Best White Oil Paint, Natural Pigments, Hawaiian Moorhen, And My Studio Assistant

"The best way to finish a painting is to start a new one." - Sylvio Gagnon

"Making Ripples" (Hawaiian Moorhen)

24" x 24" Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

Available

The above acrylic painting of the Hawaiian Moorhen was from a reference photo of mine taken at Hamakua Marsh in Kailua on Oahu, Hawaii.   It is not what I have been working on lately; I had hoped to finish a landscape this past Saturday but, alas, it was not to be.   Sundays I do not paint at all, and today life interfered beginning with needing maintenance help in my kitchen.   I spent some time improving my website and see below for my studio assistant who needed me to make a trip today to go buy her some food.

See her licking her chops !  This is Lika on my patio.  We are great buddies!  But I digress.

I recently discovered that Gamblin Artist Oil Colors has a new white called "Flake White Replacement".  It is true to the properties of the old flake white but does not contain the lead. This replacement white is also more permanent than the old lead laden flake white, which I used many many years ago.  Nowadays, for the most part, I use Weber's Permalba White which is a mixture of Titanium and Zinc whites; that combination of Zinc and Titanium is, or has been, the best white.  But I intend to purchase Gamblin's Flake White Replacement soon as well as another new white they have called Warm White which is a mixture of Benaimidazolone Orange, Hansa Yellow, Titanium White, and Zinc White.   I realize I can make my own mixture of warm white with paint already on hand, but I like to try new things and I like to save time.   

I made a post here some time back about Natural Pigments (click here) to view.   I will not repeat the old information given there, other than to say some artists (despite it being dangerous and toxic) might still want to purchase lead white paints.   Natural Pigments paints website carries more than one kind of lead white; their paints are called Rublev Colours and they come in watercolors as well as oils.   They are made of natural and historical pigments used by the old masters and there are no additives to the paint like fillers, driers, or stabilizers; simply single pigment colors and binders.  I intend to purchase some of their paints as well.  

Back to finishing my landscape tomorrow !  It is really coming along great; just need to adjust some of the greens and add the foreground cattails.  I tend to paint slow lately and, although I love impressionistic work, I work in a more realistic, time-consuming manner.  I am sure he must have been referring to the French Impressionists when Richard Boyle said, "To the impressionist, the work was finished, no matter how casual the execution, when the idea was completely realized on the canvas."   And that is okay, but it is not my way of working.  I will admit, though, to the truth of what Harley Brown has said, "The painting is always finished before the artist thinks it is."

Lika is sound asleep now beside me, and I need to be a copycat and do the same.  

My Website

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

"Breaking Through Artist's Block" (Video) - and Tomato Sandwich Painting

Tomato Sandwich Half

8" x 8" oil on canvas

$375

I have posted the above painting to this blog before, but now I would like to announce that it is available as a print in various sizes and formats on Fine Art America.    For today's post I had originally intended to show a video about fine artist David Cheifetz  because his still life paintings are so dramatic and rich in color.   He also paints other subject matter, but I was particularly drawn to his excellent still life work.   To make a long story short, I could not find a video on this artist but ran across the video shown below about "Breaking through artist's block"  that I found rather informative.   It explains how sometimes the eye (vision) of the artist improves beyond the artist's skill level which in turn makes the artist depressed thinking his work is terrible.   Then he may go days or weeks without painting.   This video lasts a little over 17 minutes and has no images other than a "graph" of sorts.   

I have not had artist block in a long time; I just paint slower now.   I tend to paint in layers, necessitating drying between layers before I can begin to paint again on the same canvas.  I have been painting this morning and I am almost finished with a landscape of a scene near Taos, New Mexico.   I may finish it tonight or tomorrow so please check back with me soon.   

My Website

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Lost And Found (Old Photos of New England and Nova Scotia)

Motif #1  Rockport, Massachusetts

Recently I found some old photographs that had been "lost" and I was so elated!   Above is the only shot I have of Motif #1 in Rockport, Massachusetts.  I may or may not ever paint this scene, but I am a very happy camper over finding this photo again.   Below are a couple of images of scenes in New England, not sure if they are in Massachusetts or not.

These are not the greatest photographs, but they were taken over 30 years ago and were on tiny 3" x 3" photos.  Below is a scene from Nova Scotia taken in 1969

That is me with my 3 year old daughter and my grandmother.   Notice my 2 pony tails...  smile.   Just thought I would share this photo to prove I was once young.

My son and daughter are busy sharing on Facebook all the old family pictures I found with their friends and some other family members who have never seen these particular pictures before.  I still have several more to scan and send to my children.   But I am still painting away....the going is slow; but I wanted to make a blog post today to "check in" with you and remind you to visit again soon for completed new paintings I am currently working on.    

