Painting with Friends

During the winter months it's especially hard to get out into my garage studio space where I do my encaustics because even tho it's heated with a space heater, the wax behaves differently in the cold and it's harder to keep the heat on the wax just where I want it when it's 45 degrees inside!

So the alternative I've chosen is learning to paint in oils and that is what you see to the left. It's one of the oil paintings I've been working on in the company of my painting group, on Thursday afternoons from 1-4 at the Picture Attic. We have a group of about 10 to 12 artists, of which 6 or so usually join us and paint. Some are watercolorists, one is a chalk pastel artist, several are acrylic artists and a couple are fluent in several mediums and switch around. It's always very lively, humor filled, artist and art centered and keeps the isolation at bay.

Linda Bean, a great oil painter working and showing in Bothell, WA is a good friend and painting mentor and she helps critique my paintings as I work along. I email her my photo reference and a picture of my work in progress and then we Skype together at least once a week and get a chance to discuss all art that's happening and recent paintings. Such fun since it's like having a nice cuppa tea with a friend in my living-room.

So based on a nice conversation we had about this painting, yesterday I reworked this painting and now it looks different with some of the obvious mistakes corrected. (Picture will follow once it's dry to the touch and I can get a second picture). Oils are so easy to rework compared with acrylics and watercolors and doing so even develops a richer surface with more depth, per Linda. I see what she means.