Info From The Vaults

Recently I was checking out a painting blog and this person just happened to mention that they were trying out some recommended painting techniques from Charles Sovek. For me to read his name on a blog especially a current one is almost as satisfying as reading "Alfred Chadbourne". Maybe not in easily seen ways but both are influences of mine and in today's current art scene (of things that I disagree with), their names being mentioned is an increasing rarity. _______________________________________________________________ _________________ Seeing Mr Soveks name mentioned reminded me of a post I had hoped to put together to help out some painters that are out there fighting the good fight.. I you were a student of Mr Sovek or have seen some of his demos (available online) you would know that he would mix up his own viridian green color. Well I normally don't buy too much viridian just due to a very tight budget (it's kinda pricey) and usually just use pthalo. On this years first paint order I went for a nice big tube of Sennelier Viridian, 200 ml of pricey green! Well, my excitement was short lived because when I opened the tube about 1/6 of the tube emptied out in the form of oil and the remaining paint was so loose it held no impasto at all. So I had a perfect tube of Viridian to try out this mix. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This Recipe is essentially 50%/50% Viridian and Pthalo Green.I added a little cold wax medium and my new favorite, Williamsburg Impasto medium to help combat the loose viridian problem. This helps put some power into your Viridian and puts some control ability into your Pthalo. I recommend just trying a 50/50 on a small scale first, see if it's for you before emptyng your greens into the mixing board. If you think this color is too much try controlling it with Quinacridone Red and put on your big painter pants..________________________ for some reason Blogger is not letting me space my paragraphs apart..?. So I'm using the underscore to space until they patch up this problem. Sorry for the unsightly appearance. -_______________________________one more thing! I forgot until reading a Facebook comment about this post (yes I'm on Facebook look me up ) The reason besides the Sovek recommend to try this mix was I usually use (besides regualer Thalo green) is Classic Artist Oils Viridian. This Viridian is made entirely of Thalo Pigment but looks like Viridian in masstone and mixes like a weaker thalo. This also only costs about $23. For a 10oz tube. I know what youre saying why would I want a huge tube of weaker thalo. The answer is paint mass and equal mixing. I like being able to mix a brush full of paint and if I do that with thalo, it takes a lot of the other colors to make some mixes possible.

Dedication

The dates are set! My workshop and classes thru Boothbay Regional Art Foundation, here they are in their words. See their website HERE for more info or email me (found in my profile on the blog) JUNE 15 and 16... Dan Corey will be giving a Plein-air Painting Workshop. Hours would be 9 am to 3pm with a lunch break, and the price would be $150 for two days and if someone wants just one day, $100. Dan will also be conducting Beginning/intermediate Plein Air Painting classes on Monday mornings starting  on June 11--9am to 12 noon for $35. I am also super excited to announce my Workshop in the far away land of Wisconsin! This will be hosted by the "Chicken Coup" a you guessed it, old converted chicken coup, that is now a gallery/workshop space. The Chicken Coup is owned by my good friend (and excellent painter) Kyle Martin. The dates are July 19&20th. Yup, right before Door County Plein Air and about 3-4 hours drive away in Madison WI. The prices and one or two day option will be the same as above. Please email me (again, email can be found by viewing my profile here on the Blog. Or just comment. I would love to hear interests or concerns. Both workshops will have demos and assignments to help you see the information that's available to you in Plein air/from life and the decision process in putting it to use. Hope to see you there. The above piece "Dedication" 36x48" is a recent studio piece. I'm not sure where it's going yet, email if you have interest. A note of interest. There is over a large 5oz tube of white mixed into that sky. Many paint tubes gave there life for this one.

