Thoughts on (Cheap) Brushes

Looking for different types of painting brushes on-line on a budget is not easy. At all.

I'm still in the process of learning how to paint, and learning how different types of brushes work. The best way to find out is to I guess use different types of brushes myself, right?

Each brand makes so many varieties of brushes. Sure, some websites nowadays mention the length and the width of the brush head because sizes in numbers don't mean anything. And they usually say 'long handle' or 'short handle.' That's it? I want to know how long your long handle is, on every brush size. I want to know if the handle becomes extremely skinny two inches away from the ferrule or gradually becomes skinny towards the end of the handle. How springy is a 'superb spring'?

I was spending too much time sitting at the computer instead of painting. So I went down to two different art supply stores just to take a look in person, and ended up buying 6 brushes in 2 varieties only because they were $3.99 each.

Big mistake.

Although I was aware of short life expectancies of cheap brushes, the way their lives ended one by one within days of each other was so funny that I actually laughed out loud en plein air a couple of times. And I'm known for not laughing out loud enough in hysterical situations.

the first casualty, death by decapitation

It's too bad, because I really liked these brushes - not too stiff, not too soft, with 'superb spring' one might say. But we weren't meant to be together, for more than two weeks.

this happened to the rest of them

Was it me? Honey talk to me. I'm begging you.

DIY Paint Brush or Painting Pouch (Or Handmade Bubble Mailer)

Getting ready for air travel is a lot more complicated these days than let's say back in February 2001: My husband and I took a trip to Japan together for the first time, and we had a huge bottle of shochu in our carry-on luggage on our way back to the U.S. There were gallons of (somewhat) flammable liquids on that transpacific flight.

I've been doing some research on flying with my painting gear, and I almost gave up couple of times. But hey, painting on location seemed like a nightmare especially without a car, but it hasn't been that difficult once you got what you needed to make it happen. So here is what I did today in preparation for my upcoming painting trip - I made a paint brush pouch using double bubble insulation material, insulation tape, and velcro tape.

why don't I just buy a nice brush wallet at art supply stores?
I didn't have time or $20.

Recycled plastic grocery bags have been my brush bags of choice. You just cover your brushes with leftover paint at the end of the painting session, double bag them with grocery bags and stick them in the freezer at home. My teacher Phil had taught me well: the brushes last longer that way and you don't have to clean 15 brushes every night.

Obviously you shouldn't take a long trip with oil paint-covered brushes so I washed them today. Now what? I have to pack them nicely into my checked baggage so that the airport security won't declare them weapons.

scissors, a sharpie and a ruler are my friends forever

Some of you may be thinking, but wait, is using reflective material a good idea for air travel, even in a checked luggage? The answer is no, and it is a horrible idea. But my suitcase will be inspected anyway with all the paint tubes and palette knives and whatnot, so at this point it doesn't really matter. All I can do is label everything so that it is obvious to the security personnels that they are for painting and not to harm anybody on the plane.

I can hear you saying, why don't you just use a bubble mailer? Sure. But I didn't have one around. Instead I already had this huge roll of insulation material that I bought to make giant pouches to fit my large paintings. By the way those pouches really work well for both framed and unframed paintings because they are basically, you guessed it, reusable giant bubble mailers. Although not suitable for shipping, in-town delivery to art fairs, galleries, etc. is a breeze thanks to my lovely shiny insulation buddies.

The material cost here maybe much greater than a $20 brush wallet with nice zippers, if you had to buy everything I mentioned. But as I said, they were already here at home, and you can make about a hundred little pouches with one roll of insulation. Plus I got to make things myself and pretty soon this brush pouch will be covered with my fat sharpie doodles. You can't do that on a fancy brush wallet, can you!?

finishing touches: two pairs of velcro strips

this even fits inside my palette!

yay

City Park Pigeonnier

City Park in New Orleans has a house for pigeons called Colombier de Carol. What a nice name!

Colombier de Carol
oil on canvas, 18"x14"

To be honest, I didn't know what the structure was for when I was painting it. The human-sized door was open and some park workers were mowing the grass behind me, so I assumed it was a really fancy storage. Then I realized that this brick hexagon building had 10 small holes on each wall, with tiny wooden balconies for birds to sit on. There was also a plaque that explained how this pigeonnier was donated to the City Park in 1928 by Felix Dreyfous, and was named after his granddaughter Carol. It is located behind the Casino building (where Morning Call coffee stand is) on a small island called, what else, the Pigeon Island.

