Finding Time

    A 6x8 oil painting in progress on the easel in my small studio

I posted this to show the type of small paintings I find time to do.

Completing a painting like this involves a fairly simple setup. Once my Box M palette is ready to go with paint, brushes, towels, turp, and the like, I grab a few interesting objects which I try to keep a good supply of around the studio, and arrange them to my satisfaction. Maybe even a piece of fruit or a veggie, as I used here. Then, I start swinging the brushes.

The Box M setup, shown in the above photo, is easy to use and when not in use, it fits comfortably in the refrigerator - keeping all my paints wet for days and even weeks, if I get busy with other things. I clean the main surface of the pallette at the end of each session, leaving the main piles of paint, and can even tuck the smaller paintings right inside the palette. The ability to store oils paints and paintings in a cold storage unit, such as a refrigerator is invaluable to those of us who like the paint wet. This will maintain an "alla prima", or done all at once, look even if the "all at once" is spread out over several days or a week.

I use only a few brushes, to limit my fussing with too many, and a fairly limited color palette. A painting this size, 6x8, can take anywhere from an hour to several one or two-hour sessions.

Life with a Side of Art

                   Twilight Trawler - oil, 8x10, private collection

I started this blog with the hopes of showcasing some of my work and discussing the life of an artist that is lived in the spare time between family, 9-5 work obligations and all of the other unplanned things that conspire to take up that spare time. My life as an artist is lived in bits and pieces when I can find them: an hour in the morning or at night working on a charcoal drawing or sculpture; a luxurious 2-3 hours on a Saturday morning in the studio or out oil painting en plein air on a Sunday afternoon in between church services. Whatever and wherever - I'll take it. Thought mostly directed at shameless self promotion, it may be that some other "spare-timer" will find some of my posts encouraging - if I can find enough spare time to make them, that is.