r ransom

AI is still inaccurate when it comes to gardening, so it might help to do some independent fact checking. It also has the problem that it's basically the new google, anyone can ask ai and the type of people who participate in forums come here for the real human expierence.  

This is doubly so with gardening as each individual garden has a different set of factors from climate, weather, soil, gardening style, time available.... ai likes to talk in universal truths or indistinct possibility.   It's not yet at a place where it can provide information equal or better than personal expierence.

AI content is best if it's less than 20% of the post. More than that can get caught in the spam filer.  Better quality would be to use ai as a spring board then share your personal expierence.

Quick value study, with ears to see if it might work



It's got potential.

This is done with raw umber and white.  I forgot how quickly raw umber dries, and seems to do so even faster on paper.  After the first blockin was finished, the paint was too dry to come in and add details.  Which isn't a bad thing for a quick study.

There is a lot wrong with the painting, but the composition has something interesting worth exploring.

From the same thread, i think i found a kindred spirit

I feel that artist quality, professional paints should be quirky, depending on the pigment, and that folks who use them should be able to use the individual characteristics of each tube/color to their advantage instead of trying to fight them

An interesting conversation about student grade paint.  
https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/topic/when-student-grade-is-better-than-artist-grade/

It's a pretty long one and some great points of view.  But it has this great quote directly from winsor & newton about their Winton line of student grade paints I've been looking at these last few days.  

As far as Winton and W&N Artists’ Oil Colour are concerned, yes the ratio of oil to pigment is slightly higher in Winton, but only slightly. This isn’t how we achieve the more economical price however. That is achieved through reducing the amount of colours available i.e. dropping some of the more expensive pigments (no Rose Madder in Winton!) whilst still maintaining a balanced palette. There are 120 colours in our Artists’ Oil Colour and 40 colours in Winton. Once the more expensive pigments are removed we look to source alternatives (often hues) or may load a slightly lower amount of the same pigment.

As much as I like winton for student paint, studies, sketches, etc.   I'm not sure how much I like their artist grade (professional) W&N oilcolours.  They are great paints, however, I kind of feel these are designed to be a more uniform texture than the pigments would like.  Maybe because my first professional paint was m graham which enjoys letting the pigments dictate the texture of the paint or maybe it's just something in me that wants the pigments to participate something more than colour?   I don't know.  W&N is an excellent paint and the three tubes I have (two were free samples with purchase) are all excellent.   But it is one of the highest priced brands where I live, so it's not really an option for my current situation.

But the winton student grades are doing an excellent job.  

Jay Angler wrote:You will be soooo... ready for Hallowe'en. Please find some way to put the Grim Squeaker on your front door!

I wonder if real rats would recognize him?  We might be on to something.

I am so glad I took an inventory of my winton oil paints.  I had quite a few colours in my cart that I don't need and would have missed other ones I do.



I don't know how well you can see or if anyone is still reading.   The big tube is raw umber and I use that colour a lot for underpainting (first few layers of a fancy painting) and for quick value studies.  The 200ml tubes are just $27 whereas the normal 37ml tubes are $10.  My math brain said it's a better dealing to do the big one, but in reality, it's tricky to take to class.  It's also wasting paint to tube the big one into smaller tubes.  Both big and small tubes of raw umber for me.  Big for home, small for class.

I often consider buying the white in a big tube as I go through it so much, but I only really use it at class right now.  At home I don't need the fast drying time, so I use the more affordable, but higer tinting, slower drying, crappy tube quality, paul rubens white I reviewed upthread.   Or for fancy painting, maybe a flake hue.

The odd one out with the X is vermilion hue.  It turns out this mix is a creamy white-orange and we don't get along.  

The circles are ones I've almost used up and expect to be out of by winter.  But i had forgotten that I had extra ultramarine (c), so that saves some money. Same with burnt umber, which is E.  

