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My wife and I are currently on vacation in Maine. We’re visiting my family and it’s cold. It feels like fall has set in already and on the highway here I saw trees already starting to change color just outside of Bangor! According to my family the summer has been brutally dry and hot, unusually so and the blueberry harvest was abysmal, the worst in a very long time. We had hoped to go mushrooming but it’s been so dry the chantarelles are not showing at all.

We also missed the Blueberry Festival which is a shame since it is generally a good time and we eat lots of good food and buy a few crafts.
Next year.

This area of Maine is currently cold. I woke to temps in the 50s and predicted day time temps barely reaching the 70s! I’ve got on jeans for the first time since June!

Despite the cold we have plans to visit a few choice places- West Quoddy Head, Jasper’s Beach, and Roque Bluffs. Unfortunately Cobscook Bay State Park is closed for renovations. If you are an out of state visitor to any of these parks the fees for day use is low and very affordable. Adult fee is between $4 and $10 per adult and is generally done through a self administered drop box and cash only. Maine should really consider getting a Venmo or other app to charge for these spots. (Jasper’s Beach isn’t a park per se, but more of a local scenic spot- the beach is full of polished stones and is gorgeous. Not great for swimming but great for looking.)  There are signs at every location telling you about fees. Be prepared with cash at every spot.

Interesting to note that in Mass every campground is $17 per spot for residents for non-residents the fees are substantially higher. In Maine the camping spots are more expensive and vary widely from location to location. Fees aren’t that much more expensive for non-residents.

I plan on doing some drawing at each spot while my wife chills out.

Our trip here was uneventful except we made an unusual stop in Portland- to go to Artist and Craftsman Supply. When I was in college this was a road trip for us. We’d all pile into someone’s car and drive down to Portland with our class supply list and pick up our art supplies at a much better price than the local art supply store. Since their location in Saugus (just a few miles from me at home in Mass) has gone out of business I have been searching for my favorite watercolors in person. Sadly, this location does NOT carry Holbein watercolors. Instead they had quite a few other brands so I picked up my color selection from a mix of more expensive (Daniel Smith) and less expensive (Qor) brands. They did not have several colors in stock so I’ll be forced to order those tubes online, though, I’m tempted to make a road trip to Providence, RI and see if Jerry’s has any in stock. I realize that I could make a trip into Boston and go to Blick but for whatever reason Blick is always my last choice for art supplies.

I spent far to much but actually stuck to my rule for buying art supplies- I may only purchase supplies that I have run out of, I may not buy new supplies.

Imposter syndrome is real and this past week I really struggled with it. I signed myself up for some professional development at Zea Mays Print Making in western Mass. The workshop was call something like Woodcut Masters Workshop. I had a moment of like, “Damn right, I’m a master at this.” then as the day to leave approached I was hit with waves of like, “No I’m not.”

When I arrived I was hit with, “Yeah, nope.” Then, “Well, maaaaybe?”

In the end working with the instructor and the other women I was able to break through that wall of feeling like an imposter and latch onto the idea that I actually really love wood cut. I have some great techniques to share that will work with a “real” press or with a craft press or other way of printing but also by hand. Very interesting stuff for sure.

One of my goals for this workshop was to tighten up my woodcut skills, learn more about nontoxic clean up, experiment with transparent colors and layers, and bring back some of these ideas for working with kids.

I left with some beautiful prints, loads of ideas, and a community of printmaking women.

I had hopes of doing more documentation of my week but holy hell, I always forget how deeply physical wood cut and printmaking is in general. I left the studio bone tired* and by the time I returned to my campsite each night I took a swim and then fell into my tent and passed out.**

I’m still processing everything and I suspect that I’ll be thinking deeply about everything for weeks if not months.

*night one and 2 were made difficult to sleep due to a family in the camping spot next to me practicing “cry it out” with their under 1 year old. It was not pleasant for anyone, I’m sure not for the child either.

**I was doubly stressed out because our “new” car was having issues and on the morning of day 3 in Western Mass I decided to just call AAA and have them check the battery. If it wasn’t the battery I needed to know and have them tow it to the dealer, if it was the battery I was going to have them replace it then and there. It WAS the battery and though I was almost $300 poorer I was ricker in relaxation and safety. I am going to have it out with the dealership on Monday. That is a post for somewhere else. When this is all over I’m reviving my Yelp account to leave a review of this place. I have a lot to say.

