I recently mounted my hair dryer on my tripod. It looks a little crazy but it does help save me time by allowing me to dry work while mixing paints, going through reference, blogging etc. The piece shown has been progressing at a frustratingly slow pace. Just recently made some decent progress and it's starting to pick up. Building up the piece as a whole just isn't that fun. I want to get in and noodle away but without proper context things often need reworking. I think it's about ready for some noodling...or if you prefer, some detailing.
After experimenting with some varnishes (Golden's Matte & Satin acrylic varnishes) I decided to go with Satin. It looks great. It unifies the surface of the painting and sets the darks a little deeper adding some nice depth to the work. Quite a nice effect. 3 coats seems to do the job. Too many coats and it starts to get streaky so be aware. Thanks to everyone who dropped some knowledge on the previous post!
7 comments:
Have you ever considered working on Claybord? Ampersand makes it; it's a sheet of thin archival-grade masonite that's coated with a kaolin clay ground. The ground is highly absorbent; so the overall character of the stuff is very like working on a piece of watercolor paper. (There are a couple of different surfaces; I think the one that's like cold-press watercolor paper is actually called 'Aquabord'. Yes, they really do use that dippy spelling, b-o-r-d instead of 'board.' The hot-press paper-like one is Claybord.)
It's not exactly like working on paper, but it is close, and since it's a rigid panel you can frame it without glass with no problems at all, the compromise might be worth it.
I don't know if it would help you at all to see some acrylic washes on a piece of it, but if so I'd be glad to snap a pic of a piece of mine I'm working up.
Just something else to ponder. :)
Smart thinking with the hair dryer.
Yesterday i bought cold press watercolor paper, hot press water color paper and Rives BFK, i'm going to try your way.
Thanks for all the tips (on you tube too)
Awesome! I'm waiting for that thing to start walking around and just blow drying random stuff :) Keep up the great paintings!
hey, i've got another idea for your painting to dry really quick! You need an electric heater, like this:
http://i47.tinypic.com/2nlqpas.png
It blows a lot of hot air.
So, if you put your painting on a piece of wood, place it up side down on a chair so it can lean on a table, the heater can blow your painting dry. VOILA!
(sorry for my bad English) but i hope you understand.
Great feedback. Thanks guys:)
Ramie- Coincidentally, I was looking at some Aquaboard the other day and thinking that I'd have to try some out. As soon as I get some time I def plan to experiment with that.
I should also say that quick drying is great for larger washes. However, when I'm using a smaller brush. It's more efficient to paint an area and move on to different parts of the painting. When you come back around to that same spot it's dry. Or close. And you're not constantly waiting for paint to dry.
Nice paintings and nice blog, Eric! Thanks for sharing the varnishing tip.
awesome.
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