Monday, November 16, 2009

Brush Care

Taking care of your paint brushes is a HUGE key in painting. If you don't take care of your brushes you can ruin you painting before you even realize it. If you don't clean your brushes properly you can leave paint residue behind on the bristles. If this happens and you want to work with yellow and you have blue still on your brush....lets just say you will get a greenish color on your canvas.

When you are painting have a jar of water handy. Brushes that you have used and are done with for the time being place them in the water. Now there doesn't have to be a lot of water in the jar. You just need enough to cover the bristles of the brushes. This will keep the paint from drying on the brush when they are not in use. If you are working with Acrylics keep in mind that Acrylics dry quickly so if you don't submerge your brush in water the paint will dry on the brush and this is quite hard to clean off. You would be better of throwing the brush away.

When you are done painting you will want to clean out your brushes right away. If they sit in water for too long like over night lets say...the metal piece that holds the bristles together might rust.

Now this is how you should wash your brushes for acrylics, oils cause a little more extensive cleaning rituals than for acrylics. Use cool water, warm water can cause the paint to dry and that is the opposite of what you want. You can use dish soap or a bar of soap. Lather soap onto your brushes by painting the bar with the brushs....or is you are using liquid soap put some in your hand and paint the brush in the palm of you hand. Use the cool water to rinse until the water runs clear. Repeat if needed. Dry off your brushes using a towel of some sort. By doing this you keep the metal on the brush from rusting and you can all see the condition of your brush. If the bristles are falling out and are colored from many uses of paint. If that is the case you might want to invest in some new brushes.

Storing your brushes properly is just as important as cleaning them. If you are storing them in an upright position you will want to store them so that the brush end is up and not smashed down on the surface. If you smash your brushes it can deform your brushes and you will lose the firmness and purpose of the that type of brush. If you are lying the brush down when storing them be sure to run the brushes all the same way and not to place anything heavy on them.

One thing to remember that the more you paint the more brushes you will go through. So I would invest in some nice paint brushes. Horse hair brushes can get a little pricey, but they are nicer and last longer. If you are really wanting to send some money you can buy a goat haired brush. The more money you send the longer the brush will last....but this also is depending on how you care for your brushes. So if you want your brushes to last...spend a little time and money and you will be just fine. Happy painting!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Paints and Mediums

If you are going to be painting or using any type of medium you should know a little about what you are working with. A medium is they type of material you are working with. Watercolor, Acrylic, Tempera, and Oil Paints are all different types of medium. All of these have different binders in the paint that binds the pigment together. These binders are what makes a paint that type of medium.

In Acrylic paints you have a water based binder called polymer. Having this water based binder gives the paint the quick drying that you get. The reason why I work with Acrylic is for this type of quick dry. A quick drying paint lets me go over previous work a lot faster. Where as with oil paints you might have to wait up to a week before you can go over anything or just to start a new layer. Acrylics blend very well together and you can easily come up with the perfect shade and hue that you are looking for. And another nice thing about Acrylic and it being water based. It makes clean up really nice. You can easily clean your brushes and palette with just water. No chemicals or paint thinners needed. A little soap can be used when cleaning your brushes but that's a whole nother canvas we will paint later :) How the binder works in this paint is as the paint is drying on your canvas, paper, or whatever type of surface you are using, the water binder evaporates. Water evaporation gives you that 10 minute quick dry. The water base in acrylics make the paint very versatile. You can add more water to the paint to make a watered down effect, or make it appear like a water color. If you hate what you made you can easily paint over it with white paint once it is dry and start over. And with a short drying time that makes it even better. And if you want a little extended drying time on your paint you can add a special medium to your acrylics to slow down the drying. It's called a retarder. There are different types of retarders out there so make sure you do your research and read the label of what you are using before you mix it in.