Since I started including chalk pastels and colored pencils into my mixed media journey I have been in the market for a fixative. In my sketchbook I used some very inexpensive hairspray. For me this hearkens back to high school and the use of AquaNet to fix my drawings. We ONLY used fancy fixative outside and rarely. Likely due to cost.

Anyway, I picked up a small travel sized can of hairspray, but I used most of it up in just a few drawings. Hairspray will yellow over time but it is very effective and gentle on my wallet.

When that can was almost out I headed to my only remaining art supply store that is close- Michael’s. Here I searched for the fixative. Their website said they had 6 cans of it in stock. It wasn’t shelved where it should have been. It ended up being on the wrong side of the aisle. Anyway, Krylon Workable Fixative is about $17 a can at Michael’s but I got mine with a coupon and a reward voucher. So my can was about $6 with tax and everything. Nifty.

The can is standard spray paint can sized and not travel friendly> I attempted the old school graffiti refill a deoderant can trick, but i could not get the fixative into the hairspray can. Annoying but I also realized that I don’t want to be out in nature and smell nasty toxic fixative.

I finally purchased some SpectraFix. It’s been on my radar as a nontoxic (or less toxic depending on how you mix it) and nonaerosol fixative. there are several versions of this> I purchased their continuous spray bottle and a small bottle of concentrate.

The 2 ounce bottle of concentrate mixed with one 16 ounce bottle of alcohol. What sort of alcohol? They suggest something like Everclear or other grain alcohol. This is the most nontoxic* it gets. You can use any alcohol. I chose to use 70% ethyl alcohol from CVS. FWIW Ethyl Alcohol at CVS is essentially 140 proof grain alcohol with a bitterant added to it. Also non toxic but has a higher amount of water compared to Everclear.

Ethyl alcohol seems to be hard to find here in Massachusetts. It is impossible to find it at a higher than 70% content. I suspect this is due to our blue laws. Also Everclear is illegal in many states. I can’t even buy ethyl alcohol stove fuel in my state. That’s a whole other post.

Anyway, I used ethyl but if you can’t find it easily you can use isopropyl but it won’t be nontoxic, just mildly toxic.

Anyway. It’s not at all cheap. But more on that later.

I spent about $20 on the continuous spray bottle and another $12 on the concentrate. I think the ethyl alcohol at CVS was around $4. There is a spray bottle that they offer but it is generally regarded as a steaming pile of hot garbage.

I mixed my concentrate directly into my ethyl alcohol bottle after decanting enough to make room. I did notice that there was a little bit of particles in my concentrate. In the future I will strain mine with a fine mesh.

After it is mixed with the alcohol it’s good to use. I put mine into a small mist sprayer I swiped out of a travel kit. The sprayer was for facial toner.

In use, I have better results or less of a learning curve with the small toner sprayer than I have with the continuous mist sprayer. I think in part I know how to use the little mini sprayer a lot better. This makes it easier. It puts out a super fine mist and I press the sprayer and it’s one the paper. With the continuous mist sprayer I have to hold the bottle at least 18 inches from the paper and keep it moving. I have repeatedly put on too much from the continuous sprayer.

Eventually the continuous sprayer will feel like a usual thing to me but for now I struggle to get an even coat and the right amount. I also feel that I tend to over use and over spray with it, I’m wasting product because I don’t know how to use it yet.

I think the continuous sprayer will feel better with larger pastel pieces or other larger works.

How does it work? With one coat you get a workable coating you can still with effort remove some of the pastels or graphite. While it won’t smudge as much some will blend with another layer. With a second layer this is further reduced. With 3 layers it doesn’t move.

It does darken the pastels quite a bit. I have noticed that with pastels from cheaper brands the whites tend to disappear. This is an interesting phenomenon where the chalk filler melts into the fixative. With whites that are a higher quality, the white returns at a similar tonal value to what it was.

I have some white chalk pastels I used to add in highlights, and the color disappeared! The white was gone. The cheaper the pastel the more likely it is to disappear with fixative.

After 2 coats you can add in more layers of media and then add another coat or two of fixative.

Anyway, heavy layers of fixative cause the pastels and other media to run and bloom a lot like watercolors. Heavy layers can take a long time to dry. It’s key to do thin even layers and add more once it dries.

I have grown to really like the SpectraFix Fixative- both the concentrate and the continuous spray bottle. They work and work well, once you get the  hang of how to use and apply them. Three even coats keeps a matte finish and keeps everything from moving around, even in my sketchbooks. It claims to be good for a whole bunch of materials, I have not tested this yet but will.

