Just Because: The Cutting of the Hair

My eight-year-old niece, Ms A, likes to cut things. Paper, her doll's hair, fabric, her own hair (she has done so twice), and now her sister's hair.

Meet three year old Ms. K:

Ms A gave Ms K a haircut today! Yay! (cough) Needless to say, Ms A got in BIG trouble. You can barely see it, but in the left side photo a big chunk of bang was cut right at her hair line, and there is a hole around the ear where hair used to be. The back was obviously also cut, and there is another section in the back where a small spot of hair was cut all the way down to the scalp.

The sad thing is that Ms K doesn't have a ton of hair as it is; her hair could take years to grow this back out. So, I went over to see if I could maybe make a fix or if this would take professional help. In the end we decided I should give it a try, and I am kind of proud of the finished product:

I switched which side her part was on, effectively hiding a little of the cut bangs as well as the cut hair around her ear. I cut about an inch and half off in the back to hide the mega slice, lightly textured it to hide the different lengths, and then angled the two sides to make it all look like it was done on purpose.

This was also the best photo I got, since Ms K is genius with her funny faces. One year old Baby J also got a little bit of a haircut from older sister, but it was not nearly as bad and I forgot to take a post-Tia (me) haircut photo of her.  

Oh man, am I excited to one day have some of my own... :(

Animal News: Isn't this Octopus Adorabilis?

Oh my gosh yes!

Going Green: Cleaning your Brushes without Turpenoid

Oil paints themselves are toxic, and adding turpenoid can get intense. I feel that trying to eliminate painting chemicals that are harmful to both myself and the environment is important. When I first eliminated turpenoid it was an adjustment, especially since I loved using turpenoid as a medium. However, the trade off has been worth it.

I first read about painting solvent free here:

Free your studio of dangerous solvents by using walnut oil in place of turpentine or odorless mineral spirits when cleaning brushes.  Walnut oil removes color from the artist’s brush or tool as effectively as odorless paint thinners, without creating a solvent hazard.  Walnut oil is a natural vegetable oil that neither evaporates nor removes essential oils.  The addition of walnut oil to color will increase flow and slow the drying. 

Needed Items:

Just like with turpenoid you will need the following items: cleaning oil, two cleaning jars, and cleaning soap.

Cleaning Oil: 

Any oil medium will work fine, just make sure that it is 100% oil. I would avoid Stand Oil, but linseed or walnut oil will work perfectly. I personally use M Graham Walnut Oil.

Steps to Cleaning without Turpenoid: 

Step 1: When finished painting, remove excess paint off of the brush using a rag or paper towel. 

Step 2: Using your cleaning oil, clean as much paint as possible off the brush by scrubbing it into your cleaning jar.

Step 3: In the sink, clean the rest of the paint off your brush using soap.

Note: I use Master's Hand Soap, to read about different soap options read here. 

Step 4: Allow brushes to dry upright in a holding jar. This will insure that the bristles maintain their shape for as long as possible.

Perks to Cleaning Solvent Free: 

1. You don't have to breathe in fumes.
2. Your brushes will not dry out.
3. Your brushes will last longer by being conditioned while being cleaned.

You can read different ways to clean without solvents here and here. For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Cleaning your Paint Brushes with Turpenoid

Cleaning your paint brushes after every painting session is important for the life and health of both your paint brushes and wallet. In order to clean your brushes you will need to make three purchases:  turpenoid, two cleaning jars, and cleaning soap.

Types of Turpenoid: 

Note: I will be going over the uses of turpenoid (or mineral spirits) in my post about painting mediums, but for now I will just be focusing on how to use it while cleaning. 

You can purchase several different types of odorless turpenoid or odorless mineral spirits. Most artists recommend that you shy away from straight turpentine as it leaves an unwanted residue which can crack the paint. It also smells, strongly.  

Turpentines: Always go odorless, but that doesn't mean they are not toxic. They are.  

Gamblin's Gamsol or Mineral Spirits: Gamsol is the highest quality spirit and is quite a lot safer too. It is, sadly, expensive. However, if you don't use a lot then it can go a long way. You can read more here.

Citrus Solvents: Are a non-toxic, citrus based, biodegradable, turpenoid-like product. So you can have your turpenoid and eat it to!

