General chat 2012

Well, pretty quiet here these days.

I varnished a painting last night. It was quite an experience. The gloss WN Artisan varnish seemed to resist being brushed onto the paint surface. The painting was o canvas and was over a year old, kept indoors, dry, etc. Nothing unusual, in other words. But I brushed and brushed over many areas several times, until I decided to apply the varnish as if it were paint, that is, use random brush strokes instead of parallel strokes. That seemed to help it penetrate, then I did another pass over the entire painting, on still wet varnish, in parallel long strokes.

Whew. About 50 minutes to varnish one 24" x 36" painting!

I checked on it tonight, and all is well. It is drying properly, and behaving itself.

I guess we have all been pretty busy with summer activities. Here's a link to a discussion you started a while ago about varnishing. I thought people might find it interesting.

https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t579-to-varnish-or-not-to-varnish?highlight=to+varnish#8123

I am venturing into non realism. Should be fun for a change.
So, conceptual, abstract, non representational stuff.
I've two or three paintings in progress now, at various stages.
Most of them will be in the category of "what the heck is that supposed to be?" ha ha
Are we okay with that type of painting being shown here?
Nothing rude of course, or shocking. Just also nothing 'real'.
Let me know, please and thank you.

Nothing wrong with conceptual, abstract art, that is "not rude or shocking." It is fun to explore different painting styles. Can't wait to see them.

I think I posted this one last year which I defined as conceptual, abstract art. It was "Remembering 9-11"

Ah yes, you're right! I remember that one well. Perhaps yours is a mix of symbolism and abstract.
It's reassuring that it's okay to post alternative kinds of painting. I just wanted to check first.

Cool Painting Judy! Brings back sad memories...

Can't wait to see what you do, WMG. Judy, I like your painting - are you doing more like this?

Thank you all. I've been stuck in semi-realism, but I'm working on being more abstract. This particular painting was done with so much emotion, I had no problem being conceptual. I haven't been as successful in my late attempts, but I'll share one when I feel I've done it.

This weekend, I created a new Facebook Art page. I am a newbie to Facebook, but the more I read about it, the more convinced I became that I should be making an Art "Fan" page, rather than having my personal page speak as my art page. So now I have both. You need a personal page before you can create the Art Page.
So, I took the plunge and created the Helen and Alan Spinney Paintings page.

Can you please do me a favour, and go have a look at the page? My understanding is that you do not even need to be a member of Facebook to visit it.

However, I don't even know what URL to give you to try. But maybe you can type Helen and Alan Spinney Paintings into Google.

I do know that Facebook allows me to post larger dimension photos of our paintings than I can with the free Wordpress blog site that I operate, so that is a BIG improvement.

I'll give it a try. I have a personal page and thought about the "Fan" page but haven't really taken the time to figured out hoe to do it. I'll let you know if I can locate it.
Judy

Found your page search directly in Facebook, looks great and sent you a message. I was going to send you a friend request, but with this new layout on Facebook, I can't fins a place to do it.
Judy

Found your page on Facebook, too. I'm not to good with Facebook, so couldn't leave a message, but loved your pictures.

Hi Judy and Crystal
Thanks for letting me know it is up and running. I took forever to join Facebook (I think I am the last member in the world, but some newborns have not signed up yet, ha ha) but see the advantage of a public Art page. And the ability to post larger images of our paintings is great.

Hello Alan,

Looked at your Facebook. It looks great. I am a member of Facebook but I hardly use it. I think I will follow your suit down the road and link to it as well.

Take Care

Faisal

I used to have a personal FB account but saw Zuckerburg on a talk show one day (a few years ago) and he was really laying it on thick intimating that users were stupid and too trusting and that he knew things about the members that no one else knew and could use the information anyway he wanted to because it was his site. Didn't set too well with me so I unjoined.

I understand that it's a wonderful way to get your work out there but not something I want to do to promote myself any more. I do wish you all the best with your account - hope it brings you lots of recognition and sales.

