They still have a softer focus than they should but much better color (on my monitor) and less camera shake (I finally found my tripod). I don’t know what happened with the last photographs getting all the blue archiving in them, might have been jpg compression errors.

I’m a featured artist on twitter through Zatista as well as Zatista’s facebook page today. This is not a paid feature, but done through selection by the people at Zatista, check it out and feel fee to comment.

magnolia and jaw bone - framed and hanging by Matthew Stiles 2009

First off here is a slightly better photograph of the last painting, framed and hanging. (click it to enlarge.) It’s at an odd angle because I had to rest against a door to avoid my hand tremor blurring the image. I cannot seem to find my tripod at the moment. And yes, my walls are lime green… I hate renting and not being allowed to paint the walls.

paint and supplies I no longer use

This entire shoe box is all paints and supplies I no longer or very seldom use.

An older tube wringer, in fine shape but stained from a cadmium Orange tube that had the side rip. I used the wringer to save the paint into a glass jar but it made a huge mess of the wringer. I don’t really need two of these and seeing that I just found another (exactly the same) one I’ll use the new shiny one instead.

Dorlands Wax Medium, works fine but I’ve made my own out of only bees wax and turpentine. I feel the one I made handles better, and I like that it’s fewer ingredients.

A quart of Burnt Plate oil. Used a very small amount once in a medium. Just not my thing so off it goes. Stand oil is much better, safer, and smells less.

The rest of it is all paints that I don’t really use. I’m thinking of throwing them as well as the other things up as a lot on ebay just so I have more space. If anyone is interested in any of that stuff I’d be glad to sell it to you.

Next up are the paint tubes I actually use. There not all currently my preference but they work well enough. In order of appearance:

my current lineup of used paints

• Old Holland Cremnitz White. It’s way to pasty and thick. I’ll be replacing it with either Williamsburg Flake White or (more likely) Micheal Harding Cremnitz White.
• Weber Permalba White. Someone at Weber should really realize these are the most annoying tubes possible for oil paint. They let air into the tube if you’re not careful! It’s a mix of zinc and titanium and I no longer wish to use premixed paints either. I”ll be replacing it with a straight titanium white, likely Williamsburg titanium white.
• Williamsburg Cadmium Red Medium, got this one on sale at the factory because the tube was damaged and it had no label. Nice color, expensive but worth it.
• Grumbacher Cadmium-Barium Yellow Light. It’s cut with Barium but it’s actually a very good paint for the price and still tints very strongly. I also like the tint more than other cadmium yellows.
• Winton Yellow Ochre. I want to replace this with Williamsburg Mars Yellow Light.
• Grumbacher Viridian, I actually found this tube in a box of paints after college. I’m not set on a viridian brand yet so I’m just filling my very seldom used green in with this one for now. I’d like to try Gamblins viridian next.
• Old Holland Ultramarine Blue, nice color and consistency. I wish the lead white was closer to this one.
• Williamsburg Raw Umber, I need a  bigger tube of this.
• Winton Ivory Black. I (very oddly) like this cheap-o black. I suppose it’s mostly because it’s such a weak tint that I can easily control it.

I’ll eventually get some Williamsburgs German Earth, a very neutral black. It may kick the Winton Ivory Black to the curb or they may coexist, not sure yet as one is dirt and the other burnt bones.

I’d also like to get Sennelier Cerulean Blue but at over $100 USD a tube it’s not happening very soon.

stuff I don't use very often but need. Mostly framing and cleaning and medium making stuff

Next up is stuff I don’t use too often. Materials for framing, priming, cleaning, varnishing, and making supports. Hammer, tape measure, sand paper, Mineral spirits, stapler, staples, framing points, point driver, framing wire, eyelets, d-rings, alkyd primer,damar varnish, cheese cloth, damar crystals, bees wax, marble dust, rabbit skin glue, old tube lids, a plastic bowl, dry shellac flakes, and finally some brad nails. It all goes in a box in my closet most days.

my daylight CFL snake lamp, french easel and pochade

Next my workhorses. My french easel is now broken, the wood cracked during the winter so I’m not really sure I’m going to be able to use it anymore.

The light is my handy snake light with daylight CFL. My father gave it to me after cleaning out a dormitory a few years back. I’m thinking of putting a lower wattage bulb into it. No hurry though since these CFLs last upwards of five years!

The pochade it very nice. Got it on sale on-line since they don’t sell them around here. It needs a tripod mount added and it’ll be perfect. sometime this year that should happen, money permitting.

mediums that I use to paint

Next, I have the mediums I actually use. Homemade damar retouch, homemade wax medium, Kama Canada balsam, Pure Essential Oil clove oil, Gamblin linseed oil,Gamblin stand oil, homemade medium (turpentine, linseed, and Canada balsam), Kama cobalt zirconium drier (which I’ve yet to use but keep on hand). Not pictured is my Winsor & Newton Distilled Turpentine because I keep it in the box and out of the light.

paint brushes and knives, also a pair of scissors

Finally my brushes and knives in there handy bucket. I need/want new painting knives but haven’t bothered as I seldom use them. My brushes are all Trekell hog or red sable. I want more filberts in the future as the shape is growing on me. I also want left handed scissors, it’s stupid they always charge so much more for them.

