3 Tools You Didn't Know You Needed for Oil Painting

Hi fellow Artists! Today I am sharing three totally essential oil painting tools that you may not have even realized you needed, but will never be able to live without once you have used them!

(And I even include a fourth one at the end that you could literally implement today for free!)

The Goods:

(Here are a few affiliate links to the items I'm sharing today. Any purchase here helps to support my channel at no extra cost to you - thank you!!)

Tube Wringers:

Metal:https://bit.ly/3lDCo7O

Plastic: https://bit.ly/3EkuDu8

Mahl Sticks:

Metal: https://bit.ly/3SbXPZW

Wood: https://bit.ly/3IkwyAa

Chamois so you can make your own: https://bit.ly/3KjpoOX

Neutral Lights:

Table Clamp: https://bit.ly/3kaNJMl

Standing: https://bit.ly/3EmoLQZ

(and there’s more through these links if you peek around!)

2.19.2023

The Worst Resin Catastrophe...

…yet? …ever? … that made me decide to change how I approach my 3D oil painting technique??

I wasn’t really sure how to finish that title because ‘yet’ would imply that I am expecting to do worse in the future, whereas ‘ever’ would imply that I am brazen enough to think that I will never have resin issues in the future.

The last line is probably more accurate, but not so catchy as a post title.

Anyhoo, as you can surmise, disaster did in fact befall the Nest in the form of completely ruining the most ambitious painting I have ever created. It’s something I should have known had the potential of happening, but since it never had I figured it was less of a gamble than it truly was. Woe is me for sure…

I completed this epic painting I am calling ‘The Secret Garden’ and gave it ample time to cure (as much or more than others in the past) but did not varnish it (as I never do, expecting the resin to protect it enough) and proceeded to begin pouring the resin as usual after affixing the base layer leaves and real earrings.

Checking on the first layer of resin poured, everything was positively hunky dory for hours. No color change or noticeable chemical heating or reaction with all the bubbles coming out nicely. I set it up with a protective cover and eventually went to bed for the night.

You know that feeling you get on Christmas morning as a little kid? Well imagine if you legitimately woke up to nothing but coal. That’s about how I felt when checking on this the following morning. Like allllllll of the wind had gotten taken out of my sails. Uggggghhhhh

Notice how it didn’t even happen everywhere - the tummy stayed the correct color!

Essentially what happened was the titanium white I used in the skintones somehow reacted with the chemical in the resin turning my lovely shadow-splashed figure into a Marge Simpson lookalike. I wanted to achieve a sun kissed look - not a goldenrod yellow disaster!

I say ‘somehow’ because I honestly don’t know why it happened since I have literally painted with this exact tube of white paint and then layered resin over it using not just this same brand, but these actual bottles of resin, with absolutely fantastic results and no hint of any issue to come. So frusterating and weird at the same time!

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As far as the resin lumps/striations noticeable in the first pic, those were caused by me because I couldn’t bear to look at her when I first discovered what happened 😭 I leaned the painting up against a Rubbermaid container facing the wall before the resin fully cured causing gravity to drag down the layer a bit.

So after 30+ hours spent painting this extremely complicated piece, it is officially and completely ruined. C’est la vie.

But you know what they say, it’s not about how hard you fall, it’s whether you get back on the horse.

Well I’ve got two words for that notion: saddle up.

The new base drawing and aerosol background next to the ruined resin piece.

After a few months of grieving (and just being ultra busy) I have started to repaint. And wouldn’t you know it, but it’s even better than before?!

The first one is not bad, just a lil more textured and the mouth is less believable. It’s almost like I got a practice round - or at least that’s what I’m telling myself to ease the pain.

Much softer blends and more detail to the lips - plus a shadow on the neck for hair to overlap (which I forgot to add in the first one).

As far as how I will be treating my mixed media paintings in the future, that’s for another blog post. I’ve been doing some research and will need to do a bit of experimenting as well. I know I want to keep the 3D element to my art, but I need to re-evaluate if resin (or perhaps incorporating varnish) is the best way for me to do so going forward.

I’m even adding in more shadow details (because I like driving myself slightly crazy 😜)

It’s been a soul-testing journey, but my outlook is optimistic! Wish me luck, I’ll post about my new artmaking decisions when the time is right!

2.16.2023

New Drawings - Something a Little Different..

I recently found myself in a hotel room on an icy afternoon with unexpected ample amount of time and extremely limited art supplies (only a pencil and eraser) and no laptop to amuse myself with. Yikes for anyone but a creative, right?!

