After seventy-three years, I can still make an awful picture. After seventy-three years, I am just beginning to learn the rudiments of painting. I would like to live long enough, but I think it would take till the 21st century to have something of a sense that I know how to paint.
Robert Motherwell
Good evening. This blog post is in response to Corey Aber, an artist-writer-blogger who commands my highest respect. You can check out his work at http://coreyaber.wordpress.com/.
Corey recently asked me to post information concerning the equipment I use in my art making. I’m always glad to share this information.
1. My paper is D’Arches cold press. I buy sheets of 300-lb. to cut to whatever size I choose. I also buy the blocks in 140 lb. measuring 10 1/4 x 14 1/8″. I don’t like the price, and also don’t like the way the paper starts pulling away from the block by the time I get to the last five or so sheets. But it is a convenient tool for packing about when I’m working en plein air. When I am ambitious, I love to soak 140 lb. sheets and stretch them on canvas stretchers, using a staple gun. I love the tight drum-like quality of the dried out paper, the springing sensation I get when I brush on the surface, and how fast it dries when I’m working wet-on-wet. But it is a pretty good chore stretching it, and I have to be in the mood.
2. My pigments are Winsor & Newton. They are all I use. And my palette is extremely limited now. I use three blues–Winsor Blue (Green Shade), Winsor Blue (Red Shade) and Phthalo Turquoise. I use only one yellow, Transparent Yellow. And I use three reds–Winsor Red, Quinachridone Red, and Permanent Rose. Occasionally I use Winsor Violet, to tone down the Transparent Yellow. And I use Winsor Green and Alizarin Crimson to mix my blacks. That’s it. The reason for the colors mentioned above is the transparent, clean quality they have when mixing. I can get the best greens, oranges and violets from those combinations. And all my neutrals come from these colors. I ceased using colors such as Sepia, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, etc. years ago.
3. My favorite all-around brush is a Winsor & Newton size 12 Sable Round. It holds a great deal of water, and the tip can be made razor sharp for grasses, detail lines, etc., and I don’t have to keep reloading the brush because of the quantity of water it holds. I also use a couple of flat brushes, sable, Winsor & Newton. 1/4″ and 1/2″. From Bob Cook, I learned to make an “ugly brush” for foliage and drybrush rendering of weathered wood and tree trunks. This is a quality 1/2″ flat brush (Winsor & Newton) that I cut diagonally with an X-acto knife, then shredded out plenty of bristles to create a jagged, ragged brush. This makes very, very fast work of foliage and textures in drybrush fashion.
4. I use a few watercolor pencils that I keep sharpened, and drag a wet brush along them to dissolve the hard line. These are Albrecht Durer pencils manufacted by Faber-Castell. I like to use Dark Sepia, Warm Gray VI and Cool Gray VI. I also keep sharpened HB pencils around, as well as water-soluble graphite pencils in HB and 8B.
That’s about it. Thanks for reading. And thank you, Corey, for asking.