Although there weren't any pigeons around at that time, I can't imagine how many pigeons might come home to this when the sun goes down. Or maybe they aren't fond of this house and never come home - it looks too clean, doesn't it?

Magazine Street Parade

There is a song called Bourbon Street Parade - it's a second line staple in New Orleans. Although official parades rarely go down on Lower Garden portion of Magazine Street (except for the huge St. Pat's Day parades), there are quite a few small parades every once in a while.

I was painting in my old 'hood in Lower Garden District, on Magazine at Euterpe, with my teacher Phil on a Friday morning. At about 10:30, I noticed a bunch of people gathering around in small groups along Magazine St. just standing and waiting. One woman parked her gigantic SUV right next to where I was painting, idling her car, for half an hour. She was texting the whole time, and looked like someone who never had to be a foot away from an idling SUV in 90 degree heat for half an hour in her entire life. And suddenly she shut off the engine, got out, and walked away, leaving her SUV parked on the corner, right on top of one of those yellow diagonal lines indicating "you shall not park here. it is a corner." 

Then a parade came down the street. It was a last-day-of-school parade from the International School. Everyone was dressed up in pseudo-traditional outfit representing different countries that they recently studied about.  They teach all subjects in French and Spanish, but the first country represented in the parade was... Japon!

A little girl handed me this without explanation.
I had to smell it to know it was a coffee bean.

stilt walkers ended the short parade.

back to painting

I had to finish up in a hurry and forgot to put balcony railings. Oh well.

Rusty Fence in Mandeville, LA

The city of Mandeville is located on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, right on the foot of Causeway bridge that runs in the middle of the lake. Causeway is an extremely straight, two-lane highway with no shoulders.

After an agonizing 40 minute drive from New Orleans, you'll reach a quaint residential area overlooking the big lake. Lakeshore Drive runs alongside the shoreline, and a couple of nice restaurants cater to the residents. And their ground floors are 15 feet above ground. 40 steps of stairs will prepare you for a guilt-free meal.

When hurricanes hit New Orleans, except for the famous one that came in 2005, we typically experience street floods caused by pumps not pumping rain water fast enough out of the bowl in which we live. But if you live on Lakeshore Drive in Mandeville, you would see lake water gushing into your homes. When the flood insurance rate went up across the country, what most residents and restaurants on Lakeshore Drive did was elevate the existing structure. Some rebuilt from scratch with grand staircases leading up to the main entrance.

And others decided not to deal with any of it, and put the vacant lot for sale.

Rusty Fence
oil on canvas, 36"x24"

Zorn Palette in New Orleans Urban Landscape

Only 4 tubes of paint, yellow ochre, red (vermillion), white and black, are used in what they call the Zorn Palette, named after Anders Zorn, suited for portrait painting. This palette is too limiting to be used in painting landscapes, especially because New Orleans' ridiculously blue sky can not be created with black and white, and foliage won't have its vibrancy with the greens created with black and ochre. But I tried it anyway.

Shadows on Lowerline
oil on canvas, 18"x24"

Circle Bar
oil on canvas, 16"x20"

Shadows on Lowerline (top) is supposed to be a sunny day painting, but because of the absence of blue sky peaking through the trees on upper left corner and the bright green leaves on the trees, it almost looks like a nocturne painting with the shadows cast by a streetlight, reminiscent of the "day for night" strangeness of old film noir or French New Wave films.

On the other hand, Circle Bar came out better because it was a cloudy day with warm milky sky. The local colors of the two buildings helped as well.

It is exciting to see what 4 tubes of paint can do!

Shades of Green

It's early summer in New Orleans and all the different shades of green are giving me a headache. Really. I'm allergic to oak trees and weeds and other things commonly seen in the outdoors. And I have trouble painting trees and grass... Man it's hard.

Bell Tower from Audubon Park, New Orleans
oil on panel, 12"x16"

Oak Tree in City Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 18"x14"

Shades of Green, Audubon Park, New Orleans
oil on canvas, 14"x18"