Blog

It's funny, during the week sometimes I think of a topics for a blog and when it comes to the actual moment I sit down to write... I just write whatever is on my mind at the time and it often is not what I thought I would write about. I'm in the middle of the process for preparing for the upcoming open studio tour in November 11-13, 2016. I'm doing just about everything except painting... the non-art work.

From the finished watercolor painting to the show a lot of things must be done. First you have to mount the painting to a backing or mount board. I use archival wheat paste and rice paper. Then you have to get a mat cut for the painting and I use acid free archival grade mat boards. Next this must be put in a some kind of frame. Most of the time I build a metal frame from pieces I buy or sometimes I'll buy a finished frame. I get glass cut for the frame from a local glass company in Rocklin, CA. The whole process of putting all together right takes some practice.

Just the simple task of the putting on the wire hanger for example... what kind of knot to use. I've read where they use a "Lark's Head" knot, but I've known it as a "Lark's Foot" but it depends on the gauge of the wire for me if I will use that specific knot. If it's a thin gauge I might do that. Though it's thin, I use stainless steel wire that has a working strength of 108 lbs. However I also have clear plastic clad wire with a working strength of 43 lbs and for that I use a different knot. Having worked as a fireman, I've done a lot of different knots. For the plastic clad (easy on the hands to tie) I use a square knot followed by a half hitch. You do this stuff enough times it gets to be routine and easier.

You now have a ready to hang piece of art... but not done yet. You have to hang that piece somewhere for the show. Drill a screw in the wall in the right place to fit with all the other hanging art. Then you have create a title label and price. Pricing is agonizing but I finally came up with a system that works for me, it's primarily based on size and is simple. But that's not all folks... what do you have to do to sell it. For an original, I have to create a unique Certificate of Authenticity and a way to document that painting and the buyer. So now it's creating paperwork instead of art. Since I'm going to use a credit card system, I'll have to enter this stuff in the software as an item for sale. For the sale I have to document it with a bill of sale and collect sales tax. Ultimately I'll have to report and pay that sales tax. I will also report the income for more taxes. Then you're not going to have buyers unless you promote or advertise the show... more work.

All this to sell the art... it's all Non-Art Work and so much to do. When this show is over, then I can return to being an artist and do Art Work. Pick up a brush and paint.

A short blog for this week as a follow-up to Smile and Say Thank You. I attended the Rocklin IQ preview show for the larger Placer Arts Organization open studio tour which will be during November 11-13th, 2016. A lot of work was put into preparing the show, setting it up, printing postcards and flyers, and distributing and promoting the event. Fourteen artist were in attendance including myself. There was lots of appetizers and drinks which were brought potluck style by all the artists in anticipation of all the guests and visitors that will come. So far, so good...

It became apparently in a short time... there were hardly any people coming to the preview. I know in the first two hours that about six people came and they were either close family or close friends with the artist. I felt sorrow not for myself but for all the people that created the event, the time, effort, and money spent trying to get art fans to come. A few factors contributed to low attendance. The first one was that it was a stormy night, with heavy rains. Secondly, we were in competition of other ongoing events. And third but not least is the location. The gallery sits in the corner of tiny strip mall in an area of town that does not have much activity, especially at night.

The whole experience to me just illustrates how difficult an art business is to survive especially in Placer County. Lucky for me, I'm not dependent upon art for my own survival. For a me whether it is always a positive experience, good or bad. If it comes out good, then that's great inspiration. If it comes out bad, that means I have to try harder. Either way it inspires me to improve my art. I took the time at the gallery show to meet other artists, which was a learning experience. I learned about the history of art in the local area and many facets of other artist's techniques. So I may not have been smiling for people admiring art and still had reason to smile.

Tomorrow I will be at the IQ Gallery in Rocklin for the local Preview Show of some of the artists (including myself) for the Placer Arts Studio Tour 2016. 14 of the 77 artists for the local area (which includes neighboring Roseville where I live) will there for Artist Reception. There will be a much larger preview show with all 77 artist in Auburn, CA but that will start November 4th. Here's what Trisa Swerdlow wrote for the Rocklin IQ Gallery advertisement:

Attention Art Lovers! Want to see a diverse and beautiful sample of some of the amazing artists participating in the tour this year? Here is your chance! Please join us this Saturday, October 15th, from 5-8 pm for an ARTISTS" RECEPTION at Gallery IQ. Featuring 14 different tour artists! Enjoy wine, light apps, and meet the artists! Gallery IQ is at 3700 Midas at Pacific in Rocklin, behind JD's Deli.

