A few days ago I was painting new growths on my new smaller paper. Changing size always changes your formula so I was interested on seeing what would happen. I had no idea how much gratitude was about to entire my life with that paper. As I finished a bunch of beautiful growths I decided the next step were faces (that was the plan after all). I knew I didn't have enough of my own pictures, nor was I interested in 10+ more of my own face. So on a whim, I decided to put a call

As a non artist you probably understand what it's like to make art- you think of a neat idea, you paint it, it comes out NOTHING like you wanted it to and you admit you can't make art. And for amateurs this is true. I spent 10 years making work that looked nothing like I wanted it to. I agonized over blank pages and abstract thoughts that won't turn into images. I get the struggle. But what happens in these 10 years of struggle is a magical thing - you learn how to listen. I

The other week we looked at the frisket resist. If you don't know what frisket is, check out here: I Can't Even Resist!    I happened to mention that it wouldn't work on raw canvas or fabric, and then made this drippy example of what to use for these situations. A fabric based resist is different than a paper resist. On paper, the frisket seals the surface preventing the pigment from reaching the paper but fabric is so much more porous, the pigment can easily leach through th

Or can I? I've been creating my most recent work by creating a charcoal figure, applying a watercolour resist called frisket or masking fluid to maintain whites and then painting over everything. Example: The key to high contrast and great white areas like the bubbles and the skin above water in the image, is a resist to block out the paint colour. It is impossible to paint around it with the same effect. Some artist LOVE to paint around which has a very different aesthetic a