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Message
Posted
Some of us wonder why at the week-end the forum slows down....
- No wonder, the weather WAS getting better.
- Exhibitions are in the full swing.
- Artists have got a few more hours to play with the paint under proper daylight
- Family commitment.
So what else keeps you away from the forum at the week-end ?
Posted
I'm definitely hopping around at the moment. Last year I was convinced I wanted to gain/improve my watercolour skills - I love botanical art. Recently though, I've found myself painting big (ish) canvasses in acrylic. This was triggered by my daughter needing colour for the walls of her uni flat and once I started I was hooked. At the moment - I'm finding acrylics relaxing and I'm enjoying the colour statements - usually, but not always, flower/s.
I sketch too - everything and anything - not necessarily to produce anything - I just automatically reach for a pencil and find it relaxing.
I've also been doing a live model sketching session once a month with a local art group - it's not something I want to focuss on longterm - but it is proving to be good for loosening up my sketching.
For summer, I have lined up a one week botanical art course and a one week acrylic painting course. :-D :-D
I am just so happy to finally have the time to devote to art. So yes I can say I'm hopping around at the moment - maybe I'll find something I'm good at and stick to it. ...but I'd quite like to do some oil painting :-D .....and ..........
Is that the kind of reply you expected? Sorry it was a bit long winded.
Posted
I do hop around from medium to medium - for years I painted only in oil; then only in acrylic - then in the last couple of years I added watercolour, and now paint in all three. And draw a lot, of course .... I'm not sure quite why I choose one medium over another, but it's a relief to go to watercolour and break my habit of niggling away at things, which acrylic does rather allow one to do.... Do that in watercolour and you'll kill it stone dead. It's partly the tactile experience that draws me to oil; and then again, the speed, convenience of acrylic may be its great advantage, but what I like about it is that you can combine glazing, scumbling, and laying down solid blocks of colour... as you can in oil, come to that, but it does tend to take a lot longer.
I wouldn't want to choose any one medium out of the three as the one to stick with; I know one thing .... I get very restive these days if I haven't got a painting on the go, whatever the medium..
Posted
I could pretend that you don't need paraphernalia - but it would be a lie. Not so much with acrylics, though - all you need are half a dozen tubes of paint, or fewer, and a handful of nylon, or dalon, or prolene brushes; and a tub of water. You don't need all the retarders, interference mediums, texture paste, gel mediums etc that you can get - might be useful later, but aren't essential at all. And off you go.
Oil - well no; can't pretend that's quite so simple: although the water-soluble ones, which I don't use, may be easier, in the sense of being lighter in terms of equipment.
Posted
Maintaining a blog can be wearisome, and Heaven forfend that I wish it on anyone who feels the strain setting in - however; you never know who may read and draw interest, comfort, inspiration from your finely honed words. The biggest problem with POL at the moment is that too few people use it; some of us - i.e. me - probably use it too much; and that there are just one or two whose sensitivities are so raw that offence is taken at the most innocent of comments.
Maybe one or all of these factors has provoked disenchantment from the edge of the Fens; but if it helps in any way, I have always enjoyed your idiosyncratic commentary, and will miss it if you cease.
Posted
Mel. is an all or nothing person. I have not received the mental stimulation to continue my blog which thrived on feed-back & dialogue.
Mornings: are Studio & Art Administration and the Advertising trail...this includes POL....The ITV Thread? I no longer use people will find my portfolios which will always be maintained. It helps establish a proof of ownership should copyright ever raise its head.
Afternoons: Are serious art-hours.
Weekends? much the same in the am...pm? no painting. Its The Memsahib's time...unless there is another commission that my soul is pushing for completion.
A useful tip from Rosemary's Brushes [wonderfully helpful lady, @ Patchings 2010] use 'Swarfega' for cleaning out the acrylic paint your brushes as part of your brush clean-up process...It works. And it cleans the hands for those of you who do not use disposable gloves...
'Halfords' stock a good selection of 'Swarfega'...Homebase? a discontinued line...
There is now a blog attached to my website. It is related to Meltemi & his art.