It's been a weird couple of weeks around here. Almost immediately after graduation I got really sick. What appeared to be just another cold proved to be a much bigger annoyance. My nose was very sensitive and my body was aching, so I decided to go to work but wait until feeling better to go back to painting. Fast forward almost two months and I'm still trying to go back and paint!
After many weeks of picking up shifts at work and having almost no free time at all, I finally had some days off to go back to my paintings. But with the last semesters of school and work, I just didn't keep up with my little art corner (it cannot be really called an art studio) and it had become incredibly dirty and messy. I needed to perform some serious "Spring Cleaning style" work before any painting took place.
So, I cleaned, dusted and organized everything. I also recycled some of my unused mixed colors from previous paintings and made a colored gesso base for future priming. I was surprised to see how many years I can keep containers of premixed acrylic paint! I washed all my containers and primed at least 15 boards for new paintings.
I also took advantage of some pre holiday deals and ordered some supplies. I realized a couple of weeks ago I needed some serious upgrading in the lighting department. So, I did my homework and ordered some artist grade CF daylight bulbs. The regular household CF bulbs are incredibly noisy and inconsistent. Since incandescent bulbs are scheduled to be discontinued at the beginning of next year anyway (just around the corner), it seemed like a perfect time to start experimenting with new lighting conditions. Even in California the sun sets pretty early during the winter, so if I want to paint at all during the next couple of months, I need to be prepared.
Hopefully I can now start painting some stuff! I need to go through my stash of unfinished works and see what needs the most attention. Here's to finally picking up where I left off!
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| Acrylics build up fast. Some of these brushes need to retire! |
After many weeks of picking up shifts at work and having almost no free time at all, I finally had some days off to go back to my paintings. But with the last semesters of school and work, I just didn't keep up with my little art corner (it cannot be really called an art studio) and it had become incredibly dirty and messy. I needed to perform some serious "Spring Cleaning style" work before any painting took place.
So, I cleaned, dusted and organized everything. I also recycled some of my unused mixed colors from previous paintings and made a colored gesso base for future priming. I was surprised to see how many years I can keep containers of premixed acrylic paint! I washed all my containers and primed at least 15 boards for new paintings.
I also took advantage of some pre holiday deals and ordered some supplies. I realized a couple of weeks ago I needed some serious upgrading in the lighting department. So, I did my homework and ordered some artist grade CF daylight bulbs. The regular household CF bulbs are incredibly noisy and inconsistent. Since incandescent bulbs are scheduled to be discontinued at the beginning of next year anyway (just around the corner), it seemed like a perfect time to start experimenting with new lighting conditions. Even in California the sun sets pretty early during the winter, so if I want to paint at all during the next couple of months, I need to be prepared.
Hopefully I can now start painting some stuff! I need to go through my stash of unfinished works and see what needs the most attention. Here's to finally picking up where I left off!