semi-daily blog
5/12/2012- I have spent the last week or more adding lapis into the backgrounds of a bunch of paintings. Lapis has some very unique visual effects that synthetic ultramarine has no chance of ever achieving. In looking at the Lapis, on a glass plate under the stereomicroscope with backlighting, I can see how amazingly transparent and luminous true Ultramarine can be. I am experimenting with my very lowest grades first and they are astonishing. The backgrounds are laid in quite softly for the most part and are more of a nuance than a feature, but when the paintings are very dimly illuminated by indirect subdued sunlight they seem to glow. There is a reason why Lapis is so expensive. Hopefully I can get some good photos on this site soon.
4/20/2012- Got some bad news tonight. Artist, teacher, curator and friend Rhoda London passed away. There were many who found Rhoda “abrasive” due to her nature of always telling the truth, which I found to be her most beautiful trait. I will miss her.
4/12/2012- Spent some mental “noodling” time with Don Haynes regarding nuances and subtleties of linseed oil purification.
3/17/2012- Terra Ercolano glazings all day.
3/3/2012- I researched the European collection of the Kimball Art Museum in Dallas, Texas. A very nice collection. I was captivated by the Frederic Lord Leighton painting of May Sartoris and the Jean-Baptiste Greuze painting, “La Simplicite”. Jan Gossart’s painting of Hendryk III has very articulate craftsmanship. The Kimball Art Museum houses paintings by Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Titian and Bellini to name a few.
2/10/2012- I find that the more I learn and discover, the less I feel a need to share.
1/27/2012- I’m still having difficulty understanding what my motivation is to paint what I see, where it comes from, and for whom I do this.
12/18/2011- Fine Art Conservation, Art History and Research will eventually reach the technological level to determine associations between painters and apprentices via medium and pigment samples. When a painter died, their materials did not just disappear. The materials were either sold or passed down to those who continued the traditions. Particle size and purity of pigments will link the Flemish Primitives together like a family tree. I can see associations with the naked eye when I recognize certain greens and reds.
12/9/2011- Rules of painting, materials, and processes
1. The pen/brush always follows the form.
1a. There are no straight lines in organic forms, only spheres.
2. Blue to the back, red to the middle, yellow to the front.
3. Grind your pigments very finely, purify them and dry them thoroughly and your paintings will have greater durability when used in oil.
4. Rinse your paintbrushes completely. ANY soap remaining will affect the oils negatively.
5. Never use non-drying oils on your brushes unless you can guarantee that they are completely removed from the brush before painting begins along with the soap.
6. Clean and purify your linseed oil well and it will dry more rapidly and be much more durable.
7. Warmly applied layers of gesso will contract as they cool, and may causing warping. Seek equilibrium.
8. Never provide answers to questions unasked. Give clues to questions asked, not answers.
9. Mineral pigments do not change over time.
10. Observe/Understand the effects of clock-wise vs. counter-clockwise.
11. Every pigment can produce a cooler or warmer effect simply by the way it is applied to a surface.
12. Purity is a rule of fine art, not a goal.
13. Never paint on the inside of the tree.
14. Heavy things settle below lighter things. Heavy things move toward the equator, lightest things to the poles.
15. Damar should NEVER be used as a medium in the painting, only as a final varnish. Oil-based varnishes should NEVER be used as a final varnish, use spirit varnishes only.
12/3/2011- I have confirmed my gesso recipe with rabbit-skin and marble dust with a simple additive available in medieval times and earlier that has made my gesso fully flexible upon drying. I have never read of this event in all my years of research. I am pleased. Nothing can imitate the optical effects of marble-dust gesso when done properly. I am working toward faster production methods with an improved medium I have been working on for some time.