AdelsArt

Okay, so this post isn’t about the science of paint and it won’t include an experiment.  But I can give you a decent safety tip. Another artist and good friend of mine gave me this advice.To avoid getting dust into the air while sanding a painted surface and thus to keep from inhaling any harsh chemicals, spritz some water onto the surface prior to sanding. It works fabulously and the sandpaper can take all that paint with it to the hazardous waste bucket!

I also tried it on my glass palette. Not only did the water keep the dust from becoming airborne, but the paint which had long been dry scraped off as if it were butter. So much easier to return to subsequent sessions.

Now back to painting…

It used to be that I thought I’d die if I didn’t take the time to make art.

…Still here

Posts under the category “the laboratory,” are going to relate to my chosen medium, acrylic paint. These posts will include information on the why’s and how’s of acrylics, such as handling of the paint or what gives this type of paint its properties.  I might even include an experiment or two.

Curious… aren’t you?

Walks are great for formulating new ideas. And good to take often, like vitamins.  Some of the best ideas come from taking inappropriate doses of the sort, like enduring walks into the cold rain. Or a visit with the usual, though unusual, friends, only in an underground meeting place. My advice though, is to bring something to write with and to write on, which, last night I did not.

I have a highly important (at least to me) encroaching exam.  I need of course, to study every day leading up to that exam.  What I want to do is to paint.  So, I will do both.  The delay is in whether to alternate between studying for one hour and painting for two, or to alternate between studying for two hours and painting for three.  My sense is that painting is in the lead.

testing…

My hot water bottle finally sprung a leak.  I used the bottle (more like a bag) while I was painting, setting it on my lap and refilling it under the hot tap when it cooled.   It’s replacement is a plastic juice container with a screw on lid.  It holds the water in of course and works well enough to keep me warm, but the new apparatus sits much less like a cat.

I look forward to Spring.

I’m exploring portals, tunnels and passageways.

In  January, I started on a rather large painting.  While that wasn’t working out at all, although not due to size, I remembered an idea I’d had for a series of smaller 12×12in works using arches as imagery.  The series is a branch off of a larger piece I’d painted last year, titled “Seven Colors.”  There are now six of the new series well along in the making.  And not a peep from the opposition.

Against the advice of a wonderful friend, I am going to mention that I am enrolled in school full time.  I see no reason to hide it.   Having a day job is important to me, and my previous career was not stable enough.  I like to have an obligation that demands I leave the home, studio, kitchen.  Otherwise I might get stuck churning leftovers.

It has been a month since I started up painting again.