Last night I visited Continental Art Supply over in Reseda to attend a special event there to meet representatives from major paint and art supply companies, among others Art Graham of M. Graham paint. He was, as always, charming company, filled with the self-assurance of a man who knows his work is well done, quietly and capably passing on his knowledge with a calm confidence gained from decades of working with pigments in pursuit of producing the best paint he can make. As the man who made it possible for me to continue painting in oil without using turpentine, Mr. Graham is something of a heroic figure to me, so this was the painters equivalent of meeting Elvis, or David Bowie. Thanks for making such great paint!
Two tasks occupied my attention in the studio, first, softening the clouds a little with a glaze of Ceramic White, so there is a bit less of a sense of an impending storm. I used a soft rag to even out a scumbled coat of the paint, which blurred the details of the cumuli and made the sky much gentler. I allowed the white glaze to cover the land on the horizon too, then ragged most of it off to make the land-mass blend to the sky a little.
Finally, a little time spent on fixing the architecture on the left side proved to be worthwhile, with much improved lines emerging to shape the marble balustrade. But I’m not finished with the shapes of the stone: the right side will additional reworking to make it right, particularly the back edge of the curve and I see at least one line that will require further replacement on the left.
My students are doing excellent work in the studio, which makes me particularly happy. We have only five weeks until the end of semester!
