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Which Paints Are The Best?

Which Paints Are The Best?

To decide which paints are the best for you is not easy. All manufacturer’ will tell you that their paints are the best. There are some artists who will tell you to buy the best paint you can afford. However, that is not necessarily correct.

Some paints are of a thicker consistency and therefore more suited to impasto or knife techniques, while others are thinner and may make glazing or the painting of delicate thin lines easier.

Please note that I am not necessarily endorsing any of the paints or brands shown here.

Oil Paints

Oil paint is a typically a slow to dry paint that is made up of particles of pigment that have been suspended in a drying oil. This is usually, linseed oil. Varnish may be added to increase the glossiness of the final dried paint. There are various mediums that can be added to the paints to thin or thicken the paint. Other mediums can be used to alter the working time of the paint. Water soluble oil paints are available. These are gaining popularity as it dispenses with the need for solvents. Plus it still has a large range of mediums available to alter the way the paint acts.

Watercolour Paints

watercolour paint

Watercolour, also known as aquarelle, is a type of paint that is made of pigments suspended in a water-based solution and contained in tubes. Solid blocks of watercolour are available in pans. Paint is then picked up with a wet brush. The watercolourist can travel very light indeed.

Acrylic Paints

Golden Acrylic Colors

Acrylic paints make a very good alternative to oil paints. This type of paint is normally a fast-drying paint made of pigments that have been suspended in an acrylic polymer resin. These paints are also water-soluble, but different to watercolours paints in that they are water-resistant when dry.

Gouache

Gouache

Gouache (pronounced gwash) is a type of water-based paint made of particles of pigment suspended thickly in a solution of gum arabic, with added chalk to increase the bulk and the finished opacity. Paints come in tubes and they come out of the tube like a thick gel. Gouache is also used sometimes in watercolour paintings.

Pastels

pastel artist

While not used in a liquid form, we paint with pastels so I have included them here. There are two types of pastels, soft pastels and oil pastels. Soft pastels are a dry medium laid down with short fragile square or round sticks. There are also a selection of hard sticks for sharp detail work. They are made of powdered pigment that has been combined with a nongreasy binder. Oil pastels are very similar to wax crayons in appearance.  Oil pastels are made of pigments that have been mixed with non-drying oil and wax binders

Wrapping Up

 tried many different brands when trying to decide which paints are the best suited to how I paint. Personally, I prefer to use Reeves acrylics, Weber wOil water solubles oils, Winsor and Newton watercolours, and Schmincke pastels.

So, how do you find the best paint for you? The only answer to that is experiment, trial and error,  read the fact sheet on the brand, talk to the professionals in the shop, I use Jacksons mostly.

Oh, and maybe buy small tubes to begin with.

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Stay Wet Pallette And How To Make One

Stay Wet Palette And How To Make Your Own

What is a stay wet palette? It is normally a palette with a removable lid that seals the paint from the air. Given what they are made of they are also expensive.

Have you ever wished that you could preserve the palette of paints you are currently using? More to the point, would you like them to stay workable for days?

Read on and find out how to make your own, for peanuts!

stay wet pallette
stay wet pallette

The container

Buy a plastic container with a hinged or removable lid.

There are lots to choose from. Try Red Dot, Bunnings or even Coles/Woolies

Put a sheet of absorbent kitchen roll in the lid. It is best to put the paper in the lid so you can easily mix paints.

Next, cut a piece of greaseproof paper to cover the kitchen roll. This will be your mixing surface.

Before use, remove the greaseproof paper, drizzle a little water over the kitchen roll, replace the top layer and mix paints.

Here is one I used just the other day.

stay wet pallette

Close the lid (which is really the base) at the end of your session to keep paints fresh and workable for days.

I have used this for a long time now with acrylic paints and it definitely works. So for the cost of two or three dollars, you have a reuseable palette that will stay wet with the bonus of a throw away top layer which means no cleanup.

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MKR Scandal Erupts History Is Made

MKR Scandal

#MKR Scandal erupts and history is made. I am sure you will all agree that in the shows long running history there has never been a more ridiculous scene than that of Sonya and Hadil fighting verbally with fellow contestants, Jess and Emma.

#mkr scandal

There have always been contestants trying to create an MKR scandal by denigrating the cooking efforts of their fellow competitors. You may well also agree that the shows producers, or whoever it is that chooses the contestants, can shoulder some of the blame for last nights debacle. I feel sure that they set the show up with contestant’s whose personalities will rub each other up the wrong way.

I sat watching in disbelief as Sonya in particular seemed to be trying to stir things up through the early stages of the meal. On the other hand, we have Sonya threatening at least four other MKR contestants pointing at them and uttering loudly “I’ll come for you” repeatedly.

Kim and Suong’s hospitality

I feel sorry for Kim and Suong whose hospitality was ruined because of childish behavior. It probably affected their ability to concentrate and deliver top-notch food to the guests. I could see Manu’s face getting very red and have to applaud him, Pete and most of the others for controlling their emotions. At the end of the day, Manu had to tell Sonya and Hadil: “You are excused from the table”.

I hope that channel 7 do not bring back the two miscreants. It would only put decent Australians off the show altogether.

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Security Check On Australian Art For Sale

security check

Security Check

I ran a Security Check on my site and I am quite happy with the results. I used Glodal Sign to run the check on my Trustwave SSL

security check

 

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Today Is No Housework Day

No Housework Day

No Housework Day is today and might be your dream come true. Imagine getting up in the morning, throwing on some clothes, and doing nothing else except eat drink and be merry!

Well today is the day. Leave everything lying around. Do no washing, ironing, dusting, mopping, sweeping, dish-washing, or tidying up of any sort. Have the day off. You deserve it. Take it further and don’t do any cooking either.