                     What Is It?

Go Here to find out

                     

My Website 

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Escape To Foster Botanical Gardens Today (Flowers and Trees and Egrets - Photos)

Rainbow Plumeria 

I think the rainbow plumeria trees have the prettiest blossoms, but all plumerias are quite lovely, no matter the color.   

I went ages without going on a photo shoot so last week and today (Friday) I satisfied that craving.    Today I only intended to spend a few minutes at Foster Botanical Gardens in Honolulu and take only around 30 or 40 photos; instead I spent about 3 hours there and took 187 photographs!  I had a grand time.  The photos I take can all be references for future paintings.   Plus, I have several photographs as prints on Fine Art America  which you can purchase there as well as note cards.

Below are photos of the Cassia tree.

I took several photographs of some cattle egrets that seem to always congregate at Foster Botanical Gardens.   Following is one of them.

White Ginger is found on the Hawaiian islands, but it is not as abundant as the red and pink.  I am happy with the photo below I took today of White Ginger.

White Ginger

There are many hybrid Hibiscus in Hawaii; below is the Hawaiian native white hibiscus.

Hawaiian  Native White Hibiscus

Hybrid Orange Hibiscus (not native to Hawaii)

The orange hibiscus photo above I took in front of an apartment tower on my walk to the botanical gardens today.  I love that intense color !

Now, back to the easel tonight and tomorrow and splashing paint on canvas.... I mean on panel.   Lately, I have enjoyed using Gessobord panels as a support, although I still have several stretched canvases I need to use up.   Check back soon for more paintings.

 My Website 

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

  

"Fall Glory Greenlake Seattle" and "Alert" Oil Paintings (News)

"Fall Glory - Greenlake Seattle"

12" x 16" oil on canvas

$1575

"Alert"

Black-crowned Night Heron

12" x 12" oil on canvas

$1200

The "news" is that today I made the above 2 paintings available as prints on Fine Art America.  Please check out my website there for more information on these and other paintings and photographs of mine available at FAA as prints and note cards.

I will be busy tomorrow and however long it takes to complete 2  oil landscapes currently in progress.   It seems the older I get, the slower I paint.   Well, I've slowed down in a lot of ways with age.  But it's nice to "stop and smell the roses"     :-)

My Website

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com 

Brilliant Solution - New Wave Artist Palettes and Black-Crowned Night Heron

You have all heard the saying "When my ship comes in....."   Personally, I like what Jonathan Winters said, "If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!"    The inventors of the New Wave artist palettes showed some excellent initiative for fulfilling a need for artists to have a comfortable and lightweight wooden palette.    They are designed to hug your body and reduce fatigue.   Many artist are already using these palettes, but some may not have heard about them yet so I thought I would write a short post about them.   They also have a new palette for acrylic painters called "Easy Lift" where the acrylic paint peels off easily after a painting session.   Another thing that is new is their grey pad disposable paper palettes, each containing 50 grey sheets.    I have been painting for a long time using another brand of disposable palette that also has grey sheets and I highly recommend the grey ones for proper color mixing and seeing the true value of colors. 

Check out the website http://www.newwaveart.com for more information and to view videos about their products.   They have a link to show you where in the USA their palettes are available.   

"The Shadow Of My Eye"

Black-crowned Night Heron photo

I photographed the fellow above last Friday at Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu.  I love the shadow his huge eye makes in this shot.     Black-crowned night herons are not tiny and cute and colorful, but for some reason I am very fond of this bird and will continue to paint it as time goes on.  For new visitors to this blog, below is a recent painting of mine of one of these herons.

"Alert"

12" x 12" oil on canvas

$1200

 Keep your eye on this blog for more new paintings soon.   

Thank you for visiting. 

My Website

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Looking Beyond - Completed (Oil Landscape With Woman And Mountains)

"Looking Beyond"

6" x 8" oil on linen on panel 

$375

Wow!  Did this oil landscape with the Wasatch Mountains go through lots of changes to bring it to completion.    Of course, all artists know that a painting is never really finished; you just reach a stopping point.   I could have dabbled here and there on this work for another 3 hours or so.   What most people who are not artists don't realize is that a small piece such as this one can take as long or longer to paint than a 11" x 14" canvas.....or larger.   So this painting is a steal for $375 !   I made a lot of changes as the painting progressed.     Scroll down to the previous post on Sunday to see one of its stages as well as the reference photograph of mine.   

Please contact me if you would like to purchase this painting   reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com  

My Website