Yesterday in the studio.

I place sheets as of paper as drop sheets under the paintings I’m working on. The paper catches all the paint that splatters, And eventually gets marked up with pencil and ink. Often I find the drop sheets on their own can be quite beautiful.

These sheets will eventually get used in different ways. They get transformed into paintings or collages. I tend to keep all scraps of paper if they seem interesting, and this does cause a general air of chaos in my studio.

Eventually the drop sheets get turned into something like this detail. This painting has a layer of thin transparent rice paper laminated to the surface. You can still see what is underneath.  I work the top layer with watercolour and gouache.

My daughter loves to work in the studio, and here she is painting a picture of us driving in our old car to the beach.

Even though I have several piles of things I’m working on, I decided to start a new painting. Something for Easter.

Then I thought I might as well start two.  Cats with bunny ears. Screams Easter.

Under painting.

I have completed the under painting on my latest work. Now the fun begins!

I also have noticed that no matter what I do I can’t help but get paint everywhere. I put down a drop cloth, and paint misses the edge of the drop cloth by an inch. I walk up to a painting just to look at it, and somehow I get paint on my leg and down my arm. All of my cloths and clothes show my history of painting. I find that the best way to get most paint off my clothes is to use dish soap and cold water. I try not to use turpentine when I work and I find that dish soap works well for most clean-ups. It is especially good for brushes.