My methods are as simple as I can make them. I’d rather paint than research materials or experiment with techniques.My ‘studio’ is a sixties green metal office desk.
I keep my paint in one drawer and the painting I’m working on in another.
Most recently I’ve painted on Fabriano Artistico 300lb hot press watercolour paper.
I use a number six gold sable brush which I change once a year.
I use six colours: Liquitex cobalt blue; Liquitex brilliant blue; Liquitex cadmium red medium; Stevenson permanent crimson; Liquitex cadmium yellow deep; Liquitex mars black.Each watered down colour is in a small glass jar whose lid, an inverted yogurt container, also serves as its palette. Colours are occasionally combined in other containers.
I project a 35 mm slide of my chosen image with a thrift store projector and trace it directly to the paper. I refer to the same
slide using a hand-held daylight slide viewer when I paint.
The paint is applied to the paper in thin washes, background to foreground, light to dark. As in traditional watercolour technique I let the white of the paper provide tints and highlights.I cover all but the area being painted with tracing paper so as not to expose painted areas to accidents and to protect the light pencil markings on unpainted areas.
The average 5.5 X 8” painting can take upwards of 300 hours.
At the end of my nine to five day I put everything back in its drawer.