Luckily there happened to be a thrift store right around the corner and a Hobby Lobby right next door to that. Since I have all the art supplies and sketchbooks I want/need at home, I didn’t want to go buy a bunch of (potential) crapola at a big box store just for one day’s amusement so I decided to challenge myself with finding some kind of toned paper at the thrift store and only purchasing a white chalk pencil for the highlights at Hobby Lobby.

I wound up discovering this fantastic package of long, vibrant red envelopes and walked over to snag the chalk. All the art supplies I could need for hours of amusement for less than $8- score!

Once I was all cozy in my room with a cool seltzer and my modest art supplies by my side, I decided to dig through the ‘Inspo’ folder in my iPhone and see what I could come up with to sketch. Since I was using a graphite pencil instead of a chalk pastel pencil I was able to choose some references that included more precise details, like lace and other fabric details.

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This figure has such a presence and strength…. Even though I found the pic in an ad I couldn’t resist drawing her.

And this is Nadia, an ‘Instagram friend’ who has actually been featured in my artwork previously. I just love her naturally delicate features so much!

Watch me draw her ultra delicate hands:

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Do you love these natural figures contrasting on red as much as I do? I just listed them in my shop if so!

2.11.2023

The Ebb + Flow of Artmaking

Does it ever seem like every other artist around you has such consistent and impeccable output, both in their studio and their social medias, while you struggle to make art on a regular basis and sometimes let your social medias go quiet for weeks or even months on end??

Don't worry.. you are not alone.

Resources:

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/ebb+and+flow

https://www.irisbarzen.com/cycles-of-productivity/

https://evernote.com/blog/the-most-and-least-productive-hours-in-a-day/

Sara Tepes vid: https://youtu.be/erK8FhVOZ-U

My lovely iceberg landscapes were painted using Himi brand gouache on thick watercolor paper.

Reference Images:

https://pixabay.com/

2.5.2023

A Collection of Figure Drawings from Fall Semester 2022

Every once in a while I like to open up the sketchbook and share my latest works with you, and since teaching multiple anatomy/figure drawing classes I’ve been drawing a lot lately. Here are a few of my favorites from the last semester..

I seriously loved this stately model; doesn’t he remind you of like a casual-cool Henry VII or some other classical regal portrait?! He just got that self-assured-scepter-holding ‘kingly’ vibe I suppose.

And keep an eye out because I have a few photos of student work to share, including a few of me I’m sharing in my newsletter this week. We had a model cancel so I sat for some portrait drawings and many of them turned out surprisingly well! (If you’re not already getting my ‘Birds of a Feather’ quarterly letter you should definitely join in at the bottom of this blog post or through this link!)

With these next few you’ll notice a trend.. and that is they are all drawn of our models’ backs. I allow my students to all get their seats with the best, most forward views of our models so sometimes the only space for me is to set up around back. But I’m not complaining at all, any chance I get with a life model is an opportunity to learn!

And did you see the drawings from my first ever pregnant figure model? Now THAT was an amazing experience! The drawings turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself ;)

1.24.2023

Surprising Student Art of Me

I had the unexpected pleasure of sitting for portrait day for the anatomy class I teach when a model didn’t show up a few weeks ago. My students did a shockingly good job, especially considering it was our first day focusing on the face. I’m about to share a handful more on my Birds of a Feather monthly letter 📝💌 if you’re not yet subscribed, pop over to this link and jump on the list because the letter goes out tomorrow🙌

1.23.2023

Bookkeeping for Independent Artists

Would you believe me if I told you that accounting for artists is actually pretty easy?? It's true!

If you start out the beginning of every year and month with a few organizational habits in place, you will spend so little time and effort having to keep track of all of your expenses (art + office supplies) and income (art sales!). Then once it's time to do your sales taxes or small business taxes it will be a literal breeze.

There are scores of blank ledger PDF’s you can print out online, or just use an Excel spreadsheet, or even simply drawing some vertical lines in a $1 notebook if you like the pen-to-paper method. It takes almost nothing to get started on the right track and you will never regret being more organized :)

Things to Remember:

• Separate your personal from your business bank accounts and credit cards.

• Decide how you would like to keep track of expenses and income (whether digital or a paper ledger) and stick to it! Wave is my fave free software.

• If you decide to go digital, integrate your bank and credit accounts within the software and make sure they stay accurate.

• Figure out your list of categories for the different ways/reasons you may get paid. You can always add more later.

• Figure out your list of categories for all the different expenses you will have. Sometimes it help to just brainstorm up a huge list of everything it takes for you to run your art business and then see how to make those things either go together or separate. You can always add more later, and feel free to use as many of mine in the video as work for your small biz too!

• Make sure to save and log receipts for paper ledgers and keep up with automatic transaction imports via the digital ledger no less than every 2-4 weeks. Trust me, it gets hard to remember what is what if you wait any longer than that.