Oil paints on the other hand are a completely different medium. Before with acrylic you had a water based binder. This one has an oil based binder...thus the name. Different pigments have different drying times. Some could take a day to dry, others could take up to a week or more to dry. And keep in mind, the thicker you make the paint and the coat you are working on, the longer the drying time. Try to keep it simple if you are just starting out. I myself am not a fan of Oil paints. I don't like to wait to paint. And with oil paints you can easily over work the painting and by the time you realize it you can just start over in 15 minutes. You either have to scrap the canvas all together or wait till it is dry. Now some painters love oil paints because you can easily go back in and work with the same color because it is still wet. And some don't. Work with what you are most comfortable with. If you don't mind the wait Oil paints are for you. If you are not a waiting type painter....well you might want to find a different type of medium to work with. Oil paints and clean up are not as easy as acrylics are. You might need different paint thinners and cleaners to clean your brushes out. I also do not recommend putting a lot of paint down the drain if it is oil based. You are better off putting a palette lid on if you can or just dump it in the trash. I wouldn't recommend putting any paint down the drain. Acrylics you can do a little because of the water base in the paint, but I still don't recommend doing it.

Watercolors are pretty self explanatory. I was never a fan of watercolors. It takes a good hand and skill to master this. Too much water and you can ruin your piece, not enough water and you won't get the look you are looking for. I personally need to play with watercolors a bit more to explain more of what the paint is and does compared to the others.

Lastly, but not least you have Tempera. Tempera is another water based type paint. It is a thinner paint that when it dries it produces a smooth surface. It is very hard to put texture in the painting like you can with oils and acrylics. A lot of famous painters have used tempera, but more and more I think tempera is the lesser used medium. Tempera is more used for window painting and poster painting because of the thinness and the smoothness it gives once dry. Tempera paint dries very quickly like acrylic paint. Clean up is fairly easy. A little water and soap will do the trick.

Price Scale:
-Tempera you will find is the cheapest, and you get the most for your money. Thus why in most schools such as elementary and high school this is used the most in their art classes. It's cheap and cleans up nicely. 16 oz bottles of the paint range from $2.50-$5.50 area

- Water Color is a little more money but still affordable. This paint you can buy in the tubes separately or in a set. Usually you are better off buying a set and then buying a tube of the paint you use most of. Prices vary here from $2.00 up to $14.oo it just depends on the brand and the number in the set.

- Acrylics are about the same as watercolor. Individually the prices might be more but again like the water colors you are better off buying in a set and then buying the color you need more of...like white (for me anyway). So prices are from $2.00 - $14.oo.

- Oil paints are your most expensive paints. I recently bought a paint set for $32.00. I would recommend buying these paints when they are on sale. But beware...paints go fast when you are using them...and with high prices you might want to watch how much you are using and how much you are wasting. Just a little idea.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

My Hidden Talent

Two years go this December I came across a hidden talent. I discovered a very much happy medium...well the medium of acrylic paints that is. I have always loved to sketch and doodle while in school. I took art class all 4 years of high school. In high school I was ok at painting and any art, but I wasn't great at it. Sometimes I wonder how I got from point A to point B.

As I look back and compare myself from then to now I have realized the difference. Back in high school I wasn't painting just to paint or painting for myself. I had to paint for a grade, paint for my art teacher. We were constantly working with one medium to another. Never really getting to just sit with your favorite. And when put on a time schedule for a grade...lets just say things didn't get done or was done in a fast manner. Painting for me now is a lot different. I get to paint on my own terms. I can take all the time in the world. Use as much or as little paint as I like. And the only person I have to get the approval of for my work is myself. No grades, no time schedule, no bouncing around from medium to medium. It's just me, my mind, my brushes, and a blank canvas.

I think the first time I realized I had a passion for it was at my Dad's Family Thanks Giving two years back. I was just playing around with a few things and my aunt mentioned to me that I was quite good at what I was doing. Which to me was just toying around with some cheap paints and brushes. A month later I had a lot on my plate that I was dealing with. I had some issues with school, knee surgery, and Lord knows what else. So I turned to painting. I decided to paint my mom and my sister Christmas presents because one it was cheap, and two I needed something to do to get my mind off things. Lets just say painting was a great outlet for me.

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around I had put out three different paintings. Two for my mom and one for my sister. When it came time for my mom and sister to open their gifts we all realized what a gift I had. Now I am not saying I am the queen of painting. And that I am the next Van Gogh, but I definitely had a talent for it. My sister called it my "hidden talent".

So here today I am creating this blog to share with you all my hidden talent. I will post my projects and my artwork for you all to see. I might also share some knowledge of art and how-to's and such. So this is me Jenny...from the tip of my paint brush.