There is a DIY option to create the concentrate and when it is time for me to make it I’ll definitely report back on how well it works or doesn’t work.

I found the best price through Jerry’s Art-a-rama. It is not sold by Amazon but on Amazon through Jerry’s and Blick. You are better off cutting off amazon and going directly to their sites since you will pay for shipping even if you have prime. You will also have shipping options which you won’t have at Amazon.

*If you have been foolish enough to do a shot of Everclear it feels like it will kill you or you will wish you were dead. The burn lasts seemingly forever. I don’t know how we got our hands on Everclear when I was in college- it’s always been illegal to sell in Maine.

When I first started my health and wellness journey, I walked. I walked around my city. I walked around parks. I walked at the mall. But pretty often I stopped at Salem Willows. Frequently just called “The Willows” around here. I’d stop there and walk from the free parking lot around the Willows and sometimes around Winter Island. It’s beautiful and the history is pretty nifty.

As I work to rebuild my knee strength I need those easy walks again. So I decided to head back to the start. The Willows features some really beautiful scenery and safe paved walking paths. So I walk a bit and look for a spot to make some en plein air images.

I’ve been a bit obsessed with Dead Horse Beach for years. It’s the name but when I first visited the beach there were pieces of old stuff from around The Willows. That stuff- mostly weird poured concrete with rebar embedded in it has greatly worn down over the last 25 years.* But the interesting scenery remains.

The process for these images is pretty simple- walk, find a spot to draw and paint, look through the viewfinder, sketch with pencil, add watercolor, let it dry a bit, add pastels, colored pencils, etc…

The above images were the first in this series. I realized that I was pretty focused on realism here and not my usual vibes. I was getting frustrated that my watercolor travel palette has only 9 colors and that I only carry a handful of colored pencils. 

Again realistic colors, but a bit of a push for myself to use purple and dark blue in the shadows. I had to push myself to ignore watercolor advice I’d gotten over the years to build up layers. I leaned into adding in some teal colored pencil and white paint marker.

In this image I pushed myself more. The retaining wall (the curved piece that spans the page) is yellow ochre in real life, but I didn’t have yellow ochre on my palette. I did have yellow and blue and red oxide. I used what I had to get the value and shadows. It’s cool and shadowed and the tide line is darker. The trees have deep darks and bright yellow highlights. I used some pastels to add in some of the real colors. This one feels like I’m getting there, even if the sketch isn’t great.

This one I really pushed the colors of the watercolor sketch and then added in more soft pastel than I have previously. I’m really trying to get the vibes. More purple for the shadows and I like the layered sky. It feels the way the sky did that day- hazy with distant clouds.

This one feels more like vibes not realism. Yes it’s based in the reality of what is there, but I definitely mashed up what I saw into something that feels like the view. I’m not sure that makes total sense, but in this image I was really pushing the colors and the shadows. More purples in the shadows and more lighter lights. It took me a bit to get the correct colors for the distant tree line, but I feel like the green gray color is a good one to get that distant hazy look.

Up until this image all the images have been 6x9inches this one is 8.5×11 inches. FOr this one I didn’t intend to add pastel I meant to leave it just black and white. I started off with a black water soluble gel crayon and a water brush. I added in white with chalk. Simple. Pretty effective. Then I wanted to add in some blue for the sky so I added in Neocolor 2s  and used water to blend them. I liked how the color worked with the brown paper** so I decided to add in pastels. I REALLY like this one.

Each morning when I go out to walk and make art I feel like I’m hitting a new milestone with how I’m capturing the scene.

*I just realized it’s been 25 years.

** I’ve got to do a whole post on this paper.

I recently inherited a lovely little 6x8inch pochade box. It was hand built in 2014 by a dude named Douglas Smith.

The box is compact and has been used sparingly. The artist tended to work much larger than 5×8, but if you’ve been here a minute you know I LOVE working around that size.

The box arrived well built and in great barely used condition.

But if you’ve been here a minute you know I’m not going to use anything straight out of the box. I made a few changes.

First I attached a swiss arca tripod mount. (Similar to this one.) 

Then I used 2 friction hinges to update the hinge situation. It arrived with 2 cute brass hinges and an arm that holds the easel section upright. I wanted more versatility in angles. They were easy to install and look okay. They aren’t as pretty as the original brass hinges. I probably could have installed just one hinge in the middle and left the original brass hinges, but through that would look funny. The friction hinges have mixed reviews. They are perfect for this kind of install- they aren’t hidden so they don’t need to fold back flat on themselves and the friction is adjustable. Yes they are plastic and metal would be better, but these were cheap for a lot of them.