I've been painting for two years more or less in isolation but because of the open studio tour I've recently met some local artist and will showing one of my pieces at the IQ Gallery. I have never been to an "Artist Reception." This all new to me. Gini Crepps is the gallery owner and one of the showing artist. Trisa is another showing artist and a great promoter for art events, including the Rocklin Fine Arts group. I told Trisa I have no experience with artist receptions and asked what am I supposed to do. Trisa said "You stand by your art, people will compliment your art, smile, and say Thank You." Okay, sounds like a no brainer... we will see how it goes tomorrow night. Maybe next weeks blog will be about what happened at the artist reception.

This week I attended the Placer Arts Organization pre-tour meeting. We received the street signs to direct visitors to the open studios. Looks like I have a month to prepare for the event. I will be sharing my place with two other artist, Noel Sandino and Jeanette Smart. Noel does abstract art. Jeanette does many mediums for 2 dimensional art and teaches art. Will write more about this in the coming weeks.

This will be my first open studio tour event in my new home, Roseville, CA in Placer County. I will be selling my originals at this event. All the paintings you see in this website.

What distinguishes a watercolor painter from a non-watercolor painter? Lets assume the comparison involves someone who is knowledgeable or intuitive about the basics of art; composition, design, perspective, value, color, etc. My answer would be control of the medium of watercolor paint and a second part I'll get to later. I was trying to teach a friend how to paint in watercolor and was watching the struggle of trying to get the paint on the paper as she had envision the image in her mind... and it was not happening as she expected. This is to be expected for a beginner. I remember studying martial arts and when someone said that it was hard to learn, the answer from the instructors was illuminating. If it was that easy, you would already know it and won't need to be taught.

What happened to my friend's attempt at painting was not completely understanding how the paper, paint, and water interacted. In this case it was mostly too much water and too little paint. I watching someone apply dilute paint on brush to a big puddle of water on the paper and expecting the paint to stay where the brush dipped. Simple hydraulics and chemistry.... it's going to going to go into solution in the puddle and spread out. There are only 4 possibilities with applying watercolor; wet on dry, dry on wet, wet on wet, and wet on dry. How dry and how wet is critical because knowing that will lead to predictable results. This is what practice and experience about.

This where the second part of my answer comes in. Even if you know what the paint, water, and paper will do, there is a human element that will screw it up. That is a lack of patience. If you are in a rush to get it done, you keep applying paint (and water) when you shouldn't, you are just making puddles of uncontrollable water on the paper. If you're patient, you would paint in a more manageable fashion (or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying). Instead of rushing to get only one area done, move to another part of the painting while the wet part dries on the first part before additional painting. That's one of the major difference of watercolor versus other mediums... the water. Water will act like water and you have to control of it... and of yourself.

Permanence, what lasts forever? Well, in reality, nothing, not even this planet. So how does permanence relate to watercolor painting? How long do you want your painting to last, two years or a hundred years? If I had a choice, I would pick 100+ years and we do have that choice. First of all, this blog relates only to my personal original paintings does not have anything that Fine Art America produces.

The choices that make a difference are the materials! Paint, paper, mounting board and technique of mounting, matting, framing, and the glass/plastic you choose for the frame. For this blog I'm only going to focus on watercolor paint. The paint you pick probably has the biggest single impact on longevity of your painting. Ever walk by an old poster put on a window shop and notice that all the red color is gone. That is because the UV from the sunlight has altered the chemical in the pigment and caused the paint to fade. The ability of a paint to retain that color is called lightfastness. So how does one know what paint is lightfast or not. Fortunately a group called ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials standard) was established and ratings from this organization represent the most standardized classification in use for artists’ materials.

The paint pigment is tested by ASTM and is done by controlled exposure to sunlight, or to artificial light generated by a xenon arc lamp. After the test the paint is given a rating of I, II, II, or IV. I is Excellent lightfastness meaning the paint pigment will remain remain unchanged for more than 100 years of light exposure with proper mounting and display. II. Very good lightfastness. The pigment will remain unchanged for 50 to 100 years of light exposure with proper mounting and display. III. Fair lightfastness (Impermanent). The pigment will remain unchanged for 15 to 50 years with proper mounting and display. IV. Poor lightfastness (Fugitive). The pigment begins to fade in 2 to 15 years, even with proper mounting and display. In 2016 ASTM tested some new pigments and retested some other pigments and have in many cases increased the lightfastness rating. Daniel Smith Artist Materials do their own testing and by their rating system, a II is 100 years and a I is 100+ years.

Daniel Smith is one of the paints I use frequently. I only use professional quality paint, never student grade. Regardless of the manufacturer, I only use paint that has an ASTM of I or II. I want my painting to last your lifetime and it will probably seen by your great grandkids.

