recapture that original white surface. It's also an opportunity to do a quick reshaping. It can be left exposed or not. I generally don't. I'll use more Neo Megilp with a little pigment so it stays transparent, yet has some texture.

The white canvas for me produced cleaner colours and a brighter end result than when I toned it. I quickly learned this from second sessions - it was very difficult to recapture the same colour and transparency I easily did in the first.

Thanks to Susan Lang for a few session photos:=)

 At 30 feet on the easel it feels right. 

The easel is a counter balanced with fingertip side-to-side and vertical control by Paint Master. This one was purchased online through Jerry's. It's sturdy and will take a fairly large canvas up to 78" high. However it requires a ceiling higher than 8 foot to maximize it's potential.

COMPLETED CANVAS

Swimming In Paint 30x30 oil on linen (4-17-16 canvas 1035)

DETAIL

Swimming In Paint was about transparency, movement and being fearless in the face of a blank canvas.......after all its just paint and canvas....nothing more! The power is what we do with it!

Sunday "In the Studio" at Crossroads - Concept study 1034

Sunday I didn't want to break my train-of-thought with something unrelated to my studio work, so I did something I normally don't do at any stage. I did a quick (3) hour concept study of my intended subject (water ponies). A bit of related practice for me plus I thought a bunch of ponies might be a valuable way to passively show the concept of painting shapes using more expressive brush work (wet-in-wet).

The most important part was showing how easy it was to adjust the shapes and create beautiful edges by back cutting into the overall shape with  the background colour until it felt right to the eye. Not necessarily anally correct at every step.

My biggest priority, I want it to look right at 30 feet and touchable up close and personal - correct shapes and values win if it does.

(3) HOUR COMPOSITION STUDY 1034 (top)
 LAST WEEKS KOI (bottom)

 Composition study 24x30 oil on linen  (4-10-16 canvas 1034)

1034 BACK IN THE STUDIO

STUDIO SHOT - NATURAL LIGHT

 Composition study 24x30 oil on linen  (4-10-16 canvas 1034)

Interesting comparison to this little 11x14 Plein air colour chip (below) from the same day as my reference. It even has the horizon hot spot to the left plus remarkably close in colour.

PLEIN AIR COLOUR CHIP

 A Day at the Beach 11x14 oil on linen (7-13-13 canvas 843)

STUDY TO FINISHED PAINTING

I'm always asked this question "When do you  know its finished?" My qu to when a painting is finished..... "When I don't wake up with it the next day!" Simple as that!

I went to sleep thinking about canvas 1034 and woke doing the same....so it wasn't over yet.

The study worked well for my purposes Sunday, but I don't really have any use for it. So with some scraping and more work it could turn into a decent painting worthy of a frame. 

SECOND SESSION

(sky to sand)

(1034-2 24x30 4-11-16)

THIRD SESSION

(Horizon down)

(1034-3 24x30 4-12-16)

FOURTH SESSION - COMPLETED CANVAS

Natures Own 24x30 oil on linen (4-14-16 canvas 1034)

This coming Sunday 12:00 to 3:00 plus will include a show and tell.... explaining the best wall concept while perhaps painting that dramatic foreground wave I still need to work out for my larger studio painting.  

Canvas 1033

 STUDIO CONCEPT

Typically I like to use bold contrast colours against one another.  However one of my most favorite atmospheric effects is very subtle in nature, like the references below...... A painting challenge because there is nothing to contrast against. Every once in awhile I get the bug and make a run at this one particular colouring - always with limited success. Its a very mono toned morning sky with gorgeous glow and water sparkle. I needed a challenge so I decided to tackle it again. Plus I've had this painting in mind for awhile now using wild beach horses with this dynamic kind of atmospheric setting. In my mind, the painting will be more about the setting and atmosphere than it will be the horses. I only need them to establish scale....

First, I need to break the colour code......in other words, I need to get comfortable painting in these subtle shades and get that glow too.  So I need to figure it out!

EXAMPLES

MY  REFERENCE GUIDE for 1033

Plein air day at Virginia Beach around 7:00am

The morning beach sun is doing that thing it often does through the distant cloud bank when it peeks through and hits the water causing hot spots and sparkle. In this case, throwing in some distant showers that eventually cleared the beaches for a few hours.

My first task will be developing some colour chips. I know from past experience this might take some time and several paintings. I keep a chronological record of my paintings. Sometimes its fun looking at the timeline because it can indicate how long an idea could have been bouncing around.

