Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Well Used




A little eye candy from the collection of art supplies I just 'inherited'...there is something quite special about looking through someone's old paints, especially when they are as well-used as this paint box was.  Unfortunately, not terribly well kept- much of the paints were hard and the lids were stuck solid.  But quite fun to take pictures of! (Check out the key/knife.  Pretty cool!)
Now that I've sorted the usable (there was plenty!) from the un-usable I guess I will have to paint in oils for a change.  I've been avoiding it for so many years, mostly because of the fumes and drying time.  I need more ventilation then I have at home or at the studio for starters, and then, I'll need to think about what I would paint in oils.  Oils kind of lend themselves to a more classical subject matter- a landscape, still life or portrait.  I think the last time I did any of those was in my 2nd year of Art school, so it would be really interesting to tackle them now.  I suppose I'd be quite rusty at the portraiture bit. As I recall, getting skin tones to be accurate was always a challenge.

3 comments:

Janna Maria Vallee said...

It's so exciting being inspired by materials! It can really bring you out of your comfort zone sometimes changing the course of your art practice. I can't wait to see what happens here Heather.

Anonymous said...

Oh that is my dream paint box!

I am with you about oils. In high school, I was all about oil painting. I found it fun to be able to rework the paint hours later. It required patience I remember, but it seemed so natural to me. I do always remember that I used to have more then just an oil painting going on though... that way I still had something to work on while it dried....

Anne Magee said...

I inherited much of my grandmother's stash... she used oils when she first started painting, but switched to watercolors later. I had lots of dried out tubes of watercolor paints! I also now have an amazing art box... have fun with your new found goodies!