What amazed me this year is that I met a professional artist and started talking about watercolor paint. She had no knowledge about lightfastness and was using the original alizarin crimson pigment rated at IV, which means it could start fading in 2 years. With newer pigments they have alternatives that can duplicate that color and still be lightfastness. It just blew my mind that someone would pick a fading paint and that they would sell that painting to someone. I would guess it just something that artist never thought about or learned. I take great pride in picking the most archival, acid-free, and lightfast materials so that I can produce a painting that will last a lifetime, maybe two.

As I typically do on my Friday morning dog walk, I ponder what I will write about for the weekly blog. My latest art post was of the nearest street corner, titled $245 Mendota. The street I'm on is Mendota Way and that is the intersection of Mendota Way and Corin Drive. As I stated in the painting description it probably has no commercial value. What does that mean?... Here's the underlying meaning and question, what is the purpose of art and painting. There are multiple reasons for art and really depends on the person's perspective and experience as to their answer.

I would say for myself that I paint to either share something that would interesting universally or else I painting something for myself. In painting for myself, it is to capture an experience, memory, moment in time, people, that have some personal meaning to me and quite possibly no one else. The only people that I can imagine that would like that painting of the street corner are people that live on my block. To any one else, the painting has no meaning but it still has elements of art like color and design in forming a picture. Painting is an investment of time and materials. The decision has to be made to what end. The choices are either for yourself and for others, or both.

Painting for the universe is often both. Because I'm looking for something that I appreciate and I'm sure that there is an audience for the same image beyond myself. When you paint for the universe, it is a more commercial end product, something that maybe someone will buy and which will compensate for art supplies and time. Some thought has to go into picking the subject because it may have a narrow or wide audience or in the worst case no audience. I could paint a picture of a garbage can or a beautiful flower and I know which would be more likely to sell. The next question is if you only paint for profit, then are you less of an artist? I have no absolute answer to that and everyone has different opinions but the "why" of art. Just something to ponder.

In conclusion, it's all about balance and just how I feel at the time. Most of the time I paint universally and sometimes, it's about me. Like that #245 Mendota or any future painting of a garbage can I might paint, because I just need to paint it. :)

I had a visitor recently who asked me about the toxicity of my paint, something most people don't think about it. It was an interesting question for me since in my past career one of my job specialties was being a certified Hazardous Materials Specialist. We had training to respond to chemical emergencies and which involved mitigating leaks of deadly materials or rescuing people that were in the disaster. Part of the training was learning chemistry with a focus on what was hazardous.

Back to the subject of paint. Yes, some of them are health risk. For the most part, you would have to practically eat a lot of paint to get any kind of immediate or acute health risk, because the general risk is rather low and many paints are non-toxic. However, that does not mean you can totally ignore the risk. Cancer causing agents are usually a chronic exposure risk. Chronic meaning you have constant repeated contact with the agent over a long time period even though it is in minuscule doses. What is not apparent immediately just might show up a few years down the line. I'm cognizant of this chronic risk when I paint.

Any paints with metals for example; chromium, cadmium, barium, etc. are generally toxic. On the other hand the earth pigments like ocher, umber, sienna, etc. are basically iron oxide (rust) in earth (dirt) and are generally non-toxic. There's a whole gamut of pigments (chemicals) for all the paints and often there are non-toxic choices for the same color, but not always. Since paint is in solid, gel, or in a liquid solution there's not much of an inhalation hazard. The exposure will be primarily through your skin. Ingestion if not going to happen unless you're really really strange.

So how do I handle the toxicity problem. Here are my basic rules.
1. I use a separate utility sink for washing my palette and brushes which is never used for any food prep.
2. I scrub the palette with a long handle bristle brush and do not use my hands to wipe paint off of anything.
3. I avoid getting paint on my hands as many chemicals can be absorbed through the skin.
4. When choosing paint, if the color is the same take the non-toxic alternative if there is one.

Reality check... a little bit of toxic paint on your fingers for a brief time won't be a problem. Bottom line is that although it is of some concern, it's a minimal concern. Use common sense like I do with my basic rules and you don't have to worry about it.

I'm behind in blogging... totally forgot about it, until this Sunday morning when the coffee must have jogged my brain. First thought that came to mind is my work space. I'm lucky in that I have a dedicated area for my art which would have been a den otherwise. I say lucky because some artists have limited space and have put away their material when not painting each and every time. I know because I've been there and done that. My work space now consists of a table, tool box, drawers, and lamp. I will elaborate on each because there's obviously more to it for this blog and over the years I tried to be more efficient and effective with my space.

