Work Area
Thanks for all the good wishes yesterday, here and on other media.
To cheer me up, Grey took me on an excursion to what turned out to be the best store ever, David Art Center in Metairie. Neither of us had been there before, and we wandered around in awe for what must have been a couple of hours. No offense to Michael's, but it was kind of like only having ever shopped for groceries at Sav-A-Lot and suddenly wandering into Whole Foods. I'm almost glad I didn't go to a store like that when I first started painting back in June, because its completeness might have paralyzed me; I would have felt I didn't dare put brush to canvas until I knew what gouache was, or owned those millions of colors and brushes instead of the few crappy ones I had, or could mix my own paint, or whatever. Now I've had a chance to expand my collection of art supplies bit by bit, buying what I really needed/wanted instead of What A Painter Ought To Have, and to get curious about them at my own pace, and today I got a book about the history of pigments and composition of paints. It's interesting but basic; I already want a lot more detail. What is phthalocyanine? What's the difference between Mars black and ivory black? Who was the Davy who invented Davy's Grey? Why work with "fugitive colors"? I could see getting obsessive about this. Paint has always seemed yummy to me.
Here are two pictures of my work area:
Oh, and have a bonus, me with "Pearls Before Swine" creator Stephan Pastis at his Garden District Books signing tonight. These were the first books we've had signed to us as a couple. Stephan drew us a croc and an angry Pig! Isn't he adorable?
It was a sad day in my heart, but somehow my baby made it nice for me anyway. (He took that last picture, too.) I think that's a rare talent.
To cheer me up, Grey took me on an excursion to what turned out to be the best store ever, David Art Center in Metairie. Neither of us had been there before, and we wandered around in awe for what must have been a couple of hours. No offense to Michael's, but it was kind of like only having ever shopped for groceries at Sav-A-Lot and suddenly wandering into Whole Foods. I'm almost glad I didn't go to a store like that when I first started painting back in June, because its completeness might have paralyzed me; I would have felt I didn't dare put brush to canvas until I knew what gouache was, or owned those millions of colors and brushes instead of the few crappy ones I had, or could mix my own paint, or whatever. Now I've had a chance to expand my collection of art supplies bit by bit, buying what I really needed/wanted instead of What A Painter Ought To Have, and to get curious about them at my own pace, and today I got a book about the history of pigments and composition of paints. It's interesting but basic; I already want a lot more detail. What is phthalocyanine? What's the difference between Mars black and ivory black? Who was the Davy who invented Davy's Grey? Why work with "fugitive colors"? I could see getting obsessive about this. Paint has always seemed yummy to me.
Here are two pictures of my work area:
Oh, and have a bonus, me with "Pearls Before Swine" creator Stephan Pastis at his Garden District Books signing tonight. These were the first books we've had signed to us as a couple. Stephan drew us a croc and an angry Pig! Isn't he adorable?
It was a sad day in my heart, but somehow my baby made it nice for me anyway. (He took that last picture, too.) I think that's a rare talent.