Going odorless is the best. However, do not think that just because you can't smell it that it isn't putting off harmful gases. All turpenoids are extremely toxic and are to be used only in a well ventilated room.

Types of Cleaning Jars: 

You will want to purchase two separate jars to use specifically for cleaning. You can either use a mason jar like I do, or purchase a special jar for brush cleaning. You will want two jars so that you can decant the good turpenoid and separate it from the used turpenoid. I will explain how and why in my next post. 

Types of Cleaning Soap: 

Dish Soap: Some people say that using dish soap is the most amazing, but I do not love it. I feel that even the expensive ones dry your brushes out and you go through it so fast that it can end up being expensive. Not to mention annoy your spouse when they go to do the dishes and it is all gone, again.

Pink Soap: I have never used it, but lots of people love it. The price is the reason I have not tried it.  

Masters Artist's Hand Soap: This is what I use to clean my brushes. I love it, it doesn't dry your brushes out, it won't dry out your hands, and it smells good. Technically Masters Artist's created their hand soap not to clean paint brushes, however it works so well and is so relatively inexpensive that I highly recommend it. 

Master's Brush Cleaner: They do have a very special brush cleaning scrub that is wonderful. At Michael's the scrub is very expensive, but at Dick Blick the price is half as much. Using the scrub every day is unnecessary. I will be explaining why in another post about preserving and rescuing dried out brushes. 

Other: 

I just discovered a brush cleaner that eliminates the need for soap and turpenoid. I may try this out, check it out here. 

Steps for Cleaning with Turpenoid: 

Step 1: When finished painting, remove excess paint off of the brush using a rag or paper towel. 

Step 2: Using your turpenoid, clean as much paint as possible off the brush by scrubbing it into your cleaning jar.

Step 3: In the sink, clean the rest of the paint off your brush using soap. 

Step 4: Allow brushes to dry upright in a holding jar. This will insure that the bristles maintain their shape for as long as possible.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Pronghorn: Final, kind of

I think that I am going to try painting a pronghorn again, and I think I can make it much, much better. I still need to resolve the background on this one, which I may do later because I do not love it as is, and I think that it can be improved upon easily. But for now I give you the tentative final and the progress photos (also the red isn't quite as intense in the photo):

An Artist: Kevin Earl Taylor

The other day I was a googling the internets when I came upon an artist, Kevin Earl Taylor and I was all, "YES! That was what was in my brain!"

Sometimes when I have an idea about a painting, the idea isn't always complete. Normally this does not bother me and the idea is flushed out through the painting process. Sadly, this was not the case with either the bear or the pronghorn. In both cases I thought my ideas complete enough to start, but they were not, and the end product is not quite what I wanted it to be.

However, like I said in my final post about the bear, I feel that both paintings have helped me take one more step towards where I want to be and how I want to paint, and that is exciting and great and wonderful.

Below are some more works by Kevin Taylor:

If you would like to see more of his work, which I recommend, click here and here.

Juxtapose did a small interview with him last year, which you can read more about here as well as see some interior shots of his studio. Below is an expert from that interview:

Taylor’s paintings depict stark, surreal landscapes that seem like moments frozen in time. Animals and animal parts confront the viewer and each other, forms tied together by a common visual thread or somehow fused into one another and their surroundings. Some portrayals are lighter and incorporate abstract geometric stratospheres within the natural landscape, bringing to question the nature of animals and whether or not our perception of them as being so different from us is valid.

Bear: Final

In the end the bear is okay. I do not love it, but I feel that it has helped me to know what my next step will be, where I need to improve, and how I want to change; that makes me excited.

Here is the final photo along with the progress shots:

Brush Brands and What to Purcahse: Level 1, 2, 3 what?

Walking down the brush aisle of any craft store and you will see what I am talking about: Level 1 Beginner, Level 2 Student, Level 3 Professional; or there about. This gives a beginner the idea that until they get "good" they should save money and go cheaper on their brushes. This is akin to purchasing student grade paints, and will only lead to frustration (I use that word at lot). These paint brushes are not worth the money and in the end they really are not that much cheaper, please do not purchase them.