• You can use your super organized finances at the end of every month to pay your biz sales taxes as well as at the end of the year to do your personal state and federal income taxes so much easier now - ta daa!

My Examples in the Video:

Putting everything together on one page:

Having one page for all expenses and another for all income; can be done by the month or by the year:

Separating each category of expense or income onto its own sheet; most likely done by the year.:

1.22.2023

2023 New Year's Studio Update

Aloha fellow artists! Hope you’re staying snug! I just got back from the holidays in Florida at my parents’ house and it’s cold up here!

Today I'm keeping it casual with a little update studio vlog discussing how 2022 went for me (artistically speaking) and what you all can expect from me here on YouTube in 2023. I know it’s been a little ‘ebb and flow’ for me here on my blog and on YouTube this year, but I promise the news in the video is good!

Thank you to everyone who tunes in year after year and welcome and thank you to the folks who joined in 2022 pushing me over that 10k mark! I sure do feel lucky to have each and every one of you:):):) Cheers to 2023!!

1.8.2023

'"Knight" at the Museum' with My Students

Something miraculous happened towards the end of teaching my art history class at Nossi College of Art last Spring. My students enjoyed it so much that a number of them requested I start an Art History club - can you believe that?! My heart was literally bursting!!

I told my students we’d chat once we came back together in the fall. When we spoke again I let them know I looked into how to set a club up and after giving it some thought I concluded that I really didn’t want to deal with all the ‘bureaucracy’ of starting an official club, such as electing officials, having regularly scheduled meetings, working out a budget, etc.

Instead I suggested that we just keep an eye on the local art museums and all attend some art happenings together. My students are all 18+ and most live independently so no need to make the outings into formal events, we can just check out whatever fun artsy thing is around town as as group!

The first one we’ve gone to was the Frist Museum for a ‘Knight in Shining Armor’ exhibit featuring actual body armor from Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. Thursday evenings at the Frist are free with student IDs so the place was quite bustling. I loved being able to show my students what a hip place the art museum is to visit!

It’s interesting to learn about jousting as more of a regulated sport than a way to actually do battle. Maneuvering in the metal armor took a small team of people to assist the knight since it was so cumbersome and prohibitive to vision.

Of course the horses needed protection too! And how much do you love those pantaloons?!

Downstairs there was also a Japanese robe exhibition showing the fine weaving details that go into ceremonial garments. I think some of them went with full kimono ensemble, but others were just worn on their own.

The intricacies of the cloth were pretty mind blowing and supremely detailed. I can’t imagine ever wearing such delicate clothing. I would feel like a bull in china shop!

And look at my art history students go! One wore a classically inspired jacket and another gave us a little lesson on Empress Xi!

I managed to get one great pic with almost all the kiddos that came. I couldn’t believe what a great turnout it was - I would say about a dozen. Can’t wait for the next artsy outing!

12.10.2022

How to Support Your Favorite Artists (Besides Buying Art!)

Aloha artists and art lovers! If you are like me you love the feeling of supporting your fave artists and small creators, but sometimes we are on a tight budget (or let’s face, could never begin to afford allll the art that tickles our fancy!) and need to find other productive ways to show them we care!

Well luckily for all of us there are actually a number of ways you can show your support that cost absolutely nothing, or at least nothing more than you would have spent anyway on things you need.

7 Ways to Support Artists (other than buying art!)

1. Bring friends to our openings and exhibitions (even if it’s a small one!) to introduce then to out art in a meaningful way.

2. Talk us up if you hear of any artistic opportunities or gigs, or if you hear a friend or family member is looking for original or custom artwork.

3. Forward us artistic opportunities you happen upon or that come across your radar, even if there’s no firsthand connection.

4. Sign up for our newsletters and be active on our social media posts. The more meaningful the comments, the better :)

5. Share our work (with credit) on your socials occasionally.

6. Suggest our art, prints, or merch as gifts in conversation with others just like you would suggest a retail store if you hear someone saying they are looking for “the perfect item.”

7. Purchase products from companies that sponsor us through ads or product placement as it really helps show that we are great creators to work with who have audiences that buy.

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And if you'd like to support this small artist, here are some links to do so: Thank you so much for being so generous with your time!🎨💖

Need new art supplies? Any purchase through my Blick link helps a lot!

Find me on Instagram

Sign up for my newsletter

Here's my Skillshare link that includes a free month trial

Prints and original art is available in my Shop

👉And just sharing my YouTube vids with someone you think would like them is a ginormous help! Thank you!!

12.4.2022

[blank canvas image credit: Angela Roma from Pexels]