New Easel

I recently finished making a new model easel, based on the easel design used in the Art Student's League of New York. That easel is based on an even earlier design, which as far as I know is not sold commercially.

This easel is similar to a traditional tripod easel with 2 sliding adjustable clamps, with a few differences. I built the easel entirely out of poplar.

The main "spine" of the easel consists of two long parallel boards, joined together at various points on the backside. The back side of the easel has a hinge which allows the rear strut to slide up and down, adjusting the relative angle of the face of the easel.

Part of the base also hinges, allowing more adjustment. It can even be folded inwards, allowing the easel to fold together and take up less space.

The back of the "spine" of the easel has a channel cut into it. A small flat piece slides along the channel, connected via bolt on the other side to the clamp. The clamp can slide up and down along this track. Tightening the bolt at the front then locks all the pieces together and the clamp stays in place. Hard to describe, but its very simple.

This is the best easel that I've had the experience of using so far. Its lightweight, compact, adjustable, and even foldable.

More Flowers

Flowers, Botanic Garden

Oil on Canvas 16" x 24"

This painting is available. Contact me.

Marsh Dawn

Marsh Dawn

Oil on Canvas 9" x 12"

This painting is available. Contact me.

Flowers

Flowers are not a commonly featured subject in my work, and while I don't anticipate making them a fixture of my future portfolio anytime soon, I thought it might be nice to make them a subject of a picture or two.

I have had very little experience depicting them flowers in any form, I looked at this situation as an opportunity to branch out a bit and experiment. A little research revealed that many of my favorite artists had tackled the subject, with widely varying techniques and approaches.

I envisioned doing several paintings, one looser and more expressive, the latter tighter and more formal. I decided to work on the more experimental picture first. This picture was based on a visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and was a combination of real visits and studio work.

This picture came out very different than I expected, and I may work on it a bit more in the future. It did teach me a lot of things that turned out to be valuable in the more formal painting that I completed later on.

A Walk Through the Woods

I'm currently applying the final touches to this painting-a walk-through the woods-themed landscape. Believe it or not, this picture was done in the middle of New York City, in one of the more "remote" parts of Central Park.

What originally caught my eye about this scene, was the flow of light and shadow along the path. The tension created between these two contrasts if represented correctly, should create a scene of drama and mystery. My goal for this picture was to better represent dramatic lighting than I have in the past. This picture will require a little more work.

Revisiting old Landscapes

These two informal pictures are of older works that were put aside unfinished for many years. For one reason or another I was dissatisfied with them at the time, and I am now in the process of revisiting them in the studio with the goal of finally completing them.

At the time I stopped working on these, I feel despondent and defeated. The picture of the ginko forest in particular was done on location, and represented a lot of effort in time and travel. In the case of the blue ridge landscape I was at an impasse.
In retrospect, I am very happy that I waited as long as I did. Perhaps my skills have improved, or the elapsed time has given me the right perspective to find solutions.

Hemp Canvas

Artists are constantly presented with choosing from a huge array of different materials in their craft. Among these the use of canvas as a painting surface.

Canvas is commonly made from either linen or cotton. Linen is the best material, it is strong and durable. In comparison, cotton duck canvas is inferior in most ways to linen, but is less expensive.

Historically, another option existed for artists: hemp. Hemp predominated use in artists canvas up until fairly recently. Chances are that any Old Master painting on view in a museum will be made from this material. The word canvas itself even draws its roots from cannabis.

Jokes about smoking hemp aside, what differentiates hemp from linen? Regular linen canvas comes from fibers extracted from the flax plant. In comparison hemp is stronger than linen, and should be less prone to rot. Hemp requires fewer resources to grow, leading to a lower price for the material, and environmental advantages.

The major challenge of using hemp, was finding a weave of canvas suitable for painting on. Being a niche material, there were not a lot of options for suppliers, and information was lacking. I ordered several types of canvas from different companies, to try out. These experiments revealed many of them to be unsuitable. I had issues with the canvasses either not absorbing a size properly, or not tightening properly when size was applied.

There was one product that I used successfully, made by a company called Soho Urban Artist. This products was made specifically for artist use, and was a bit more expensive than other canvasses. It had a characteristic coarse weave, commonly seen in certain works such as those of Velazquez. I love the effect of the coarse texture, so I am pleased to be painting on it myself.

 A comparison of different types of canvas. On the left is the hemp canvas, the right a fine belgian linen. The coarse textured weave is noticeable.

Two types of coarse hemp canvas. The sample on the left failed to stretch properly when sized; it bound up That sample was discarded

The final choice of hemp canvas stretched and sized. It performed exactly as expected, accepting the size and tightening properly.
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