That being said, paint brushes are the most expensive piece of equipment a beginner will purchase, and therefore should be purchased wisely. Frustratingly, unlike with paint brands, there is little useful information on the internets about different brush brands. What is more, and a little embarrassing to admit, I have very little experience with various paint brush brands.

I did however, find one poll here:

As I mentioned in my post about brush types, I primarily use synthetic brushes. When I found a great synthetic I stuck with it and did not try any others. I don't think that this was a mistake, since I love the brushes I use, but I do think that I would like to try some of these other brushes and then update this post with my findings (this may take a while). Below is a list of the brushes I will be trying.

Synthetic Sable
Winsor and Newton: Monarch Series
Escoda: Modernist Tadami Series and Opera Series
Robert Simmons: White Sable Series
Silver Brush: Monza Synthetic Mongoose and Ruby Satin Synthetic Series

I will be comparing them to my current favorite, Black Gold by Dynasty. Which are awesome.

Synthetic Hog Bristle
Robert Simmons: Titanium Series 

For hog brushes I currently use Robert Simmons Signet and I love them. We shall see how the synthetics work out. I have used Connoisseur brushes and do not like them, as well as Princeton, which are fine but not awesome.

Purchasing your first set of Brushes:

As I set out to make a list of brushes I realized I was making a very long list. In order to keep things as simple as possible I have found a couple of packages for both sable and hog bristle that I think will give any beginner a good start.
Note: All of the below brush recommendations are made according to my current brush use: Black Gold and Signet. 

Sable Brushes
Package 1: Contains three rounds, one flat, and one filbert.
Package 2: Contains two rounds, and three flats.
Alternative Package 2: Contains three small rounds, one large flat, and one small flat.
In addition to the two packages I would also purchase one large flat, size 10.

Hog Bristle Brushes
To start you really only need two brushes: one large flat or filbert size 12 and one round size 6 (ignore the image on both, they have linked the wrong brush image to the size).

If you cannot afford two sable packages, I recommend purchasing package 1 from above, along with these two recommended hog bristle brushes.

For alternatives to my recommendations, read here and here.

Purchasing Additional Brushes: 

Having a ton of different types of brushes can look fun, but in the end if you are only using the same five brushes then you have wasted a lot of money. Understanding your own personal preference is paramount for not wasting money, so continue with the above recommended brushes until you know which types you prefer. Once you know what types of brushes you prefer, begin purchasing more of those types in various sizes. Ideally you would want two or three of each brush in each size, one for dark colors and one for light colors.

Which Brush to use When:

There are two simple rules to follow, and then break:

1. Start your painting by using hog bristles and finish it using the softer, smoother sables.

2. Always use the largest brush possible. It is silly to paint a vast background using a flat size 2. Pick up that size 12 and have at it. That being said, sometimes the 2 is the largest brush for the job.

When to Replace your Brushes: 

This is dependent on two things: how well you clean your brushes and how rough you are on them while you paint. I had a professor who would replace his primary brushes every one to two paintings, but I for one do not have that kind of money. Thankfully, a good brush should last you at least 6 to 12 months. However, it is important to remember two things:

1. Holding onto an old, used brush can be just as frustrating as painting with a bad, cheap one.
2. Purchasing brushes is not a one time thing, as they do not last forever. YAY! :(

My next post will be about how to clean and care for your brushes. Also if you have any brushes that you recommend or would like me to try out, please leave a comment.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Just because: Mitchel's Race!!

Who are those annoying people in the background? Really, so rude.... 

Last week Mom, Husband, and I took a road trip out to good ol' Kansas; Manhattan, Kansas to be precise. Yep, Manhattan, Kansas is a real place. In fact, my brother-in-law, who is an ESL professor for K State, says that sometimes their international students land in Kansas thinking that they were going to be going to school in Manhattan, New York. I cannot imagine the devastation on their faces when they walk off the plane, and find themselves surrounded by corn and cows. Oh, I want to see that!

Anyways, we made a surprise visit (Brother-in-law knew) to my Sister. Sister was running her first ever race with her awesome friend M. We arrived the day before the race, she was so surprised to see us, it was great. As you can imagine it was a lot of fun being out there. 

