Catch-22

The painting class continues to go well. There are only two sessions left and I’m not at all sure I’ll be done with this painting by the end of class, but I’ll get it finished. I’m now seriously into the phase where I”m trying to figure stuff out. How do I get that blue-green color of the prickly pear cactus? How do I manage to render the contours of the leaves? What is the pattern of the spines? (I’ve been looking at a lot of photos of prickly pear cactus!) How will I render the sand/gravel texture?

One of the instructors at the last session mentioned that I should use an old, ratty bristle brush to render the sand texture. Except that the main instructor told us to only get soft brushes. And even if I had some bristle brushes, they would be new, not old and tattered. So this week I bought my first natural bristle brush with an eye toward using it until it’s ratty, which won’t be until well after I’ve finished this painting. It feels a little weird to be looking forward to painting more just to ruin some brushes.

One of the benefits of using just the soft brushes to lay down thin layers of paint means that it’s easier to control the paint. I’m enjoying it, but I’m also looking forward to trying something with more texture.