Starting Season 2 Ideas

 Ideas

Think man! Think.  There has to be some ideas to improve.  Yes, spend more - that's the answer.

I put a smart TV in my 'studio' as I call it.  It's not a horrible room.  But it has pushed aside the model train I have been working on.  /Frown.  Another hobby shoved to the side.

Anyway - the studio isn't horrible.  It's enough room for me to paint, but it lacks something.  Something I would classify as 'organization.'  So I set forth to organize.

Over the coming weeks I would make a number of upgrades including the Smart TV from a local electronics store.  This would allow me to play back videos of The Joy of Painting AND pause, rewind, and replay all while getting paint all over the TV Remote.  A wonderful plan - that - needed more planning apparently.

Later on I discovered that if I put an Amazon echo in the room, I could control the TV playback (via built in Fire TV) by having a simple conversation.  NICE!  Here is an example:

    Me: Hey Amazon 

    Dot: Bing!

    Me: Pause

    Dot: . . . 

    Me: Hey Amazon 

    Dot: Bing!

    Me: Pause TV

    Dot: Do you want me to buy a new TV from Amazon?

    Me: No
    Dot: Bing!
    Me: Hey Amazon
    Dot: Bing!
    Me: Pause TV
    Dot: Would you like to find a Tee-Pee?
    Me: No     Dot: Ok, if you would like to buy a TV just say 'Hey Amazon, buy Tee-Pee
    Me - grabbing remote with paint filled hands and manually rewinding the video.

Apparently this process needs a little work.

I purchased a self standing, portable Peg Board from Amazon.  

From this peg board I began hanging my supplies.  This works much better than my previous foray into Brush Organizers, Oil Organizers and all other sorts of "Organizers" that reviews say are the end-all be-all product.  Meh!

This turned out to be one of the better ideas.  It gives me plenty of vertical storage and everything is easy to see.  As you can see in this shot I have room for clean brushes, a vertical drying rack, paper towels, inspirational photo, marking pens, recycling supplies, and paints.

It does have minor issues.  It has to be semi-folded to stand.  I tried putting some feet on it but it just didn't work.  So a little bend on the end and it's stable enough for government work.  And, if the day ever comes when I want to head out to the local arts fair - I already have a single display unit.

Things that didn't work included the Mezzo Artist Paint and Brush Holder.  Nothing against this unit.  It has plenty of storage, is easily assembled and fairly low cost.  The footprint wasn't right for my setup and the brush holder 'holes' were not quite right for me.

I also attempted my own home made version for some brushes, that I still use today.  Specifically the ones that are too thin for the peg board.  Simple, cheap and made from materials I already had floating around.  A couple 1x2 pieces of board screwed together with a number of 1/2 inch drilled holes.

I have migrated from a set of Scrubs to a simple white lab coat I procured from the local Scrubs dealer.  Quicker to get in and out of.  I keep the full set of scrubs for colder days.  I am in the basement so it gets extra chilly down there.

I have to say that the use of wet wipes has been a god send in the realm of cleanup!  It not only takes a minute or two and I am done with the palette.

I spent most of season 1 using water to clean my brushes (and other materials) and this was not a good idea.  My first set, while not useless, are showing wear of water.  Natural brushes apparently do not like that.  So now - I use only thinner, towels and such.  

I also spent most of season 1 cleaning my brushes throughout the painting session with paint thinner.  I surmised that this might be part of my mud mixing problem - assuming that by the time I neared the end of the painting (and thus the upper layers of paint) that there was just so much thinner in the brush hairs I couldn't get any success.  SO starting season 2 I would have additional brushes to swap out during color changes.

Yup, I would have more brushes to clean at the end, but hopefully I would have more success as well.

You be the judge.

I am also using a technique to help firm up the paint a bit.  My friend told me about setting out the paints to dry a bit before starting to paint.  You can use a paper towel with the edge set next to the paint directly on your palette - or pre-stage your paints on a piece of cardboard for a bit.  You may have noticed I procure a lot of supplies from Amazon - so the disposable cardboard supply is no problem.

Here are a couple shots that indicate just how much oil can be drawn out in only a minute or two.

In this style of painting Bob Ross repeatedly talks about the need for firm paint and I find some of the paints to be a bit oily.  Note in the bottom picture the Cadmium Yellow, Bright Red, and Prussian Blue.  After only a short period the cardboard is showing signs of oil.  I typically try and wait about half an hour before using a Knife to move the points to my palette.

You will also not that my palette is marked, using a label maker.  The labels are taped to the back side of the Palette facing up.  This way I can distinguish (in my old age) the Burnt Umber from Van Dyke Brown - and so on.

Finally am running out of wall space in the house.  And yet, I cannot bring myself to throw any out.  I did send one off as a Christmas gift - and I am here to tell you I will have to sell some of these before I use UPS cross country again.  I don't regret it.  But, the price tag was a bit of a shocker.   

- Gil