When I was in San Francisco, I got excited about painting some large landscapes. In so many ways it`s freeing to work large. Before I began however, I knew I would have to clean my palette. As disgusting as they become with piles of dried crusty paint, I had paid a lot for this big piece of plate glass and I wondered if I could redeem it. Several painters had told me Murphy`s Oil Soap could reclaim brushes with dry paint so I sprayed the whole thing down and started scraping with a putty knife and a razor. It wasn`t easy and I cut my index finger knuckle bad enough to need four stitches but the thing is now clean! It`s not like me to do something so disagreeable. Usually I just add fresh paint on top of the old stuff until I can`t stand it anymore and throw the glass away. Even with an injury that delays the painting for a few days, I feel a real sense of accomplishment. So until I have these new landscapes, I`ll post some abstract small pieces I do as an interlude between the representational works.
watermedia on paper 9"x12"
3 comments:
People never believe how dangerous art is...
I use a glass palette, but I clean it with alcohol. The 90% alcohol, let it sit for a minute and it does seem to soften up the paint enough to scrape it off. So far I haven't needed stitches.
Ouch! Hope you heal quickly... I love this yellow painting... I've been working on yellow too. I think I have it nearly done.... will post when it is finished.
After this one, who can say where's the frontier between abstract and representation?
The rest is about the very old question of cleaning or not cleaning…
Hope you feel better :-)
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