Saturday, January 2, 2010

Watching Paint Dry

It seems I am always waiting for my paintings to dry. I look at the number of blog posts that end with, "When it is dry . . ." It finally made some sense today when I realized that my favorite oil paint, M. Graham, is made with walnut oil instead of the more common lindseed. Oil paint is slow to dry anyway, but apprently walnut oil slows the process even more. Some colors are slower than others. Titanium white takes its time as well as does cadmium yellow. Perhaps that is why it took so long for this painting to finally dry to the touch. Major ingredients included both of those colors plus the fact that the paint was thick and juicy. As a result of my patience and daily checking to see what is dry in my studio and what needs to sit a little longer, I was finally able to pull this one off the drying rack, list it for sale at Small Impressions, and feel good about not having to say, "When it dries . . ." This painting, which was a really fun, loose one to create, can be purchased for $125.00 plus $12.50 shipping to US addresses. It was created on a 1/4 inch hardboard panel and will last a lifetime. Click here to purchase.

2 comments:

LindaHunt said...

I really like the composition of this painting and the fabric is handled in such a beautiful way. I too struggle with the 'when it is dry'!

Nancy Merkle Fine Art said...

Thaks Linda--so glad you like it!