That leaves ivory black (D) and cad yellow pale hue (B) as urgent.  In other paint lines, they are both colours that take weeks to dry, but in winton, 2 to 4 days.  So it is worth getting some in the nxt couple of weeks.  But not enough to make up free shipping.

...

Oil inventory
Almost on my last bottle of linseed, so, maybe 2 to 3 months left.  
Wanut oil consumption is slower so, probably a year left at my current rate of consumption.

Opus has 20% discount on oils this week.  With the winton colours and oil, I'm half way to free shipping.

...

I don't know, the less shopping I do, the less I want to do.  It's kind of stressful trying to make up the extra to get to free shipping.  But paying shipping is more than the extra amount I need to buy.  Why free shipping gotta suck like that?

So far, i have the flake hue and mars black in opus oilcolour.  They are both very friendly paints and behave as expected. No change to the review opinion after all this time.  Dependable seems about the right word.

However...

...the opening of the tube is about 20 times too big. It's difficult to get paint out without it getting on the threads.  I know all the tricks, and the only one that works is to dig the paint out of the tube, with a palette knife.  Even then, with oil separation, it's still a mess.  Oil separation isn't a bad thing, but messy.

Now is the time of year that student art supplies start going on sale.  I need a list of what to stock up on as apparently, I'm not keeping close track of my student supplies.

Which means, I need to inventory what i have already and what I actually need to replace and what will be fine using up.

I suppose a big problem is, in canada, student paints are about the same price as professional,  maybe 2 or 4 dollars different per 37ml tube.  That makes a second very good reason to avoid student paints - the price difference is negligible.   The first reason, it's better to get used to professional paint early, or so the advise goes.  I've been snobish towards my student paints, somehow considering them lesser and expendable.

Well... i don't know.

As I'm starting to use them up, I find them difficult to live without.

The big difference between professional and student paints seems to be the behaviour- student paints are more consistent in texture and faster drying.  The better (not the same as must expencive) the professional paint, the more pigment personality is allowed to show.  Transparency, opacity, refraction, drying time... all that.  And I love all those elements to pigment personality.  It's like a conversation.  

But right now, the skills I need to improve are the ones student paints shine at.  Colour, value, hue, shape, volume.  Student paint is great for quick studies as i don't have to think about extra pigment personality.

Student grade paint like Winton and 1980 both seem better at underpainting layers than professional.   They dry faster, they cover eaiser with less medium, or none.  So even for fancy, multi layer, multi month paintings, student paints have a place.

And that extra few dollars per tube make quite a difference psychologically.

Most of all, i use them in class as winton will dry in about 4 days or less.  Even a fairly thick layer is ready for next weeks class.

Buying for class doesn't break my no buy, but I don't know if I can make enough for free shipping.  So what do I do? Buy my favourite colours?  Probably not the best choice.  I need some way to predict what I will use in the next year...and the only way I can think to do that is with hindsight. The most perfect of all sight, and the hardest to use in a practical way.

Anyone up for some math?

How large do i make my Hogswatch card?

Google says "A common adult rat stands about 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) tall when balanced on its hind legs", is that right?  

It also says "5×7 inches (A7): The classic standard. It fits nicely in an A7 envelope and gives you plenty of room for photos and personal messages."


Ratty skeleton seems larger than a normal rat, especially the skull (and ears).  Maybe 12 inches on hind legs?

Since I would make the card out of paper, i can choose any size.  Ay suggestion?

Also, i have a normal sized pork pie and sherry glass.  Somehow this can become a painting, maybe?

I don't feel like I'm progressing as much as would be ideal.  But we have baby chicks in the house that demand half an hour playing every night before bed.  So, even if there is no progress, I still get to enjoy playing.

I might have a line on some lessons near my home.  Not sure the pricing yet.  But maybe half a dozen would get me moving forward again.  It's these darn fast notes and the counting.  Quarter and 8th seem reasonable,  but when we suddenly get 16th mixed in.  

And it's very possible, i might need to switch to tab as i still can't get the hang of music reading.