One Last Fling

 "The Swedish Student"

11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas

$450

Available from The Gallery at the Watershed

Big, cheap, and raggedy - No, I'm not talking about my model! It is a pretty accurate description of the brush I used to paint her with, though. It's an old, cheap, number 6 flat that I keep around for applying tone to my canvases - that orangey color you see behind this one, for example. Anyway, I sort of forgot to switch brushes after toning my canvas, and once I noticed - hey, it was working, so I just kept going. 

Worn out brushes often give me one final cool-looking painting before dying completely. One last, loose, sketchy fling!

Here's my progress, taken at 45 minute intervals. I'm pretty proud of the fact that once I'd painted an area, I managed to leave it generally intact, except for some minor blending and adjusting. It's so frustrating when I feel like I'm repainting the entire thing, over and over what I've already done.

I Picked Your Lilacs

 "Lilacs and Lemons"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
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After my brush stroke workout yesterday, I was more than ready to break out a brand new brush and keep keeping it simple! New flats and brights are the best for this - their lines are so precise and crisp. If you don't clean them, or leave them sitting in your solvent jar for hours, or carry them around in a funky vintage makeup case to and from classes and open studios (as I do, yes, all of the above), that crispness doesn't last long. Believe me, I will be cleaning my brushes as soon as I hit "publish!"

...cleaning them, and then stuffing them into the aforementioned case and heading to figure painting night. Join me! (Virtually, in person, or via astral projection - your choice.)

 Sketch for "Lilacs and Lemons" approx. 5.5" square, oil on Arches oil paper. 30 minutes.

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