Monday, December 7, 2009

PROCESS/EQUIPMENT: TIP FOR THE DAY :-)











As a painter, I am largely self taught. Yeah, yeah, I went to art school, but I wasn't in the painting department and I ended up getting a BFA in sculpture. But that's another story.....

This post is about process--my process and I think it's important to share this belief---THERE ARE NO RULES. REALLY. I kid you not--and the sooner you figure that out, or start to believe it, the more fun and satisfaction you're gonna have. I mean, isn't that why we do art? Sure we'd all like to be hugely successful, but that's not the primary motivation for making art. There are easier ways to make money.

Well, these goofy pics of my painting table are the illustration of this post and the importance of finding the right equipment that works for you in your very own individual artmaking process. Acrylic on canvas is one of the mediums I use. And I don't use acrylic how most people do, and so the traditional "artist's palette" has never worked for me. I thin it down and use layers of paint, much as I do with my gouache & watercolor paintings. I used to use this plastic thing that looked like an egg carton, which I got on my freshman year of art school--a LONG time ago. It worked pretty well, but was hard to clean & stuff dried up too fast, even though I covered it with foil. So last year, I decided that I deserved (and needed) a new system and started hunting through all my various art supply catalogues. Well, I found this groovy little piece of equipment in the pics. It's called "Double Take" and it was designed for watercolors. But it works great for acrylics as well. And it comes with all these little plastic cups with lids that fit in spaces around the edge. (You can also order these separately if you need more) And the plastic lid fits over the whole shebang--and it keeps things pretty workable. The lid also has 4 trays of workspace you can use, although I have yet to avail myself of them.

Best of all it's easy to clean off & start over. I think I may have gotten mine at ASW, but I'm not sure (it's been awhile)
Anyway, just wanted to share that info. People always wonder when they come to your shows--"How did you do that?". Well, it's a long answer with many small parts. And usually as artists, we don't think about the funny little stuff we do that helps us to get from A to B. So there you go.