Tell the family they need to fend for themselves today. Head out for lunch and order takeaway for dinner.

Relax

The best day of the year for some is, I am sure, No Housework Day. This is the day when you can go from this:

 

no housework day

To This:

no housework day
I hope you enjoy your no housework day today. Make the dishwasher earn it’s keep. Cram a few extra clothes into the washing machine tomorrow.

Other things today

It is also Pet Day and Cheese Fondue Day today. Plus one other big one, April 11th is also World Parkinson’s Disease Day. This marks the birthday of Dr. J. Parkinson. There are various ways you can support the research into this debilitating disease. Donating or collecting donations are the obvious ones, but you could look for walks, runs or even or marathons where you could get sponsored for taking part.

Parkinson’s disease is not just a disease of the elderly, some of the competitors in the Commonwealth games suffer from early onset of this horrible malady.

Sell Your Art

Days sourced from Days of the Year

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Digital Art – Is It Art?

digital art

Digital Art

Digital art has long been a bone of contention among the more traditional art galleries, both online and physical. What has changed? Historically, digital painting has had a somewhat staged appearance. The advent of modern digital artist’ tools has drastically changed this. Twisted Brush is one such program. In this program there is a veritable plethora of tools, brushes, textures, paints, charcoals etc. Way too many too list.
Mastering a program such as this is not a simple task. It takes dedication and skill. A steady hand is needed to get good results using pressure sensitive graphics tablets. It is may well be harder to achieve a decent line freehand on a tablet than on a canvas. There are other programs like Draw Plus or Gimp, but those are not dedicated drawing programs in the sense of artistic endeavors. In no way does the endorsement of digital forms deduct the respect I have for those who have mastered the skills needed to paint successfully. I paint and also use Twisted Brush. Nothing done on the latter has been worth printing as yet!! My artworks that have sold were all of the traditional painted type. So is it an art form? Of course it is. Sell Your Art
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Equal Pay For All

equal pay for all

Equal Pay For All

There are several groups that campaign for equal pay for all. These include The Equal Pay Day Alliance, the Equal Pay Today Organistion, the Australian Services Union and more. Disparity in pay There has always been a difference in pay between men and women. The February 2018 gender pay gap statistics* show some poor figures. Especially considering Australia’s “Fair Go” attitude. Full time average weekly earnings of women is $1409 Full time average weekly earnings of men is $1662.70 Thats an average difference of 15.3% Looking at the states and territories the lowest gender pay gap is in South Australia while the highest gap is in Western Australia at a whopping 22.5%. The gender pay gap by industry statistic shows 6.8% in Public Administration and Safety with the highest gap being in Financial an Insurance Services at 26.1% These figures are ridiculous when you consider that the male and female members of the Australian workforce by an large do an equally good job across all the industries and services we have. Today is Equal Pay in Day America, an ally that has the same problem. Share this around to show employers that we have had enough. Sell Your Art   *Source Workplace Gender Equality Agency
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International Safety Pin Day

australian art

International Safety Pin Day

Yes, today is International Safety Pin Day!* The humble safety pin was invented by Walter Hunt in 1849. He owed a friend some money and invented the safety pin to raise the funds to repays him. His invention is one of the worlds most enduring. I cannot think of anything more efficient at holding together a broken zipper on a pair of denims. I had this unfortunate event happen to me while out for the day with a girlfriend. It could have been worse. I could have been going “commando”. Other days to remember* Today is also Golfers Day, Be Kind To Lawers Day (as if), Sibling Day, Equal Pay Day, Library Workers Day, and is part of Gardening Month plus others.   Sell Your Art *Source Days Of The Year  
 
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How To Set Up Your Art Shop

art shop

Setting Up Your Art Shop + Creating Products

To create your first product with good SEO for Google:

 

  1. Click “Products” then “Add New Product”
  2. In the Product Name give your product a name. Lets say “Harbour Sunset”
  3. Upload a picture. The upload form says max 32mb. It is best to ignore that and upload a file under 1mb since the site will automatically resize your photo anyway and uploading a smaller file will result in a speedier set up.
  4. Enter a price. (You can later reduce the price for a scheduled amount of time if you wish’)
  5. Select a category from the drop down box.
  6. Select two product tags
  7. In the next field enter a short description.
  1. After the page refreshes, scroll down and enter a full detailed description in the “Description” field in this format for good Google SEO (Search Enging Optimisation)

Select Bold for the heading

Harbour Sunset

and start the description with the title eg:

Harbour sunset is a tranquil painting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge etc

  1. Tick the sold individually box (to prevent two sales at the same time)
  2. Optionally enter a message to the buyer to be included in the email they receive after buying art.
  3. OPtionally untick the product reviews box
  4. Save the product

Your work has now been submitted for review and will be live on the site normally within a few hours.

You will receive an email when it is published

You can delete it yourself if you sell it elsewhere

 

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Australian Cricket In Tatters

Australian Cricket In Tatters

Since the debacle of what happened in South Africa, Australian cricket in tatters has been the subject of much discussion.

Two of the people involved made statements quickly, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft. The third, David Warner used his child (carried in his arms) at the airport as a shield, protecting himself from the media frenzy that awaited his arrival.

The apology

After two days, David Warner appeared at a press conference where he said he apologised to the fans, the club, his family, South Africa and just about everyone else for having cheated, saying in short that he was there to take responsibility for his own actions.

Regardless of the questions then asked, the same answer was repeated over and over again. It was obvious that he had been coached in what to say. It has now been reported that he did have someone write his statement for him.

I do not know if this is true but it would seem to fit with how David Warner spoke at the press conference. Should he be getting treated with more empathy?

What are your thoughts?