After a day wrangling with code - whoever thinks a modern artist can be a luddite has not seen my average day - that included various webby upgrades, module installs, sql patches, cron jobs and other geekery, some of which went smoothly and some that, ah, didn't, I am back in the studio and thought perhaps you'd like a wee tour?

To begin the tour, I work in a spare bedroom that was agreed would be my art studio I commandeered. My works are currently quite a managable size, so there is no need for a big space. I've learned how to paint without toxic fumes so there is also no need for a super extraction exhaust setup. This means I am able to work at home with my dog and destructopuppy and can take regular breaks out in the vege garden or whip up food when I feel hungry. I really enjoy the flexibility.

First off, it's a wonderful freedom to have all the books that inspire me to hand. And the filing too. 

This here is the office section of my studio, but you figured that out. Yes, this is a bit unusual. I find chairs really uncomfortable. You should see the wriggling and perching and contortions I get into in an effort to get comfy on a chair. But sitting on the floor on a cushion, Japanese style? I can focus without moving for hours at a time. 

I pride myself on figuring out lateral thinking solutions that are dead easy to implement. These are my drying racks. They are wire clothes airers turned into shelves. The blue box is a metal fire proof box for storing the oil paints and mediums. You know, just in case destructopuppy figures out matches.

And finally we have where the magic painting happens.  If it looks pretty basic, let me walk you through the whys and maybe you'll see how it fits me so well.

You might be able to see a few more sideways solutions if you look carefully. Forget fancy brush holders - huge instant coffee jars are perfect! And did you spot the giant plastic serving tray used as a palette for acrylics and the fridge egg holder used as a palette for inks and watercolour (icecube trays also work well)?

There you have it. An artist's studio revealed!

So artists, what's your studio look like? Pop a link to pix in the comments. I'm sure every creativity studio is unique.

Chunky. Filling. Moreish. Easy.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Influenced by the magical realism of Vietnamese born US artist Duy Huynh (pronounced yee wun), my ever present interest in cartoons, and the kid's song, ten green bottles. Now add these all together and shake, shake shake... and mind the hiccups.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

A South American standard that I recreated after watching a former El Salvadorean housemate make it. So I've probably unintentionally bastardised it, but it tastes fantastic, is quick, easy, satisfying and involves finishing off the bottle of beer while you wait for it to cook involves cooking with beer. I'm going to be really sexist and say that cooking with beer is a sure fire way to make a guy say something like, 'mmm, this is really tasty, what's the secret ingredient?'. Only it does almost always happen when I serve a beer cooked meal to guys. Connection? I think so. Sorry guys!

oil or butter for sauting

1 medium onion

2 very large cloves garlic

1 small red chilli

400g tomato, roughly chopped

375ml / 1 1/2 cups beer, preferably a dark beer

520g / 4 cups cooked beans such as kidney, pinto, chickpeas

1 tablespoon salt

up to 2 cups of other vegetables chopped into bean sized pieces (carrot, green beans, capsicum, celery, potato, mushroom)

Makes 6 bowls.

Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of musician Trent Reznor by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

In these Creative Cauldron posts I talk about my influences. For the most part, these are visual artists. However, there are others. I mean, you wouldn't expect me to be one dimensional now would you? But would you expect me to be taking marketing notes from a musician? Maybe not, so let me show you why.

I think we are all more familiar with the idea of musicians making a living by making music, selling it and touring. Now that CD's are dead in the water and digital downloads of both the paid and illegal variety are rife, how do musicians make their money? And if musicians can and still do generate huge fan bases (collectors), go on sellout tours (exhibitions) and sell their work (originals) despite digital copies everywhere, why not visual artists? Admittedly, not every musician is able to do this, which is why I take notes from watching those that can.

I think it's easier for musicians to gain fans than visual artists, because music is so portable, social and consumable. But I think it's harder for the muso's to make a living from their art than a visual artist. It's easy to rip off a music file and rather tricky with a four foot square painting.  But so much of what these bands are doing can be translated to visual artists. This path is not for those wanting the traditional route to fame and fortune.

There are visual artists who thrive in this new online environment too. Natasha Wescoat, Hazel Dooney, and Val's Art Diary are the first three that influenced me when I realised that what every savvy young band is doing, visual artists can do too.