If anyone wished to do a link exchange and has a painting or art related blog or website I am willing. Just leave a comment.

Old broken links, as well as links that were supposed to be linking back to this site and were not have been removed. New links will be added within the next few weeks.

Also, trying out another layout, looking for something less rounded.

Haven’t been putting much work into my painting endeavors as of late. I’ve been allowing my life, and the problems associated with it to creep in and take out all of my typical passions lately. I haven’t much played music or painted for the past few months.

My parents divorce has hit me harder than I ever would have imagined it would. I thought, incorrectly, that since I no longer lived with my parents that it would overall not have a major impact on my psyche. However, it has greatly strained my family ties. It’s something that is getting better with time. Yet, I still find it very difficult to work it out.

I did manage to finish this painting last week sometime. As usual I really feel my camera skills blow and it has overexposed the picture, washed out the darks, and shifted the entire thing yellow. The color shift is, I have no doubt, from the lighting at the time. Good old CFLs may save the environment and lower my electric bill but they have awful color shifting. Unless you get balanced ones, but they’re too expensive to use in every light in a home.

I’m yet again attempting to rededicate myself to painting in a more major way. I realize I am also setting myself up for failure as I’ll be gone this next weekend visiting some relatives but perhaps I can get myself at least posting on here weekly again? Time will tell. I have no illusions of setting timetables this time.

I’m going to restart by taking inventory of what I’ve accumulated since I last actually looked at the entire lot of supplies and still-life implements I’ve gathered. I’ll actually post photos of all the stuff as well. Should at least help me generate some new ideas on how to tie in vanitas and my current life. (I’ve got some already but I want to go more in depth with the feelings of my next still-life. Perhaps dealing with my parents divorce.)

Further I’m hoping to again attempt some plein air work this summer. (I almost wrote spring but it’s already over…) This stuff might not get posted, I’m not that great at outdoor, uncontrolled environments. We’ll see.

This one is on a true gesso panel. I’m finding it to be the superior surface right off the bat. I’m a sucker for the smooth surface and it’s absorbency is just about perfect after a coat of damar retouch varnish.

I’m thinking this surface will be what I’m using from now on when size permits and the piece doesn’t need a variable surface. For that linen is still the winner.

First the tubes used to store most all oil paints today

Next up the oil paints themselves (Winsor and Newton brand)

part 1 (Starts at 5:39) 

part 2 

My canvas panel warped and bowed quite badly, I’m going to attempt to correct it. I think I didn’t wait long enough to glue the salvage canvas onto the back of the board. As such, the canvas front shrank and pulled the corners up.

So, I”ll unglue the back, attempt to strengthen it by adding another coat of rabbit skin glue and then let that dry before attempting to redo the entire board..

I’ve gotten around to making up another batch of rabbit skin glue. I decided to attempt a double batch last night so that I could seal off the remainder of my panels and perhaps have enough to make a few canvas covered panels. That would mean a suggest starting point of 2Tbs RSG to 22Tbs H2O. As the last batch I made was a bit too thin at the first attempt I went with a 1:10 ration rather than 1:11.

Well, after letting it sit for about six hours (the bare minimum) and applying a fracture/cleavage test the glue was MUCH too strong. so I diluted to about 1:12. Another six hours and it’s still just as strong… So I went ahead and upped it to nearly a quart of water now it’s now resting away in a nice warm tap water bath. If it’s still to strong I’ll up to the full quart of water and after that I’m out of space in my bowl!

and FYI, rabbit skin glue is actually a common name for a very high grade hide glue. It’s normally made from cow hides, not rabbits. Although rabbits do from what I’ve been told make a very nice glue. Not to mention they taste quite nice in a stew. It’s quite similar in looks to plain jello, (collagen is what makes up jello and RSG!)

I’ll be honest that I’m not really sure why I joined twitter, but ah well. Maybe I’ll come to love it. here’s my page or whatever they call them: http://twitter.com/matthewDstiles

I’ve also finally gotten some more panels made. Most of them are just cut up for now, but I’ve done some true gesso ones I’ve made myself. Should be an interesting surface. Wasn’t as hard to make them as I thought it would be. Although when my son stuck his hand into one I was somewhat upset. I did manage to save it but I”ll have to see what happens to them in two days when they’re dry enough to finish up. (They need some sanding and a size to be ready to accept oil paint optimally for those not in the know.)

The rest are waiting to be squared up, as I don’t have a table saw. Some are pretty wonky shaped, parallelograms more so that rectangles. They all also need to be sealed and primed. Mostly 5×7’s this time around, but also a few 8×10’s and three 8×8’s as well.

I’m going to do a few canvas panels and some just primed along with the gesso ones. I Need to figure out my true preference for panels and finally have the time and materials to take a good stab at it. I do wish I had linen but the cotton canvas will workout great, I’ve used it many times previously for stretched works and it’s just sat in an unused pile ever since I switched over to panel.