CANVAS 1033 - 30x30 linen

Day two - Distance shot shows the right horizon is riding low. Nice to keep a level close at hand when doing these things.

COMPLETED CANVAS

Morning Sparkle 30x30 oil on linen (4-9-16 canvas 1033)

In a frame this will shine well enough. Aside from the expressive brushwork, from a distance the painting looks very much like the original reference below - oddly including the colouring.

1033 and 1032 side by side on drying shelf

Virginia Beach around 7:00am

Coincidentally I found this little 11x14 Plein air colour chip from the same day and time stowed away (totally forgot).  It even has the horizon hot spot to the left.

PLEIN AIR COLOUR CHIP

 A Day at the Beach 11x14 oil on linen (7-13-13 canvas 843)

I'll continue working on the concept at my Sunday studio playtime at Crossroads noon to 3:00 +

If you get a chance drop by and say hello:=)

Movement

This Sundays adventure at Crossroads was about movement and there is no better example than Koi fish to get that point across. If you ever had the chance to study these magical creatures in a more natural habitat, they are natural beggars and can put on quite a show to win our treats....it can be a mad scramble to get their share too. Well...I like to paint them in the scramble or as they magically glide through thru the pond waters; sparkling brightly as the sun hits them - often making them appear transparent mixed with water reflections......what could be better as a painting subject.  

I brought several size canvases - in the end chose the larger 30x30 surface to paint on. Much easier to wave your brush around like a mad conductor if you have some room to do it. Movement, and the illusion of movement needs a little room to be convincing. Perhaps why I prefer painting larger than small. 

 Morsel Gathering 30x30 oil on linen (4-3-16 canvas 1032)

Cartoonists can use a few lines in a very effective way to indicate movement or even expression. Not much different when translated into paint. The object can be static or not or you can paint motion and movement as a conductor might with his orchestra. Its just arm movement from shoulder to brush.....that needs a bit of room and a proper subject. The trick is to get a convincing result! 

Wet-in-wet with expressive brush work can get the job done much like the cartoonist and his drawing pen did! Experience will refine it further, but the basic concept is remarkably simple. 

LINE & MOTION

Fascinating painting subject!

I study ground fog, have ever since I discovered it in a back field behind my studio. The cool mornings occasionally set off a bizarre light show here every spring. I have more than a few plein air and studio paintings trying to capture it too! However, something that developed quickly from it was changing the field setting to a more interesting setting like Venice.......add a horse a few more trees, anything beyond a bare field.

It's spring and my original Sunday studio plan was to do a Virginia Beach seascape and spruce it up a bit by adding a dramatic atmosphere the reference lacked (below). The atmospheric reference below was from such a morning on the Delaware River during a plein air event. That morning with my camera turned out to be the best 15 minutes of my week long trip.

The paint and chat sorta drove the session to a demo on atmosphere and I completely forgot about the seascape. All together, the perfect situation, because everyone was engaged in the process. I'm not sure the painting fared so well..... After a few hours my energy faded - in my book, time to stop!

SUNDAY CROSSROADS STUDIO

  
END OF 2 1/2 - HOUR SESSION

The Golden Hour 20x24 oil on linen (3-21-16 canvas 1030) 

I retrieved the demo the following day with the intention of doing a little home study on it. I was not happy with the sun.

BACK IN STUDIO

UNDER NATURAL LIGHT

Much cooler than gallery lighting

The details below show how effective adding a clearer blue to contrast off the warmer gray blue, and yellow amps up the 3D effect.

Floating creams and clean blue over darker tones allows the eye to follow sunlight down. Here it's accomplished with expressive brushwork  - much easier when there is lots of wet paint on the canvas. Basically the canvas was turned into a pallette swimming with wet paint.

SECOND SESSION AND A NEW SIGNATURE

The sun never really cooperated Sunday - so I decided to go another round with it the other day. Well...as it sometimes goes, lots of paint and reshaping developed, and a few hours later almost a repaint. But, the added punctuation was worth it even tho I lost some effects I rather liked. The sun works better for me now which for me became the challenge from the very start and why I went back in.

 DETAILS

At 30 feet some of the intense colours that show up here in the details soften down dramatically. 

FRAMED AND READY TO GO

  OVER EASTER HOLIDAY
 

My original idea was still intriguing and worth a larger studio canvas. I had a 30x30 canvas and 4 days to play with it before my next Sunday Crossroads studio.

Golden Hour 30x30 oil on linen (4-1-16 canvas 1031)