Before them I was watching the musicians. Especially this one who has always rallied against the big brother lockdown attitudes (snobbery) of record companies (art galleries) which are so last century.

You may have heard of Trent Reznor. He was partly responsible for the score for The Social Network which is doing the film circuit at the moment. Perhaps you know of Nine Inch Nails? If you don't follow electronic music and don't enjoy music that wallows in misery, probably not. I find his music unlistenable nowdays, though I was once a huge fan. I may have changed a bit in the last 20 years! Despite no longer enjoying the music, I still keep an eye on what this musician gets up to. His ideas on the changed landscape of music publishing, distribution, marketing and making living as a (recording) artist since the internet met digital music files are cutting edge, forward thinking, innovative, exploratory, uses social media and technology, includes the fans, you kinda getting the idea here?

The best concrete example of this forward thinking attitude that I know of can be seen in this Digg Dialogg interview. The part on marketing begins at the 10.45 mark.

The same content is also available in a written form here: http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,767183

After all, musicians are masters at getting rabid, screaming loyal fans. If visual artists could get a tenth of that fairy dust.....

More Trent Reznor links

Official site: http://www.nin.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Reznor

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. 

The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.

Well Sue surprised me this morning by putting up a part two of her Sunday Salon feature. Big thanks!

Thanks to the lovely Sue for featuring me and my work in her weekly Sunday Salon. I highly recommend you follow her blog for writings on art and creativity of a more accessible, thoughtful and relevent nature than the usual artistic bolderdash.

Chunky. Spiced. Easy. Versatile.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin. 

Befitting a Moroccan style dish, this piece is done in the Moroccan zouaq decorative style of painting. This is often used to cover furniture as well as doorways and walls. It's colourful and heavily based on pattern. It's finicky and requires patience. The results can be quite exquisite and delicate.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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2 medium to large red capsicum

1 large eggplant

2 large zucchini

1 large red onion

1/4 butternut pumpkin

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

3/4 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds

200g green beans

around 260g cooked chickpeas

1 head garlic

350g/2 cups couscous

2 cups boiling water

juice and zest of 1 1/2 big lemons

Heat the oven to 220C/440F.

Chop the capsicum, eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin into large chunks of about 4cm. Chop the onion into large sized wedges.

Put these into a roasting tin and toss in the olive oil and salt and pepper.

Roast for 25 to 30 minutes.

Top and tail the beans and cut into bite sized lengths.

Add the beans, garlic, chickpeas, cumin seeds and coriander seeds to the roasting pan.

Mix well.

Roast for 10-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let stand while you cook the couscous.

Mix the couscous and boiling water, along with a little salt and pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes or so until all the water has been soaked up and the couscous tastes done.

Squeeze the lemon juice over the vegetables.

Serve up both veges and couscous together.

This feeds around 4 people.

A go-to overview of why and which to help you figure out if your painting has been varnished to conservation standards...


This is a companion and follow on article from the last technical article on varnishing acrylic paintings.

Why do we varnish oil paintings?

Uncoated oil paints will absorb atmospheric moisture even in regulated environments and can eventually develop friable surfaces that will crack. A layer of varnish protects the paint from shallow scratches, atmospheric pollution (dust, hair, chemicals) and, ideally, UV radiation. This layer can be removed and replaced when it has become too dirty to wipe clean, and the painting will still remain in perfect condition.  

An artist may also choose to apply varnish to bring out and highlight the lustrous gloss of oil paints. Or they may want to unify the painting surface with a single finish. Oil paints dry to varying degrees of glossiness depending on the pigments, with dark colours tending to dry far more matte than lighter ones.

What's the difference between permanent and retouch varnishes?

Retouch can be painted over and is often used in the painting process to restore the undried appearance to a dried patch of painting for colour matching while an artist continues the work. It is also used as a temporary final varnish for touch dry works, though this is not necessary as a thin coat of final varnish can be used safely in this situation. Retouching varnish doesn’t have the quality that a final varnish has. A final/finishing/permanent varnish makes your painting look a lot better.

Permanent varnish is a confusing name as it is (or should be) removable. More accurately, it is a final varnish that goes onto a dried painting as the final, finishing removable protective layer.

