gifts for painters
Although I hesitate to do anything to contribute to Christmas commercialization, there are a lot worse things you could give your favorite oil-and-cold-wax painter (or yourself) than interesting art supplies. So for what it's worth, here are three of my favorite recent discoveries for creating texture and interesting surfaces. (Those of you familiar with my work will know that I use a variety of tools in my work, very few of them brushes.)

Wilton Dough Scraper: (many thanks to artist Jen Bradford for this tip.) Having tried various types of squeegees on the market, I am really pleased with the versatility and just-right flexibility of the silicon blade on this piece of cooking equipment. The handle is very comfortable and it is a well-made little item, as opposed to most of the cheap squeegees sold for cleaning windows that are a bit awkward to use, and quickly deteriorate when subjected to the rigors of abstract painting. I am also very enamored of a line of products that perform in a similar way--and are actually intended as art supplies--called Colour Shapers (google that for many places to purchase.) But they are pricey, and I can now recommend this dough scraper as a low-cost alternative. It's available on amazon.com and probably at lots of cooking equipment outlets--though I never did find one when I was looking. (Jen finally mailed me one!) Most dough scrapers out there have metal, not silicone blades, and while they may have their uses (for dough anyway) I suspect a metal blade would be too rigid for expressive painting.

Three in One Baren Kit: I was checking out at Wet Paint in St. Paul yesterday (my favorite art supply store) when the helpful sales guy started demonstrating this little object for me, and I was won over. It is a printmaking tool, and for anyone who uses transferring techniques in their work, or would like to create small stamps to use for texture and linear interest, this is a fun little toy. The "three in one" refers to the rounded baren at one end for rubbing/transferring, a cutting tool (the handle screws off and you can attach any of 5 cutting blades) and the ability to turn the whole thing into a stamper by cutting a design into one of the small rubber disks supplied, and then attaching it by its sticky back to the baren. Granted this is a rather lightweight plastic object (which gives it that toy-like appeal I guess) but it works great--I tried carving into one of the disks in the studio this morning, and used it to apply the design to a painted surface. All of this fun for only $9.95! and if you buy this at Wet Paint they throw in a bag of ten of the little rubber discs free for your carving pleasure.

Clayboard: This is not a new product to me--it is made by the same company, Ampersand, that produces the Gessobord that I use in all of my work. So I've been aware of it for years but had never considered using it in my oil and cold wax painting. Yesterday during my shopping spree at Wet Paint, I asked another helpful sales person (that store is full of 'em) for one of Ampersand's new large sized Gessobord panels (40"x30") and was told they were out of stock. However, it was suggested that I try the same sized Clayboard panel which they did have on hand. After this morning's painting session, I have to say that there are advantages to this surface that may possibly make it even better for my particular techniques that Gessobord, which has a very slightly grainy or pebbly surface (Claybord is completely smooth, and drawing and moving paint around on it was just delicious.) Even more interesting, Claybord is highly absorbent and so the initial layers of wax/oil and paint stick that I applied this morning dried very quickly. I was able to build up a very complex texture in far less time than I am used to...on the other hand it was slightly disconcerting to find the oil drying almost as fast as acrylic. I was told that this effect will be most pronounced in the first few layers of paint, so as the work progresses, the paint will act more as I am used to. So far, I haven't time tested this product, but it looks very promising. Stay tuned for my report after the painting is done...  ¶ 1:45 PM