Going Home

We’re heading home after a long day at the studio!  Misty is Head of Security and Jelly is my Studio Assistant - and they never miss a day of work.  Jelly has been in the studio with me since he was 8 weeks old.  Misty joined our team shortly after that.

We try to clock in around 9am and spend the first thirty minutes taking care of our rescued cats.  They are waiting for breakfast and room service when we arrive.  The encaustic palettes are warming while we sweep and straighten up.  Then I open a Diet Mountain Dew and that’s their cue to settle in for a nap.  Misty is a light sleeper though - she takes her security job very seriously.  

Lately we’ve been taking a break around 1pm to medicate our Persian, Pea, who is at home. We’re back at work within an hour or so and like to work past 5pm when we can.  

Over the years my routine has varied.  I used to be in the studio by 7am and only left to get a bag of Cheetos from the gas station at noon.  In those days, Chloe, our shepherd mix, rode with me or I occasionally rode my bike to my south Huntsville studio.

Routines change but I find having one is important.  Structure and a sense of purpose is important.  I’m more flexible now and I work five days a week rather than six or seven - but I’m still committed to a routine.  At the end of a month or quarter, Jelly, Misty, and I are much more satisfied with results if we’ve clocked in every day!

The mask is off

Learning to work with interruptions is an art in itself!  I’ve had a ton of distractions while working on this little piece.  I managed to get a few hours to remove the masking and start building some detail.  I’m building form in some places in others I’m deciding how to get some interesting contrast — where to push a light against a dark and vice versa.

So many decisions are made while actually painting.  I plan ahead a little and pretend I have a plan but it only serves to give me confidence to start a painting session.  Most decisions are made intuitively while painting without a lot of thought!  Not all of them work out but the best choices are the ones that flow onto the board — so I jump in an hope for the best.

Starting a new casein

I’m starting the third casein in this group.  On day one I did the drawing on primed illustration board (acid-free) and blocked in the major shape.  Yesterday I defined more shapes so I can consider the overall composition.  I’ll tie a lot of these details together with a wash later but for now I want to get an idea of what is IN this composition.  I’m thinking about what I’ll keep, change, focus on, and kill.

I’ll probably mask the major shape so I can build a strong sky.  Working around all these little shapes with casein paint would be difficult.  It dries so quickly and blending can be awkward.  Casein paint doesn’t “move” easily on the board.  The minute I lay the brush on the board it is drying  - even while I pick up more paint on the palette.  It takes a special touch that I have some days but not others!

I’m enjoying the casein work but keep thinking about going back to watercolor for a  while.  I’ll either change subjects and stay with casein or pull out a big piece of watercolor paper and get back in to that groove.