Banana Pancakes

 Time flies when your not watching the clock.. This painting was created in 2005 while I was here in the America and my wife was in Brasil. to keep the story somewhat short, my wife was born in Brasil and immigrated here legally and we got married. Once we were married we we headed off on a Caribbean cruise from the southern tip of Texas to the northern most tip of South America. Everything was great, I was (and still am) in love and lucky enough to be married to that love. Upon returning to Texas the passport inspecting officer questioned if my wife got on the boat while at port in South America... So in the interest of keeping this shorter then longer, we almost didn't make it back to our flight and had to report to a meeting at a homeland security office in the Northeast. We were told that while the paper work for this was going through she must return too Brasil for 30 days at the most while it processed. This was so she was not found guilty of being here illegally, which we later learned was a $495. fine an "apology" to the US government.
 So we were heart broken and I never knew a man could have so many tears. So we took about all of our wedding gift money and bought Raquele a ticket to Brasil within the seven days we had til we were gonna be guilty of something else..?.  One week short of two years later my wife returned home.

 Tomorrow is my eight year anniversary with Raquele. I am so thankful for her and all she brings to my life. Raquele, I love you! Happy Anniversary.
  This painting being shown "Banana Pancakes" 30x40" 2005 (because she loves it and its hers) was painted of us wearing old tyme clothes on my first visit to Brasil after she left. I know its not so great but we like it

Clove Oil, Keeping Oil Paint Fresh Since Sometime Three or Four Weeks Ago

 In all of the artist materials books out there that I have heard of and some that Ive had the pleasure of reading thru state that mixing Clove oil into your oil paints will keep them moist and usable. This usually is followed by the warning that if you mix too much in your paints will never dry. Well, I'm hear to tell you that from what I've heard and recently tested you do not need to mix the oil in, the fumes are what does the job. So if you look in the above images you will see my well used EasyL palette with a palette dipper cup that i glued into the corner (back when you could see the wood grain). well that orangeish chunk you see to the right is a small piece of sponge that was wedged in between the cup and the box wall then soaked with clove oil. This little soaked sponge chunk has been keeping fast dryers like Burnt Sienna skin free. I also have a small container that i drilled holes into the lid, placed a sponge inside and basically did the same thing. it works great! I should say that the container or paint box should be as sealed as possible to make it work as good as possible. Please,  let me know how it works for you.

  In your search for Clove Oil, you will and can find it at your local Pharmacy for a steep price in a small container. One of Clove oils most useful uses is as a temporary reliever of toothache pain. You can get it on Ebay for about $5 for a 4oz like the one pictured above. Good Luck!

Harpswell Harmony

This piece titled "Harpswell Harmony" 12x16" was one of my favorites that made it thru the winter, is now available and for sale. If your interested please contact me and I will let you know where it is and the details. This is one of only a hand full that I kept from this past winter, a lot of pieces just didn't cut the mustard.. So I am just putting the finishing touches on setting up some teaching for this year. Yes I know I probably should have had this set last years end but what can I say.. I'm the real deal folks, a bonafide, unorganized, right brained painter... Ill let you know exactly when and where ASAP just in case you want to experience the madness.. Ha! I'm kidding! I'm shooting for one workshop out in Wisconsin and one right here in Maine, should be a blast and also some lessons and angles on painting nobody else considers. I'll talk a little bit more about those angles here soon.

Party Hats for Everyone

Ever since I started painting outside (many moons ago) I have been in search of a great hat for painting while under the sun. Well finally I have found one! This hat is lightweight, cheap and the XL is big enough to fit my squash (that's hard to find). Just as a reference for you, my fitted baseball cap size is 7 5/8 and the XL Sun Hat is about the same size. There are four size choices. Here is the link to the SUN HAT

Oh yeah kids... this is NO REPLACEMENT FOR SUNSCREEN. Yes this means you. Protect ya neck! And everywhere else exposed.

Trap Day

I have a fun task for you all today... The painting above "Trap Day" 30x24" is part of a show called "Choice" in Kennebunk Maine at Maine Art Gallery. What I would ask you to do (time and enthusiasm permitting) is click on this Link and do some voting. Now this is not a "vote for me please" type thing this is selecting which one of each artists work will be displayed at this show. The link is quick and navigates well, just click, click and you move on to another artist. Nothing to fill out. I promise.

Ok, since writing this I clicked too check the voting and it turns out you do have to leave your email... I think you will be notified of winners for each artist. It's a close race on my page.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for voting if you do!