how did you decide to set it up?
When it comes to paint, I have a very equal opportunity approach. There are a few things I don't use like "craft paint". Those are the ones that come in little snap top bottles. There are many types of paint that I do use including various brands of acrylic and oil. Many of my paintings start out as acrylic paintings and finish as oil paintings. Some begin as oil paintings and stay that way. I start some of my paintings with oil bars and others with paint pens.
In Acrylic, I use Golden, Old Holland, Liquitex and Utrecht. I use paint pens and some house paint (with additives for canvas painting). I also use house paint to pour out sheets of latex for sculptural applications. I am not brand loyal but Golden is clearly the best acrylic in my opinion. It has a good paint body and color saturation.
In oil paint I use Winsor and Newton, Gamblin and a few tubes of Georgian. There is a pink color that Georgian makes that is in almost all of my paintings and it is specific to that brand. Though it wouldn't be overly difficult to mix, I always have a tube on my painting table. I like Gamblin mediums and I do use Liquin but it yellows whites over time.
In general, I use a wide variety of paints, and I do from time to time use Polyurethane, sand or grit of some kind. I often scrape my palette and mix the skin back into the paint. Sometimes I will leave the lid off a jar or can of paint so that I can use the skin for surface and texture.
My painting table isn't very impressive. It's an old university AV cart. It has a built in surge protector and power chord that I never use. I'm sure there is something better out there but as I said in a previous post, everything with me needs to be modular and able to roll. The cart works well because it is three tiers and holds quite a lot of stuff. I keep my brushes on the bottom shelf in metal coffee cans which are then set inside a stainless steel bathroom caddy ( white elephant Christmas gift). On the second shelf I keep all of my oil paints. About once every year or so, I go through and color group the tubes of paint around the shelf like the way any decent "learn to paint" sales rack book would tell you to set up your palette. Last I checked, I had no less than four large tubes of Burnt Umber in various stages of squeezed out, no caps but all with pronounced hardened mushroom scabs at the opening. I run a tight ship. There are many brands and more than one decade represented in my community of flaking, busted and double ended tubes of paint. The top shelf is reserved for miscellaneous stuff and at any given time will have a spray bottle, carpet knife, xacto knife, a cup of pencils, loose sharpies, paint pens, tuna cans with slurries of paint (usually Burnt Umber), small disposable palettes of a variety of origins, brushes that should have been cleaned yet were not, baby food jars, spoons and several cups of old coffee at various stages of biological growth and one currently in use cup.
As much as it seems as though there is nothing but chaos enveloping this relatively small three tier av cart, in all actuality, it has taken me years to get my system down.
Check out the other Blogwatchers response to this question. Peggy Coots, Joe Molinaro and soon to join us - Matthew Litteken!
Next Week: Do you have any special devices or tools that are unique to your creative process?
Are there specific items here that have significant meaning to you? DUE: FEB 28TH