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If you are not an artist, you might want to stop reading at this point, because here comes some "shop talk."

The mediums were:

1. Gamblin Neo-Meglip--This turned out to be the most difficult to work with, because the brushstrokes showed in the transparent paint, and the paint started setting up, becoming sticky after about an hour.
2. Garrett Copal Concentrate--A resin, not really a medium, seemed to make the paint thicker. Really easy to paint with! Strokes blended like a dream. Did not seem to speed drying. Because it thickened the paint, I ended up using more mineral spirits than usual, but that didn't seem to increase the transparency of the paint. (You know the expression, "Oils slip, resins grip")
3. Grumbacher Copal Painting Medium--After the above experience, I decided to try this medium, even though it is a synthetic alkyd medium. At least it is an attempt to duplicate the effects of a copal medium. It did thin the paint and give better flow. Did not become sticky before the painting was finished. Paint seemed to have more body and less transparency than when using Liquin (another alkyd medium).

So, which did I like better? Garrett Copal Concentrate, though I'm now curious to try Garrett's Copal Medium, which I expect would thin the paint a bit, so I don't have to use so much mineral spirit.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

After doing flowers in their natural environment, I decided to try a more classical treatment, and go with a plain background. There is a simplicity about this that I really like. The tulip had the most wonderful and exotic fragrance!

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I am starting to realize that I tend to group my subjects in groups of two, while as an artist, I know that groups of three, or odd numbered groups are considered more interesting. I wonder if there is a deeper significance here? Or is it just that when working on a 6" square that I want to complete that day, I just don't want a lot of detail. A lot of daily painters just paint single objects... maybe I should try that?

But when you have two, or more, they seem to relate to each other, so it seems to give the painting a story, if only in the viewer's mind. What is the story here?

I had been wanting to paint something on this polka-dotted fabric. These mushrooms seemed perfect because their round shapes repeated the round of the dots, and their neutral color seemed a good contrast to the bright pink. Now that I look at it, an alternate title might be "Floating on a Psychedelic Sea."

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It seems like every time I post a painting, I think, "what to say about this one?" And because these little paintings are constant challenges and experiments, the first thing I think of to say is usually, "That was so hard!" Well, of course it was hard! That's what makes it fun!

I kicked thalo blue off my palette, and used the milder Sevres blue (a Rembrandt color). The pigments are thalo blue mixed with white, and it allows me to get bright greens without it being so overpowering. This is actually the second daffodil painting. For the first one I did use thalo blue, then realized there was no way I could paint over it, as when doing the edges of the petals, without it mixing into the white and causing blue daffodils. I almost wiped it off, but decided to let it dry, then paint over it. So, another daffodil painting will be coming in a few days.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

Oscar was not aware, when I bailed him out of the hoosegow, that his duties as studio cat would include modeling. But being a good sport, he decided to go along with it. This is a pose he strikes quite often, especially when he is about to be fed. He thinks this is a very successful painting, my best yet! He'll say anything for a tuna treat.