r ranson

Starting the lost metal and suddenly I remember Brandon Sanderson hasn't killed off a main character in a few books.  I have suspicion he lulled us into a false sense of security.   The last plots were very comfortable and a predictable rythm.  I have a bad feeling about this one.

There is something incredibly charming about a garden whencit reaches end of summer decay.  The hunt to find just one more tomato that hasn't over rippened.  The smell of summer, settling into the earth.  It only lasts about a week before everything gets cleaned up for winter fava beans.  But that one week is special.

She captured it perfectly in the video and painting.

I love garden art, and art about gardens.

That's very kind.  Thank you.   However, shipping in and to canada is crap right now.  On top of that, the postal system can go on strike again in a few weeks.  Perhaps when the world is calmer?

I ended up ordering thses student grade cradled panels partly out of panic as I didn't realize how close the class is.  I won't have time to oil prime, and acrylic does better with a few weeks curing time before putting oils on top.

Featuring an unfinished basswood surface with pine stretcher bars, these panels are ready to be prepared for you media of choice. Coat the surface with gesso, sanding between coats for a smooth yet toothy surface. Try a clear gesso to allow the wood grain to become an integral part of your work or to use the wood as a toned ground to begin your piece.

I'm going to keep on my quest to try different smooth surfaces.   The teacher uses aluminum and I've often wondered if brass would work.  Still haven't gotten to the specialty wood shops yet to see what cutoffs they have.

oh well.  

Kind of expected that as art is outside my normal content and doesn't do well.  

Which is both a shame and a gladness as I won't feel obligated to make more videos about art.  I'll save up editing the yarn and cloth videos I have filmed already for a day when I'm not feeling all that well.  

Forecast for here is medium-low chance of lights right above us.  And mostly clear skies for once.

In other news, is anyone noticing a mega lag on the internet today?  My connection (and permies) is fine, but several websites seem to be overloaded, especially wordpress based ones.  

Dian Green wrote:Just an idea, if you have any thrift, reStore or junk shops around, is to consider drawer or cabinet fronts. Older ones are usually solid wood so that would get you a nice chunk of fully dried, sanded and flat wood. Depending on the age and quality, you might even end up with the sides and backs as cutable panels too.

I was just having this conversation with a family member.  They were showing me the inside of the kitchen drawers and said that this might be an option worth looking into.  

the cheapest painting panels with cradle I can find (with 3 star or better in the review) on canada amazon is 4 panels for $60 plus $16 shipping and undisclosed possible import fees.  Delivery about two weeks after the class starts.  (I really need it to arrive before Friday so I have enough time to prime it and the primer to cure).

Art supplies in Canada are expensive.  

I'm also surprised how few 12x12 panels there are as it's a pretty standards painting size.  

There are some more student quality art supply stories in town I hope to try.  These don't have good online shops so it's hard to know what they carry and how  much it is.

thick finish - do you mean the veneer?  That looks and feels like it's tree veneer (and the guy said that it was wood), not manufactured.  There wasn't any other finish on top of the wood, just sanded to about what 400 grit can do.  I wouldn't want to get rid of that top layer as that's the thing I need most.  

So.. the workshop.  One day, someone said "oh, look, what a lovely big building.  You don't mind if I take over half of it to store my 3+ tonne machine?  And a week later, everything was piled on top of everything else to clear space.  And it turns out a nice, cast iron table saw is the bestest thing to put stuff on.

I'm not allowed to use the table saw because history.  But we do have two style of blades that can fit on with very little adjustments.  One for "ripping" which makes a very thick cut quickly.  We used this on goose houses and other outside building.  One for what I call "soft cutting" which is very thin blade and steels very little wood when it cuts.  It makes an edge that is much softer.  We would have to set up some roller thingies to hold the weight of the wood, which would be a pain to find out where they went too.  

But I don't really want to dig out the table saw if I don't have to.

When you say amazon has them, are you talking about Canada Amazon? Link?

The local store that has the panels in stock where I can look and choose the best one is a professional grade art store.  It shows in their quality and prices.  It's also been in our climate for weeks/months, so would be less likely to move - but on a 12" square, it's not such a big deal.  

It turns out the size I need is only 12x12".  

The art supply shop sells it with a cradle (like a frame on the back edge to help stabilize the plywood) but unprimed for $22 or higher.  So that's the price to beat.

One full sheet of dented but sanded, the guy called it "baltic burch", or possibly "butch", comes to about $90.  I'm sure there is some math I could do to figure out if it saves money to go this path.  I expect it wouldn't be all usable and there would be a lot of time to get it to 3k grit smooth like the fine art panel.   It also wouldn't have a cradle, but it's class painting which usually isn't wall worthy.

These are Canadian, before tax prices.

For the big plywood, 2 cuts are free at the shop, and each one after is a dollar.  We do have a table saw but it's small and burried.  

I might get to visit the fancy wood shop this week and see if they have anything.

I found this fun video of a woman using a french easel while painting in a rice field.  It's relaxing watching her work and interesting to see where she found the easel difficult and areas where it matches her well.



I've also been watching old episodes of landscape artist of the year (laoty) and they have a thing where 50 people from the public come out to paint.  It looks like between 10 and 15% have a french box.  Which is quite a lot considering how many different setups there are for plein air painting.