Studio Practice

I don't often return to fiddle with paintings I have painted from life.
One of the best things about a life session is that it imposes a time restriction on you, and whatever you can do there in front of the model has a truth and honesty about it that is very apparent. Working up a picture afterwards can make it look slick and over-finished.
Sometimes though, I do make literal or mental notes to myself for bits of work that can be done later in the studio.
In this case I felt that the study of Grace was looking good, but because I had been working with a very restricted palette, the whole could do with a warm glaze or two.
So, when the study was dry I added Liquin glazes tinted with various reds, and browns. Needless to say, I fiddled about with the image, but in this case I think it served to make for a simpler, stronger image.

My Favourite Paint Brushes

Imagine if the best paint brushes you could buy were also the cheapest you could buy.
It sounds too good to be true, but I haven't found any brushes that are better for a day's life painting than these cheapy ones from Create.
I originally started to use them because using Liquin tends to kill your brushes, and I wanted some that were cheap enough to chuck after one use. (Liquin is the fast-drying medium I use)
However I quickly came to appreciate their sharp edge and firmness. And I found that unlike a lot of more expensive, natural brushes, they really keep their shape after they have been used a few times.
I only use the three flats in the set, and they probably aren't really soft enough for glazing, but I would recommend them to anyone doing a painting session in the life room or an alla prima landscape.
I know this sounds like a really bad, blatant advertisement but I promise you it isn't.



This is a painting I did of Geraldine last Thursday afternoon.
You may notice also that I use the tear-off disposable paper palettes. Again this is because Liquin dries so quickly and so hard that it could easily ruin a nice wooden palette.
The brushes cost less than three Euro for a set of five.
Let me know what you think if you try them.