Good comments, Jan. I share your caution in revealing too much information. It is a fine balance to strike, for sure. And just when I think I am doing just the right thing, I visit someone else's page and can view their whole life at a glance. People can be so different!

JanG wrote:

I used to have a personal FB account but saw Zuckerburg on a talk show one day (a few years ago) and he was really laying it on thick intimating that users were stupid and too trusting and that he knew things about the members that no one else knew and could use the information anyway he wanted to because it was his site. Didn't set too well with me so I unjoined.

I understand that it's a wonderful way to get your work out there but not something I want to do to promote myself any more. I do wish you all the best with your account - hope it brings you lots of recognition and sales.

Hi Jan-could you please tell us how to unjoin Facebook? I looked, but couldn't seem to find where I can opt out. I only joined out of curiosity and almost immediately wanted out.

Thanks

Doug

Doug, I understand things have changed so I don't know the procedure now. There used to be an option to unjoin then you had to not use the account for 2 weeks before it was official. Actually, I'm not sure it's ever official, lol

Anyway, I did a quick search on Google since I can't get into FB to look and came up with the following

https://www.facebook.com/help/contact...delete_account from the following forum

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516673

This is a pretty old thread but I couldn't find much else about it. Maybe a current FB member can find an actual option for you if that link doesn't help you.

JanG wrote:

Doug, I understand things have changed so I don't know the procedure now. There used to be an option to unjoin then you had to not use the account for 2 weeks before it was official. Actually, I'm not sure it's ever official, lol

Anyway, I did a quick search on Google since I can't get into FB to look and came up with the following

https://www.facebook.com/help/contact...delete_account from the following forum

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516673

This is a pretty old thread but I couldn't find much else about it. Maybe a current FB member can find an actual option for you if that link doesn't help you.

Thanks, Jan-worth a try at any rate! :-)

Doug

Oh, where is the year going? I must find time to paint! This weekend is a long weekend in Canada (Remembrance Day is Monday Nov 11). Must find time to paint! Must!

watermixableguy wrote:

Oh, where is the year going? I must find time to paint! This weekend is a long weekend in Canada (Remembrance Day is Monday Nov 11). Must find time to paint! Must!

In the interest of accuracy: In Canada, Remembrance Day is Sunday November 11. Many Canadians get Monday off as well

Thanks for the correction. I got all confused. Must have been an extra busy week.

As I "arose" this morning, and checked the TV, I suddenly realized that Remembrance Day is today, but we receive tomorrow Nov 12 as a day off work. At least that's the case in my province. No holiday in Quebec, and perhaps not in Ontario either.

And now, to hopes of doing some painting... maybe tomorrow..

watermixableguy wrote:

we receive tomorrow Nov 12 as a day off work. At least that's the case in my province.

Same out here in British Columbia.

Good luck Alan. I hope you get the time to paint. Something else always seen to come up and get in the way. Enjoy your holiday.
Judy

My wife and I recently attended a couple of one day workshops in water mixable oil painting. The key learnings were that the artist who gave the workshop had a system for doing paintings.
She likes to blend edges, to soften them. This gives her more control over how the viewer sees the work.

Her approach (soft and lost edges, working from foreground to background, and working with pure, unthinned paint, for example) is so opposite to mine that I found myself amazed at how differently we work.

In the several hours per workshop, we watched her amazing skill with brush control, plus her intuitive approach to colour, shapes and edges. Then we worked on our own practise paintings, the same image that she was painting. A world of difference, to be sure.

I have posted a few photos of what I accomplished with the sunflower painting. I painted a base layer (whole painting) on the day of the workshop, then followed her recipe for the second layer: this is to paint THE PAINTING AGAIN, this time softening any edges that need it. What you see here is my first attempt at this. She would repaint the same areas over and OVER, get as far as possible, then paint AGAIN over some of the same areas where she wants to alter colour, and so on. A very exact, detailed, painstaking approach, to be sure.


closeup of same painting, with the softer edges (maybe an hour or two of the second layer in..)