Masters Touch Products; 5" X 7" Canvas Panel Oil Painting

Hello All;
I hope everyone is doing well.  I realize everyone is getting antsy to venture from your homes and I can say I am no different.  Here in Illinois, it is 60 degrees today, but most things are closed.  So, I put in my Jimmy Buffet cd, open some windows and paint.  This is my newest oil painting I used Masters Touch products only.  The paint and the canvas panel was from Hobby Lobby before the close down.  I stocked up on panels and paint the day before they closed.  I will not replace my normal oil paints and primed hard board with Masters Touch products, but to be truthful, they are much nicer then I originally thought they would be.  The panels have a rigid backing and a nicely textured painting surface.  The oil paints go on well and the colors are vibrant.  The oil paints do have light fast ratings on the back of each tube that is pretty good as well.  My only real issue is the drying time.  Thicker applications dry much slower then artist grade oil paints.  Now don't get me wrong, they do not take weeks or months to get dry to the touch, but it is a bit longer then what I like.  I am averaging a full week to get touch dry and that is with using walnut alkyd medium from M Graham.  Even so, a week for oil paints is not that bad.  If your looking for a pretty decent student grade oil paint at a great price, by all means, try them out.  I think you will like them.  Have a Blessed day and hang in their my friends.

New Oil Painting; Pallet Knife Try

Hello Everyone;
I was not really sure of what to paint today, but I knew I wanted to paint.  I have two plastic pallet knives I bought at Hobby Lobby awhile ago and use them primarily to clean off my pallet when I am finished painting for the day.  Since I had nothing special in mind, I decided to use them to paint a picture.  This is an 11" X 14" oil painting completed 100% with two plastic pallet knives.  I actually don't hate it.  As a matter of fact, it is growing on me a bit.  No lie, they are really tough to get used to, but I do like the different textures and effects i was able to get with them.  I am not sure if I will try this again, but it is tempting.  I did not waste anywhere near the paint I thought I would, and point of fact, it was a whole lot of fun.  I know I will go through all of the YouTube videos tonight on knife painting to see all of the little tips and tricks needed to paint with this equipment.  I don't know, maybe I have found something else to add to my art.  Please believe me when I say, NEVER EVER be afraid to fail.  Always try new things and always think outside of your comfort zone.  When you challenge yourself mentally, you find things about yourself you never thought possible.  New ideas, thoughts, likes and skills.  We can not grow unless we fail and we can not fail if we don't try.  Always try.
Have a blessed and safe Good Friday my friends.

New Oil Painting; Cheap Oil Paints Review

Hello Everyone;
Since so many non essential stores are closing now, I still wanted to paint, but not use my really good paint not knowing when I could replenish.  My wife and I went to Hobby Lobby on Friday and I bought their ten 50 ml oil paint set.  Masters Touch paint was at 50% off so that set cost me $14.99.  This landscape and the following two posts were painted with these paints and they were painted on Masters Touch canvas panels as well.  I do not know the drying times as of yet since I did these paintings today, but this is not bad paint.  Actually, it is much better then I expected.  It mixed clean colors, it had a creamy consistency and the colors look bright.  I was able to use the same techniques I use with my more expensive artist quality oil paints.  Don't get me wrong, these paints can never replace artist quality paint, but for artists of all levels, there is a purpose for them.  For artists, it is a cheap way to try new techniques and pallet knife work without costing a lot of money.  For beginners, it is a nice paint to start with.  The pigment loads give good coverage and as I said before, mixing clean colors is not difficult as with other cheap brands of paint.  If you do decide to try these paints, (whenever stores open again)  be sure to use their 40% off coupon or wait until Masters Touch products are at 50% off.  It really becomes a great deal then.  One more nice thing about these paints is the tube size.  Normal artist quality paint comes in 37 ml tubes.  These are 50 ml so you get a lot more paint to play with.  Whenever you get a chance, go to your local Hobby Lobby and pick up a set.  They also sell them in individual tubes as well.  Have a Blessed day my friends.

New Oil Painting; A Blessed Day

Hello Everyone;
Here is another new oil painting.  This is an 11" X 14" original oil painting completed on a triple primed stretched cotton canvas. I just love the peaceful feel to a lonely waterfall.  This is a painting of a place that to my knowledge, does not exist.  I had this image in my head yesterday of this secluded, peaceful scene and decided to paint it.  Most of my work is from my imagination.  That is why most of my landscape scenes have certain similarities to them.  My style, if you can call it a style is peaceful, secluded places that have no interference from the real world.  We get so much garbage from everyday life, we do not need it when we get home as well.  My strategy to fight the ever growing rash of fear mongering media and self centered lying politicians is to get lost in my mind.  Explore beautiful places that do not exist anywhere except within the confines of my heart and then paint those places.  All are welcome, but there are some rules.  First rule, no one lies to each other.  Rule two, no one hurts each other, and the final rule.  Every morning when you wake, you need to reach your arms out to the heavens, take a deep breath and say Thank You for this perfect day.  We need to try that once in awhile instead of what we are doing now.  Who knows, maybe it would make things just a bit better.  If not, I still have these peaceful places in my heart and I will continue to paint them as long as I am allowed.  Have a Blessed Day everyone.  Everything is good.