The box arrived with a simple and nice enough handle. It’s got brass attachment points and a plastic handle that moves. I will be replacing this with a small strip of nice heavy duty leather in a dark brown shade. 

I immediately cut down some chipboard to fit into the wet panel and painting area of the box. It will hold 6 pieces of chipboard with watercolor taped to the center area. In my case I’m attaching watercolor postcards. After all I still have 200+ cards. I suspect I could tape up to both sides of the panels and double the number of painting surfaces. In the end i went with one card per board since I will be working mixed media and don’t want to take a chance that I damage any of the images I’ll be making.

In packing the pochade box I’m figuring out what mixed media I want to include in the box itself and what i want in a separate pack that I can easily bundle with the pochade box. Currently I have 2 different watercolor palettes and a handful of colored pencils. I think I need to add in some oil and chalk pastels. I’m also bundling up a sketchbook pack that I’ll detail here soon.

During one of my last few videos I mentioned thumbnail sketches and how they are useful for developing a final art piece. Today I went to the beach and since my knee is still in a brace and I am hobbling around* I decided to park my butt on a beach blanket** and make some thumbnails.

I decided to do several different types of thumbnails or studies:

Notan– A thumbnail that ONLY looks at black and white. That is the darkest darks of the scene. You can sketch all the darker areas in black if you want.Not the greatest Notan ever, but got an idea of the bands of dark and where the lightest lights are.I added a few too many details for this to be a true Notan thumbnail.

Value– These have a range of shades of gray PLUS black and white. Value thumbnails can also be done larger in what is called a study.I used dark and light green to get different lights and darks.

Color– a color thumbnail looks at a range of colors in the scene. It may or may not take value and tones into consideration. These can also be done as a study. This color study captures some of the colors here.

It is important to differentiate between a thumbnail and a study. A thumbnail should be small, not much larger and 2 or 3 inches on the longest edge. While a study may be much larger. Some folx who work very large might make several larger studies at 8×10 inches or even larger. A study is almost always smaller than the final piece.This is a mixed media color study. 

It is important to make your thumbnails and studies in the same aspect ratio as the final piece. I have had several images that I’ve created the thumbnail and sketches in a 3×4 ration while I’ve ended up making the piece closer to 2×3 or 1×1. The image never quite works properly when I try to translate the image from one ratio to another. It can be done but I like to keep those ratios close to the final piece.

Materials used in these:

• Blackwing Pencil and Muji 2mm Clutch Pencil
• Black water soluble gel crayon
• Various watercolor boxes
• Colored pencils
• Chalk Pencils
• Neocolor1
• Sketchbook
• Pochade Box
• Watercolor postcards

A few things I realized here- I’m sticking to attempting to capture “real” landscape colors which is not my favorite. I really need to get back to “my” color sense when it comes to landscapes. I like the mixed media the most on cold pressed and rough watercolor paper.

The thumbnails are especially helpful when I am not sticking to fully depicting reality. They help me organize what is there to something more interesting on the page.

Thumbnails– help me explore the scene and start figuring out the composition in a quick way that doesn’t waste a lot of paper. To me, it is thinking on paper. These are done on cheap paper because I make a lot of them. I fit 4 to a page but I might make 8 or 12 of them before I find a composition I like.

Studies– solidify that thinking into what might be what the final piece looks like but might be discarded. They further evolve the value and colors and composition of the piece. The color and value interact to move the eye around the image. When I make a study I can decide if I want to go further with the image or not.

I’m talking about these in the sense of a painting but I use a similar set of thumbnails and studies when I’m making prints. Especially if I’m doing layers of color. So even though I’m discussing painting I’m using painting as a general fill in for other forms of art making.

*I screwed up my knee on a eBoard that wasn’t even turned on. I’m feeling a lot better. Range of motion is better but still painful and stiff. I’m several weeks out from riding my bike and will likely need to wear a brace for the rest of the summer. I have a referral with an orthopedist at the sports med place associated with my DR office.

**It’s really a polyester tarp IMO. There are dozens of these sorts of super lightweight tarps all over Amazon sold as “beach blankets.” But when you get them they are polyester tarps. This is the one we were using today and I liked it well enough. This is the one I keep in my bike bag when I’m on longer rides and know I’ll be stopping for a snack or coffee outside.