Table. I have a old wooden dining room table that's about 55" X 33". My trick here was to have custom piece of thick glass cut at a glazier to cover that top surface. Now I have a perfectly smooth surface that is water proof. Spills, accidents, splattered pain is no problem and very easy to clean. The size of the table will easily accommodate a full sheet of watercolor (22" X 30") with room for brushes, water, and palette.

Tool Box. I was walking though a large retailer's hardware section and noticed a big rolling metal tool chest that was on a clearance sale. It was 33" tall and 30" wide and about 21" deep. The top surface had multiple wells for tools and there were several drawers. It also had a tool hanger and extension cord to power a few outlets too! After getting it home, I put all my watercolor paints sorted by general color in the top wells. The paint was easy to see and at a level a bit above the table and convenient to get to. I put a hair dryer in the side tool holder that was plugged into the tool chest outlet (to speed dry my watercolor if I need to). My essential tools for mounting/framing/measuring along with my colored inks were in the drawers. A few times I had to rearrange the furniture in the room, it was easy to roll my art gear to a new location. It was one the best buys I made for art gear and definitely made my painting more efficient.

Drawers. I used to live in Silicon Valley and one the major companies was getting rid of old office furniture at a bargain price (almost free). An item I acquired was a metal cabinet that was about 3' high and about 31" wide. It had 9 rows of 3 drawers and metal pull handles for each drawer. The cabinet was painted in an ugly office color and had some chips and rust spots. I cleaned it up and repainted it in gloss black. Each drawer had a slot for putting in a label card. All of my remaining art gear went to those drawers. Stuff like erasers, pencils, pens, clips, tape, small tools, cutting implements, etc. Although this is not as movable as the rolling tool chest, it's strength was the clear and clean organization of 27 drawers full of items.

Lamp. When watercolor painting it was useful to be able to detect wet areas on the surface. I got a floor lamp (at a Swedish furniture store) and put in a LED equivalent of a 100 watt light. The lamp has a articulating arm so I can place the light anywhere and at any angle for the table surface. I always have that lamp on when I paint and the light comes in from the upper corner of the painting. When I need to check the surface for wetness I just look across the surface at an low angle to look for shiny spots. Additionally I put in four 100 watt equivalent lights in the ceiling to light up the whole room. For me, more light equals less eye strain.

Those four items are key to keeping my art work space organized, efficient, and effective. They were not particularly expensive as some dedicated "Art Furniture" might be. Maybe one or more of these items will work for you too... just a thought... another blog.

Recently I was helping a person start a watercolor painting and I was watching how she went about the process. I had a few visitors yesterday that were inquiring about watercolor painting because one of them was interested in learning to watercolor. As I was explaining the process, I thought about how a new painter I had just seen someone approach a painting. Then it dawned on me that some people go about creating art as if were a paint by the numbers. Which is both true and false. Most if not nearly all watercolor painters will sketch out a painting before they actually paint. It could be done very minimally or with great detail. Many will use a pencil and some will sketch with light watercolor brushwork. This creates the shapes and composition to filled in or completed with watercolor paint. The completed sketched paper will look like a "paint by the numbers" kit minus the numbers.

The impulse with beginners is to just fill in the shape with the right color. Which in the end, you will end up creating a painting with it. It'll also look like a paint by the numbers painting or style that has distinctive blots of color. It is what it is, neither bad nor good... just is, some artist like that look and style. However that may not be what the beginning artist really wanted when they envisioned the painting.

What elevates the process? For me, those outlined shapes are guidelines for an area. In real life most shapes are a subtle blend of color and value, not just one value and one color. In the case of my visitors, the inquiry was about skin tone. You can sketch out little shapes of different colors on a human face. If you paint it like a paint by the numbers kit, you'll end up with a blotchy face. If want to make a face look old, the blotchy look is the way to go because you'll create all these wrinkles and skin markings. I bet you can a make baby look like senior citizen. The reality is that face and all the variations you see on the skin are blended so smoothly that there are no lines to see. Yes, one outlined shaped area is darker than another but it is only a guideline. One common technique for me is blending the edges with plain water if I want to eliminate hard edges. If you saw me do it, like my guests did, it makes immediate sense but it doesn't translate easily with words. Or you could blend one color/value into another with other techniques as well.

Paint by the numbers is easy because you don't have to think to much about it. The higher level is you do think about it and carefully observed that drawn shape for the variation changes of color and value and how it interacts with neighboring shapes before you touch that paper with your brush. You then apply whatever technique it will take to recreate what you now know defines that shape. As I said before it is still a matter of style and choice, whether paint by the numbers only or add a little more thought to the process and only use the lines as a guideline and in the end you will still get a painting. If you're disappointed with the results, then learn to do the latter. Watercolor isn't all mechanical, it is thinking game.