New Oil Painting; New Blick Painting Panel

Hello Everyone;
Here is another oil painting.  I completed this painting earlier today.  It is an 8" X 10" original oil painting I completed on a Blick Premier Canvas Panel.  This is my first time trying this archival painting panel from Blick.  It is a primed surface ready to paint on, but the finish is smooth.  Actually, the painting surface is silky smooth which may be a bad thing for some people.  I was a little hesitant and I needed to change up my approach.  When using these panels, you really need to have a light touch when applying the paint.  If you use too much pressure, and for these panels that is not much, the paint seems to streak on as opposed to being applied on.  With a lighter touch, you can still get the desired thickness of paint without streaking.  Once I got the hang of it, I really started to enjoy working on it.  The colors seem to pop out more so then on canvas and fine details are easily achieved.  Like I said, they take a little bit of a learning curve, but they are very nice.  I will definitely be getting more panels to try and see if my work overall, looks a bit better on these supports.  One thing too, even though they are archival, they are a little less money then other archival primed hard board surfaces.  This 8" X 10" for instance, I believe was $7.00 and it was 7/8" thick with a nail hole on the back to hang your work.  That is really a good price.  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Practice Makes Perfect

Hello Everyone:
So, you want to be an artist, or a musician or an athlete.  For most people, the race is won before you even get to the track.  Everyone who is successful in anything in this world makes it a point to practice their craft on a regular basis.  I heard on ESPN one time that Tiger Woods hits at least 1,000 golf balls a day trying to improve on each swing.  That type of dedication can make you one of the best in the world at something, just like he is.  If you are a person, like me who wants to be really good at something, but cannot devote 12 hours a day to our craft, then we must still practice regularly, but not quite as obsessively.  For artists, try and give an hour a day to practicing techniques, brush strokes, etc...  I paint a lot of landscapes, so trees and mountains and things are very important in my work.  I use old cheap canvas panels and do landscape elements regularly.  These are in oil paint, my sketchbook has the same types of practice elements, but those are in watercolors.  Really, if you give an hour of real practice each day, you will be surprised at how quickly you improve.  Once you start to see your work bear fruit, you will increase your practice time without even thinking about it.  One thing to keep in mind though.  If you make a finished painting each day lets say, that is also practicing, but I found that when you use your best materials with the mind set of making a finished piece, subconsciously we do not allow ourselves to experiment or take chances.  Those chances, thinking outside the box is where we grow the most as artists.  Just a thought.

Oil Painting: Quiet Peaks

Hello Everyone;
Here is another oil painting I finished today.  Yes, I finished two oil paintings within a few hours of each other.  Oil paint is a very easy paint to manipulate.  You can brush it over wet paint, you can wait to dry and brush into dry work, you can combine the techniques.  Oil painting is complicated in some ways when it comes to mediums and solvents, but in its application, oil painting can be the most forgiving of the painting mediums.  This painting has both techniques I mentioned in this post.  The sky was completely dry when I painted the clouds in and the mountains were very wet when I painted the highlights.  As you can see, both work well, it is just a matter of practicing enough to get comfortable with the techniques as well as the paint you use.  Oil paint and really, all painting supplies vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.  French Ultramarine for one brand acts and looks a bit different then another so it is really important that you understand the paint you use.  It will help make your learning curve just a bit easier.

Oil Painting: Peaceful Day

Hello Everyone;
Here is a new oil painting.  This may be the first oil painting on this blog.  It has been a long time since I painted in oils.  They are very complicated, messy and very dangerous to use if your not careful.  Those are really, the very reasons why I stopped painting in oils almost six years ago.  Since then, I have learned of new products and techniques that make painting in oils much safer, and nowhere near as complicated.  I missed the lush, deep colors oil paint gives you as well as the ability to correct mistakes much easier then most painting mediums.  Shortly, I will be posting the supplies I use when painting in oils.  If you wish to try this wonderful medium, be sure to do your research first.  Learn as much as you can from blogs, you tube and any other resource you can find.  Once you have all of the information, you will have much more success and much less frustration.