I tried to get into the studio to paint. I really did. But my body took such a beating this week that it was everything I could do just to shower and go to bed at day's end. I finished just last night.
So if you don't mind, I'm going to make it easy on myself this morning and share a few of my favorite studio tools and why I love them.
Here we go!...
In my hand (see image above) are four things I use in my studio just about every day. The fifth is the book lying on the table there.
The blue mechanical pencil
I use a mechanical pencil to draw just about everything I need to draw. The feel of traditional drawing pencils as they pass over the surface gives me the heebie-jeebies. I can't help it. It's no big deal for most people, but to me it's like fingernails on a chalkboard.
But the best reason is that I can get into the creative flow without having to stop and sharpen or switch pencils. Also, if you've seen some of my miniature paintings and wondered how I could sign them so tiny, this tool is why.
Dagger brush
It's called a dagger brush because it looks like a knife with a tapered body and a fine tip. I can almost complete an entire painting with one because it can make pretty much any kind of brush mark I want just by turning it different ways. I don't think I've made a single painting without using one in the last three years since I discovered them.
Flash drive
I am primarily a studio painter, though I do venture outdoors to paint en plein air occasionally. I do some work from life. But when I'm planning a larger piece across several days or weeks, I like being able to take photos of the subject when I can control the light. I load those photo references onto my flash drive and plug it into my digital projector. Then I can work on the painting without the frustration of shifting shadows. I originally bought the projector so I could enlarge images for murals. The thing was expensive, but it paid for itself on the first project I used it on ten years ago. It has lived far longer than the manufacturer said it might.
So it owes me nothing and still keeps going!
T-shirt rag
There is nothing like an all cotton t-shirt for wiping oil paint from my hands and brushes. I even use it to rub out light areas on an underpainting because it doesn't leave lint behind. When I need more, I just raid my husband's underwear drawer and search for the white T with the most armpit holes.
Now don't get upset with me for stealing his underthings. Every so often, I buy him some nice new fresh ones to replace them.
The Book
You've heard me talk about Jason Horejs before. He's the owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale AZ. He's the guy who did a critique of my work this last Spring.
Jason's book, "Starving To Successful," is one of the best sources of encouragement for artists making a career of it. Jason tells what it was like growing up with a father who painted, and how he launched his new gallery on 9-11, not knowing how that day would unfold...and yet his gallery survived. He explains why. It's part story and part how-to. Very inspiring, moving, and nuts-and-bolts practical.
While I don't read this particular book every day now, it represents all the books, blogs, and podcasts from people who have helped shape my journey.
I'd love to stay and chat some more, but there are Saturday morning biscuits with pear butter waiting for me, after-which I plan to go back to bed...
...and fall asleep to birdsong.
Have a wonderful week!
Jan
