Its been a busy month or two, framing new work and getting it off to galleries as well as making some radical changes to studio practice.
As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, turps/ solvent is causing big problems for my skin despite wearing a vapour mask and finding solutions (no pun intended) has been the challenge over the last year or so. Ive trialled various eco solvents but found them unsatisfactory in their stickiness, shinyness and unpredictable drying if indeed they dry at all if you get the mix wrong. Having let turps gradually come back in to my work the skin problems have returned and I've had to call it a day and remove all solvent related kit from the studio and start from scratch.
Ive been using water mixable oil paint, Windsor and Newton Artisan and Royal Talens Cobra. The properties when thinned ( with water and gradually increasing painting medium in progressive layers) are very different to solvents and this I will have to get used to. water evaporates fairly quickly over a few days but the remaining oil takes a long time to harden up enough to be worked over without mixing in with the next layer. I have had to have paintings in the house drying and have begun making extra frames up so I have got more paintings in rotation to get around this. It is a difficult adjustment when you have been working a certain way for a long time and things dont respond as you expect but there will be many positives as I adjust: washing brushes in water and soap, not buying solvent or having to dispose of the toxic sludge, less wastage, not having to wear an uncomfortable vapour mask anymore (hooray). I will report my findings when I have had a good few finished pieces with this medium.
One of the new works Waterfall (in Memory of Girtin) currently for sale with Kobi and Teal Frome, Somerset.
Several small works on paper are currently for sale with Josie Eastwood Fine Art nr Stockbridge, Hants
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