Where there is a will, there is a way...

After hearing about my recent hand injury, several artist friends challenged me to paint with my right hand, as opposed to waiting until the cast comes off my crippled left. Given that I am accustomed to painting nearly every single day and have been biting at the bit (it has been over a week since my last painting session!), I decided to give it a shot. I wasn't terribly optimistic. Since the surgery, every time I tried drawing, writing, or doing anything that required some dexterity, I ended up making a clumsy mess. I almost lit myself on fire trying to light the gas burners on our stove, because my right hand got confused about which burner was which. Using my right hand has required an extra measure of thought and concentration. But... perhaps this could work to my advantage in a … Read more »

Where there is a will, there is a way...

Experimenting with New Brushes, and a New Nude Painting

Today at the Society of Figurative Arts we were privileged to paint from a nude model. SOFA's director, Michael Mentler, is a representative for Rembrandt art products , and they are always sending him samples to experiment with. Today he had some new brushes he wanted me to try out. A series of fine red sable brushes (series 240), they are already distributed in Europe, but have yet to be marketed in the United States. Our nude model was the perfect subject for testing the subtleties and nuances of these new brushes. Actually, I wanted to see how they'd compare to Rosemary & Co. brushes. They are my absolutely favorites (series 279, especially), and I've had a hard time finding anything I'd rather use! I quickly discovered that the Rembrandt brushes were wonderful to wo… Read more »

Experimenting with New Brushes, and a New Nude Painting