PROGRESS ON STUDIO AND NEW PORTRAIT

I've spent most of this week putting coats of paint on the studio cabinets and flat files. Here's what it all looks like at this point.

I prefer using oil-based paints on the wood cabinets. Oil can be a pain, but I like the looks and feel of it after its on. And I really enjoy opening up the cupboards to find the nice white finished insides. It makes me feel good! And they are easy to keep clean.

I've learned some good tricks over the years, such as - freezing your roller and brush instead of cleaning them. If I'm going to be painting every day this works much better than dealing with paint thinner. I always wear non-latex latex gloves when painting. I'm using a foam 4" roller and a good China bristle brush. At the end of the day, I wrap the brush in plastic wrap, making sure there are no air bubbles. I do the same with the roller, except I'm using a small plastic bag (originally for dog-doo!). I'm using two colors, so two rollers go into the freezer for the night. The next day I just don the gloves and unwrap the roller, stick it on the handle - good to go.

The last few days I've just been doing the shelves (seen on top of the cabinets) so I don't even need a pan. I just dip the roller into the can and slop it onto the horizontal surface! I did this on the inside of the cabinets, too. I could start on a horizontal surface and get the paint evened out on the roller before I went vertical. Cool, huh?

At the end of the job, I'll just throw these cheap foam rollers away. But, I always take very good care of my good brushes.

And, here are the paintings I've been working on this past week:

This one, Leslie, I touched up and re-worked a few times and I think it's finished now.

The top one is the same picture I posted a few weeks ago. I went back in and in an attempt to even out the color, obliterated most of it! So, I had to then add some color back in. You can see the final version at the bottom. This is Leslie, acrylic on canvas 11" x 14".

Since I am kinda into portraits at the moment, I thought I'd start another self-portrait. Here it is after a few days work. It's VERY ROUGH. As you can see I like to go in and first describe the lights and darks and some rough patches of color.

Later I will go in and even it out and make adjustments. [Hopefully I won't ruin it!] I do tend to overwork things. It's a constant battle for me to loosen up and let things be!

Anyway, this is Self 2009, acrylic on canvas 11" x 14", just the beginning!