Model Mayhem

Not a long post today, just another unpaid endorsement.

Model Mayhem is a godsend!

I use models for all my pieces. Many times I grab family/friends. My sister is featured in many of my pieces, and has made for a wonderful model over the years... but she just can't be my model for EVERYTHING. And living in a small town means I can't skip on down to the local modeling agency, like many, say, New York City-dwelling artists can.

But there's Model Mayhem.

It's a listing service for models/photographers/artists. I was thinking there couldn't possibly be many models in my area who would be willing to come to little Oneida.... turns out, there's tons of them! I've found a few models through there now, and have had great results.

I endorse the site with the caveat that users have to keep in mind that the site can't guarantee the models will be good... but with the available networking to check references and such, it's incredibly handy.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Palette Re-Arrangement

To continue with my studio changes this year, I've also reorganized my palette.

My physical palette is the center of my studio and one of my most prized possessions. It is a 2'x4' sheet of glass taped down to MDF... room to mix, easy to scrape down, and when on top of wheeled shelves, able to carry around my entire career, more or less.

While I love my palette, I've been thinking recently that I'm not making full use of all the space I have on it to mix. For the past few years, I've set up my paints with warms on one side, cools on the other, and a section for acrylics.

Cool side (and acrylics)

Warm side

As you can kind of see on the warm side, my paints eventually start creeping away from the edge, and sort of block off that back corner. As I mixed my pools of mud or lines of colors shifting from warms to cool, I recently felt more and more often that I needed more room. And my palette is already pretty large! I'm not painting murals here, either. So now, I'm going to try out keeping my paints on two adjoining sides, in an L shape.

The paints

The SPACE!

I kept my cools in the same spot, but moved over all the warms. This has netted me quite a bit more mixing room, as the warm paints are in a spot I rarely used to mix anyway. The real estate freed up is prime space close to whatever painting I'm working on, as well.

So far, so good! I thought I would keep reaching to where the warm paints had been, but that hasn't been the case so far. I'm now able to mix enough of almost all my colors to do nearly the whole piece without a lot of re-mixing, which is helping me keep my colors consistent, as well as being a time-saver.

New Year: New Paint, New Palette Arrangement

Time for a Standard New Year Post About New Things. And to be honest, I actually started these changes just before Christmas, but this makes for a much more timely post to pretend it's a New Year's thing.

First change, I'm switching my paint brand almost entirely. Since I started painting in oil years ago, I've used mostly Gamblin and Winsor & Newton paints. This was mostly due to availability. Recently, I began purchasing some colors in the Williamsburg brand. I've liked what I've gotten so much, that I decided to keep purchasing the Williamsburg paints and hopefully switch over entirely to them.

Of course, some colors might not be what I want and I may stay with Gamblin or Winsor & Newton, but so far I've switched out about 5 or so colors and was quite pleased with them.

The ultimate test for me was Alizarin Crimson. It's definitely my favorite color to paint with, so if nothing else, THAT color had to stand the test. And it does beautifully. Following is a comparison:

I bought these at the same time, and you can see which one I preferred

First thing to note, I think the outside color guide is MUCH more accurate on the Williamsburg tube. That's not a big deal when you're already familiar with the color, but it's nice when you're considering a new one.

Blood red, I love it so!

See? You get a truer sense of the color with the Williamsburg guide. But what actually sells me on the paint itself is the texture and body.

There's a lot of Neo Megilp buid-up on my palette knife handle...

So the Winsor & Newton looks all smooth and pretty, but if you notice, there's a little pool of suspension at the edges and the color thins out fast. It's TOO smooth. The Williamsburg retains a nice body, without too much suspension, and thus better pigment integrity. It has a lovely buttery type of feel (I'm very tactile-oriented), and stands up beautifully with my medium, even thinned as a glaze. I've found this true of all the colors I've tried thus far (Raw Umber, Naples Yellow, Italian Terra Rosa, Davy's Grey, and Payne's Grey).

The last time I got paint, I needed some Cadmium Red Deep, but the store I purchase from was totally out of it in Williamsburg, so I had to get it in Winsor & Newton. As if to REALLY point out why I switched, even after massaging the tube a bit to mix up the paint, it still came out like this:

My blood is bleeding

Blegh! Maybe I'm too finicky, but I hate those pools of suspension. I haven't had that happen yet with the Williamsburgs.

And lastly, I also like that Williamsburg is a local company. They were bought out by Golden a couple years ago, but Golden is also a great company, and still local. Whenever possible, I like to shop local.

Here is Williamsburg's website for more information.

Next post will be about my new palette arrangement!