Here is a video of the end of the race, and I would have you know that the shouting, hooting sound is not me; that would be my mom and the race people. The race was full of awesome, supportive workers: 

Here is a photo of all of us:

Also, I would like to note how Husband and I are standing between Sister and Brother-in-law, posing as if the kids are ours. :)

While we were there we went to the Insect Zoo, which was great, the Wizard of Oz Museum, which was okay, and the Sunrise Zoo, which was awesome. The Sunrise Zoo is a smallish zoo, but their enclosures are wonderful. A couple of the enclosures you just walk right into, like the kangaroo enclosure, and there are a ton of peacocks just walking around everywhere. It was pretty fun.

The little ones were pretty sick the entire time we were there. Ms V kept her spirits up super well; however, little Ms Q was really not loving life, as you can see.

Also, here is a photo of Sister sleeping with her youngest, Ms Q, after the race: 

Types of Brushes: Shapes and Hog Bristle, Sable, or Synthetic

        

Brush Types: 

• Round: pointed tip, long and closely arrange bristles. Good for details. 
• Flat: flat, long bristles. Good for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. A dry, clean, standard flat is also excellent for blending. 
• Bright: flat, short bristles. Good for scrubbing paint into the weave of a canvas in thinner paint applications, but also ideal for thicker impasto work. 
• Filbert: flat, round tipped bristles. Good for general coverage and some detail work, ideal for creating soft edges. 
• Fan: flat, fanned bristles. Good for blending broad areas of paint, like smoothing the left image below to the right image:

• Angle: flat, with bristles cut at an angle. Good for general application as well as detail, but are a personal choice brush. 
• Mop: large, round bristles. Good for larger paint application, are usually very soft and good for blending large areas or applying larger glazes. 
• Rigger: long, round bristles that come to a sharp point. Good for fine lines and details, and although are normally marketed as a watercolor brush, they work equally well with oils. 

I highly recommend reading Wikipedia's and Dick Blick's articles about different paint brushes. You can also read more here at the Winsor and Newton site. 

Brush Hair Type: Natural Sable, Hog Bristles, or Synthetic 

The material used to form the body of the brush determines both the performance and the price of the brush. 

• Natural Sable, soft hair brushes: bristles are extremely soft and made from animal hair. Good for general paint application, but excellent for glazing. They have a long life and maintain their shape even when loaded with heavy paint.  

• The most expensive sable is the Kolinsky sable, and is made from a mink of the weasel family, found in Siberia and China. The best brushes are made of the hair of the male's tail, but only the hairs of his winter coat. Normally the mink is hunted for its tail, but there are some cases of them being raised in captivity, usually in poor conditions. In both cases they are killed. Any site saying that animals are not harmed in the making of these brushes is confused. In 2013 the US Fish and Wildlife started halting or seizing shipments of the brushes. So yeah... 

• They can also be made out of squirrel, pony, goat, mongoose, or badger. You will also see a "camel" hair option, but it is not made from a camel. These options are still not great for the whole animal rights thing... 

• Hog Bristle, corse hair brushes: bristles are thicker, stiffer, and stronger than sable hair. Easily holds a lot of paint and is great for heavy paint application or the spreading of paint. Hog hair is great for preparing a canvas ground, or imprimatura, and for moving paint along large backgrounds. Some also recommend hog bristles for glazing, but I don't. They last forever and can take a lot of abuse. 

•  Hog hair is interesting in that each tip forks off into three micro tips. This allows the brush to hold a ridiculous amount of paint. 

• Hog Bristles usually come from the ears of the pig, and yes, the pig is dead. I do use hog bristle brushes, but mixed with a moral dilemma. The entire body of the pig is used when it is slaughtered for meat, and that includes hairs for making paint brushes; however, the way the animals are kept is wrong. You can learn more here. 

• Synthetic, soft hair brushes: Synthetics were not always awesome, it is true, but now they are almost just as good as any natural hair brush. They are usually made of nylon or polyester. Here are some reasons for going synthetic: 

• They are less prone to damage from solvents, insects, or paints.   
• They are easier to keep clean than animal hair, because the filaments don't have animal scale structures to trap paint. 
• They are less prone to breakage and are more durable on various surfaces. 

So moral of the story, go synthetic! To read more about paint brushes, read here or here. I will be talking about different brush brands in my next post.  

