Tools of the trade

These are my “everyday tools ” – brushes, heavy duty paper towels (found in automotive aisle at Canadian Tire), spray bottle with water to keep my acrylics paints wet. My staywet palette is in the corner with a red cover to keep the moisture in.

Uncharacteristically, by the end of this session I had 5 brushes with paint on them. I was working fast because I still had a lot I wanted to do, but I knew I had to stop. Today was just one of those busy days.

In the last hour of painting I was talking to the kids when they came home from school, took the dinner out of the oven etc, but you can’t tell that all of that was going on when you watch the video. I think it was about 4 hours, condensed into 20 seconds.

I started painting late today because I was working on the computer all morning, updating documents & adding them to the Arts Council’s website, responding to e-mail and social media – both theirs and mine.

When I stopped painting tonight, I posted the timelapse to Instagram & YouTube, ate dinner, did groceries, put away groceries & laundry & now I’m trying to write this post & share on the 30 in 30 before midnight. But that’s the only reason there are a bunch of brushes in the water. Usually I only use one at a time. And I would not leave them soaking in the water because it’s not good for the brushes.

I was going to talk more about the other tools we use, because I don’t think most people envision painters with drills, hammers, wire cutters etc.

But I’ll leave that for another day.

Tweak, tweak, tweak

Ok, so it’s taking longer than I hoped, in terms of how many days/painting sessions. Each day I estimate it’ll take two more days. Though it’s normal for me to take 3 days to a week on a painting this size depending on the amount of detail.

The rush I’m feeling is really because I’m sure people are tired of seeing this painting all over my social media channels at this point.

So, I’m not posting everywhere now. The truth is that these sessions are two to three times shorter than normal, but I’m very focused,  and I’m standing and walking back and forth the whole time. So by the end of the session I’m wiped out!

Tomorrow I’ll have to remember to wear my fitbit.

Ok, stay tuned for tomorrow’s timelapse. In the meantime, you could also check out some of my other paintings.