Trial order from ACF canvases

This thread sure is a hard one to open, I don't know why; but there have been a lot of posts removed....  things afoot of which I know nothing. Well, a surprise package this morning - I received from ACF two canvases, one stretched the other on board, both in a sturdy wooden frame: I thought for a moment that, in a moment of elderly confusion, I'd actually ordered them - but however confused I get, I don't forget spending money.  So thank you, ACF. It gives me a greater range to test; and I'm under instruction from Norrette to make the first one an oil: I always do as I'm told, so that will be forthcoming soon - I have found my subject; and very nearly broke both legs trying to get to it yesterday; all will become clear, I hope, in a week or so. I'm conscious that we may be getting very near to violating our advertising rules here, though this IS the area to discuss art materials; so we're in a bit of a cleft stick - on the basis of what I know so far, I can say that these canvases are well made, and that one of them so far has afforded me a very pleasant painting experience in oil.  I shall have no hesitation in recommending the other products if I enjoy using them as much as I did the first one, but of course any recommendation from me comes with this rider: I like this/these; you might too; it/they might suit your approach well: but no guarantees, and, as they say, other products are available (though in this particular range, that's not entirely true: like Ampersand panels, you'd struggle to find an equivalent from other suppliers). Anyway, I now have a lot of work to do.  

I'm now working on a piece on my second ACF canvas - by the way, they're so drum tight you could play them like a musical instrument if you had the talent for it!   Oil, as instructed by Norrette, and using Michael Harding's Burnt Umber for the underpainting.  I did want to say a word about Burnt Umber - it's been heavily disparaged in several places, because it can sink in, leaving dull patches; and yes, I suppose I had noticed that it can do that, which is one reason why I tend not to use it in the upper layers - another reason is that generally speaking, a mixed deep brown has more life in it. All the same - the Harding paint (PBr6 Synthetic Iron Oxide) - is great for underpainting: and, applied early this afternoon, it's touch-dry at ca. 11.25pm, so ready to work on tomorrow (I could have carried on with it anyway, but things to do, people to see....).  So if you HAVE encountered the 'avoid Burnt Umber' advocates, I suggest you don't let them put you off: a good quality B.U. is useful when you want to establish tonal contrasts as soon as possible.  Plus - to those who say you must use solvents to make the paint flow: well, I didn't - just a minimal spot of Linseed Oil, and no, that won't violate the fat over lean rule, not least because Burnt Umber is a very lean paint - so again, ideal for the underpainting.  Right - more anon: I'm hoping my finished effort will not disappoint, but so far: great paint on a great canvas: only I can muck it up!

It is possible to get hold of Flake White, but it's a palaver - try the Natural Pigments EU website, and keep your fingers crossed. Titanium White is a problem - in many ways it's a very good white, opaque, usually easy to apply; but its drawbacks are twofold - one, it swims in oil, and two it's so very cold: there are ways of warming it up; and I too have used Buff Titanium/Unbleached Titanium ... that's a good thought, actually.  But now and then, you want a white that's, well, white.  In direct answer to Norrette, yes, I've used alkyd white - it does dry faster, it tends to be thinner than normal Titanium (so you'll probably use more of it), and of course it's still Titanium, so still very cold.  It's like painters to be dissatisfied with the most readily available pigment, but - that's us.  Incidentally, it shouldn't be so tough to squeeze out of the tube - has it maybe started to oxidize?   Are there alternatives - other than these two?  There are; two of them based on Titanium, one not (there are others I've not yet tried).  Wallace Seymour offer a Lowry White (PW6, PW6.1, PBk1), and Flake White NT (non-toxic - no lead: presumably PW6, but I can't see that on the label); and Rublev offer Lithopone (Barium Sulfate, PW5).  Of these - the Lowry White, which is intended to come as close as possible to the distinctive way that Lowry used his whites, is a versatile paint, of even consistency and pretty good for most purposes I've yet used it for; the Flake White NT - is very glutinous, treacly, oil-heavy, and in use it's nothing like genuine Flake White - but it does give an appearance that's close to it.  Lithophone is the non Titanium, non lead white I like the  best so far - it's not like an oil slick, it's not anything like as cold as PW6 (Titanium), and it doesn't have the brittleness that makes Zinc White a problem (I never much liked Zinc White even before the research into its downsides appeared: but it was good for, eg, white blossom in the hedgerow - and as its use then would be in the uppermost layer, I'm quite relaxed about employing it there).   It's worth our all keeping an eye on companies like Wallace Seymour and Michael Harding, because they're innovative - of the UK companies, they're likely to produce new paints and to research existing ones with a view to improvement; of other brands elsewhere, Golden - who make oils under the name of Williamsberg - and Rublev are two of the companies well worth watching.  Most of my oil paints now come from Wallace Seymour, Michael Harding, and Rublev; and occasionally, Cass Arts own brand are good; and I know Alan Bickley has positive views about Jacksons own brand, of which I've some experience but less than he has; certainly their paints that I have tried have been pleasant to use.  I also encountered Ken Bromley's own oil range - not extensively as yet, but they did sell me a particularly stonking Cadmium Yellow, for a reasonable price. So there we go: there are white alternatives, and if we're very good and very lucky one or more of these great innovative companies might yet develop the perfect white paint.  Keep your eye on them, and visit a) Natural Pigments (EU), which sells Rublev oil and much more, and The Supreme Paint Company, which sells some fantastic colours - it's a paint company run by actual artists, and deserves our support.

I THINK I've finished my second oil, on ACF canvas - I'd become rather unused to painting on canvas, and one of the problems about doing that is that you can see through them when the light hits; so I've noticed how very thinly I sometimes paint - what I did notice was that there were areas I hadn't painted at all; I'd drawn in paint, as I often do, and the white of the canvas not being as stark as cotton would have been, I just couldn't see the difference between the lead white I was using and the canvas colour.  Anyway, I think I've covered it all now; and by way of relaxation, I painted a pastel this evening.  I'll show both in a day or two. The materials were Rublev Flemish White (lead chromate), a touch of Wallace Seymour's lead-free Flake White, some paints from Cass Arts, their own brand, which I've been trying out (impressed), plus Rublev Ultramarine Red shade, and my usual old reliables.  I enjoyed working on the ACF, second time around; quite like painting on linen.  You can find the WIP stage, the first part, on my wightpaint.blogspot; the snag is that it's a painting of the Cripple Path on the Undercliff, and - I couldn't get up there again: so had to work from past sketches.  Age and slippery mud defeated me.  Increasingly, I'm having to work from old sketches - maybe I'll get a bit more mobile in the summer, when the ground dries out.   I rarely work with pastels, but rummaging through my various materials found Mungyo, and Inscribe brands, combining the two - it's a lot quicker than painting in oil.... And my flat is now hung with the heady aroma of Linseed Oil, and fixative....

UPS is as good as the local courier: that can mean very good, or woeful. Cripple path - very old word origin, and it doesn't mean what you might think: it means "narrow and twisting"; on,  one side is a steep rock face, on the other a sheer drop - the difficulty lies in conveying that; because you can't see it unless you peek over the handrail through thick vegetation... endeavouring not to slip through.