I returned from the Painting Convention in Las Vegas Saturday exhilarated from a variety of classes, the majority being oil painting of one kind or another. Oh, there were several craft type classes; learning Norwegian Rosemaling, which is fantastic and something that I will explore far more, creating and painting a rose heart necklace and then a final class mixing water based oil and acrylic paints on the same painting at just about the same time.
One of the striking lessons though was that everyone has a different way of dealing with their brushes. Some only wash with a cleaner, others use Dawn, and others hand soap bars. Some coat with baby oil, others Vaseline, one with a folded card held on the bristles with a paper clip, others, nothing at all.
Painting was an interesting exercise as well. My color theory class with Bill Bayer had us use the 12 or 13 basic colors. With minute amounts of medium we worked our way down a sheet showing how after each dip the colors became lighter and lighter. Compared to last years technique using white as the lightening agent the medium results were startling.
Bayer used medium in his take on John Constable to keep the colors clear and luminous
while Robert Warren had us cover then entire canvas with medium before a single stroke of oil paint was applied.
What was incredibly frustrating though was the lack of wi-fi and the terrible AT&T service in Las Vegas. I could stand literally in front of City Center, a 10 billion dollar complex on the strip and literally have no cell phone signal. There was no wi-fi in my hotel, the Tropicana limited it to those with a room (though I heard it too was terrible) and the free wi-fi at McDonalds on the strip made dial-up seem fast. I finally had to use my iPhone to access my ETSY store, find the person who had purchased a plate and email her that I would be delayed in sending her the purchase she made.
I made a number of purchases on the convention floor, shopping for bargains, finding plenty and have many plans to get them painted and on my ETSY store.
I will write more later...I am still digging out from what I brought home and what was neglected at home!
One of the striking lessons though was that everyone has a different way of dealing with their brushes. Some only wash with a cleaner, others use Dawn, and others hand soap bars. Some coat with baby oil, others Vaseline, one with a folded card held on the bristles with a paper clip, others, nothing at all.
Painting was an interesting exercise as well. My color theory class with Bill Bayer had us use the 12 or 13 basic colors. With minute amounts of medium we worked our way down a sheet showing how after each dip the colors became lighter and lighter. Compared to last years technique using white as the lightening agent the medium results were startling.
Bayer used medium in his take on John Constable to keep the colors clear and luminous
while Robert Warren had us cover then entire canvas with medium before a single stroke of oil paint was applied.
What was incredibly frustrating though was the lack of wi-fi and the terrible AT&T service in Las Vegas. I could stand literally in front of City Center, a 10 billion dollar complex on the strip and literally have no cell phone signal. There was no wi-fi in my hotel, the Tropicana limited it to those with a room (though I heard it too was terrible) and the free wi-fi at McDonalds on the strip made dial-up seem fast. I finally had to use my iPhone to access my ETSY store, find the person who had purchased a plate and email her that I would be delayed in sending her the purchase she made.
I made a number of purchases on the convention floor, shopping for bargains, finding plenty and have many plans to get them painted and on my ETSY store.
I will write more later...I am still digging out from what I brought home and what was neglected at home!
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