How long do I have to wait to varnish an oil painting?

A varnish can be used mixed in with the paint to add gloss, right?

Yikes NO! I mean, yes, this can physically be done but it's really not a sound idea. Here's why:

A medium (something that is mixed in with the paint to alter it's properties) becomes integral to the paint. It can't be removed separately. If varnish is used mixed in with the paint and then that same varnish (or one that dissolves in the same solvent) is used as a final varnish, what do you think happens when that final layer of varnish gets removed for cleaning? Yep, the paint layers dissolve and get cleaned off as well. Hardly ideal!

This situation can be a problem when an artist has used Dammar as both a medium and varnish in the same painting. Watch out!

All varnishes are formulated to be removable (at least they should be). Solubility is one of the characteristics that distinguishes a varnish from a medium.

What's the best varnish to use? 

There's a bit of debate over this. The traditional versus the modern.

The traditional go-to varnish is Dammar. This is a natural tree resin. As such, it's source is variable. Gum can be contaminated with gum from other trees. The quality varies from year to year. The artist has to be quite careful to apply it thinly. It is known to crack and yellow. The lifespan is around 20 years for a coat of this varnish. It is very easy to remove with gum turps and Dammar has been used for around 400 years so it's properties are well known and familier.

Modern synthetic varnishes are can be an acrylic solution or a styrene varnish or a ketone resin.  They are more consistent in quality and easier for artists to apply well than natural resin varnishes. Although not predicted by computer aging simulations, in real life they do darken a little with age, but they are not as prone to cracking as the natural resins.  They tend to be a little harder to remove, and mineral turps is often used as the solvent. 

Although both varnishes do the job of protecting a painting from atmospheric pollution etc, conservationists now tend to prefer and recommend the synthetic varnishes. These have the added advantage of being mould resistant ( because they "close off" completely i.e. they do not leave any capillary holes for drying, they do not trap any water or "food" for mould on the surface) and can have UV protection built in.

To UV or not to UV?

Again from AMIEN:
"The best varnish for your oil painting will contain UV inhibitors. They will delay the deterioration of the most egregiously poor color (say, a fluorescent marker color) for ~5 - 10 years in an outdoor exposure. That might not seem much, but put that color, coated, indoors in a low-light exposure and try to extrapolate a service life: it will be longer, but how much longer is difficult to say... We have to say that the UV inhibitors offer an advantage, especially when incorporated into coatings that will be applied to colors that are good in the first place, and that such coatings are better than unmodified coatings, and that coating paintings of certain types is a good thing."

For artists - here is a list of modern synthetic varnishes with UV inhibitors

This is not an exhaustive list. If you know of others, please let me know in the comments. I am happy to add them. 

Gamvar
Lascaux UV Protect
Windsor & Newton Conserv-Art Gloss Varnish
Golden MSA Acrylic Varnish
Soluvar

After personally contacting all the Australian manufactures, the only Australian made varnishes that make this list are by Derivan as part of their Matisse range (stunning customer service too by the way):
Derivan Matisse MM14 High-Gloss Varnish (turps-based), MM15 Matt Varnish (turps-based), and MM29 Final Varnish Satin Finish

And some spray on varnishes that do the job. Artists, please note that spray on varnishes are very very baaaad for your health unless you have seriously excellent ventilation and wear protective gear.
Krylone Conservation Varnish and UV Archival Varnish

Some tiny tips on the how-to of varnishing

 

Technical linky goodness

An excellent thread on varnishing on a top forum.

More art technique articles

This article is one in an ongoing series of technical articles for artists, all archived together and accessible from here. The topics range from details on materials, to the business of art, to specific art techniques. Please make use of this resource.

Of course I don't expect people to just take my word that my recipes are filled with YUM! I mean, I would say that, wouldn't I?  So how about the opinion of the very articulate Opinioness of the World who reviews my Gyoza recipe and tells the tale of the fun and adventure of exploring a new dish and a new grocery store, complete with a very excitable clerk?

PS. No bribes took place behind the scenes of this review!

Look who's the featured artist on the respected blog for emerging artists, Artsy Shark. I'm tapping my toes and humming along to nothing at all, feeling very pleased. And there's more good news on the way...