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Bear: Part 3 Cont.

I woke up this morning and walked into my painting room to stare at my bear for a little while. While thus staring a funny thought occurred to me about the difference in expression from one side of the bear's face to the other and I laughed. My friend Buddy will particularly appreciate this:

Christ, Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai, 6th century

And no, the Christ of St. Catherine has not had a stroke (oh my, the sacrilege is running rampant today), he is showing two sides of the same face. One of compassion and mercy, and the other of judgement and condemnation. Okay, so the difference in my bear's face is not quiet so extreme, but I thought myself clever all the same.

If you would like to read more about the Christ of St. Catherine I recommend the site Alberti's Window. It is actually the art history site of my friend, Buddy, and it is really great. It is by far one of my favorite art history blogs.

Pronghorn: Part 4

I may have gone red for the background, as in really red:

Bet you can't guess what I am going to add to make him look all coolies? Yep, circles. They are going to be mega subtle. At this point I have added two coats of paint to the background. The first coat was only quinacridone red, which gave the red a slightly pink tone, but the second was a mixture of primarily quinacridone with a small amount of napthol to give it a little more body.

Once the second coat is dry I am going to draw some circles in blue and yellow-orange. Just the outline, they will not be filled. Then once they dry I will paint the final coat of quinacridone over the circles and the background. I need to also finish this one by Friday, fingers crossed.

The Bear: Part 3

I need to get the bear done by Friday for the Provo City Gallery Stroll. I hope I can pull it off, though we all know what happened last time I tried to paint this thing under a time crunch... nothing good. Last week I added more to the underdrawing that is now over the bear... so it is an overdrawing? Here she is so far, she still looks angry, and I can't decide if her hair is okay, but it is a solid start:

Here are some detail and progress photos:

I wonder why her nose looks squished in the right side detail...

Again with the horrible photos, oh well. Also, the spheres need to go, because she looks like some kind of metaphysical ideal of a bear that has reached outer space. :)

Color Palettes: How to Make your Own Glass Palette

Making your own glass palette is super easy. In fact, I made mine and then looked online and found an even easier way using spray paint. Bummer. I take that back; not easier, just different. Okay, no, probably easier, especially if you already have to go out and purchase materials.

Here is the link for that "different" way, here is a video that shows you just about the same thing, and here is another video that shows you a slightly fancier way to make a palette.

And now, on to "my way." The first glass palette I ever purchased was made this way. After breaking a second palette purchased from the same place, I decided to make my own. I also ended up breaking that one, so now I am on my fourth, but the first one still remains!

Materials needed:

Scissors, a pencil, some artist tape or blue painters tape (scotch or masking tape may rip when trying to remove and replace), a piece of glass (the smallest I would go is 11x14. You can purchase a piece of glass from any framer, and also ask them to bevel the sides), a medium gray piece of paper, and some card stock (I used the cover from an old drawing pad). All of these things can be purchased from your local craft store, such as Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

Note: If you would like a more heavy-duty glass, hop over to Ikea and purchase one of their glass shelves. They are cheap but big, and I for one don't have the table space for it. The glass that I am using in this demo was actually the glass from an 11x14 frame that I purchased to show Mr. T in a gallery. Oh, I don't think I mentioned that, more on that later. Meaning I went super cheap on the glass, but it works. 

Step 1: Using your piece of glass, trace the outline on both your gray paper and card stock (again, here I used the cover from a drawing pad).

Step 2: Cut the pieces out. They will end up being a little bigger than your glass, but we will fix that.

Step 3: Clean your glass with either windex or soap and water.

Step 4: Add a piece of tape along a long side of the glass. Place your gray paper and then card stock on top of the glass, flush with the taped edge. Fold the tape over the side and corners.

Step 5: Cut any overhanging paper from the glass's edge and then repeat step 4 on all four sides.

Step 6: Reinforce the corners by wrapping a small piece of tape around them.

Step 7: Finish off the back by placing tape, this time flush with the edges instead of folding over, around all four sides.

And now you have a finished palette.

As you use your palette, the tape will take a beating. When needed, just remove the tape and replace. Again, I don't recommend using scotch or masking tape, as these tapes will tear the paper.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.