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There are some things in life you don’t want to be lazy about. Lots actually. Things such as: what side of the road you drive on… or… getting to the airport before the plane leaves. Things like that. Then there are the other less obvious things. Such as: change the water in your container before it’s a swamp. Long before. Because when you use that dirty water to paint with, it is subtly dulling down your colours. It really helps to have a larger container for water. 2 litres is good and the water won’t get dirty nearly as quickly as with a little container. Don’t be lazy – your art deserves better than that. 

I used to be horrified about the amount of paper towels that I went through as a painter. Too many trees! Then one of my students introduced me to blue shop towels. You can get these at local hardware stores. These towels are sturdy and absorbant. If you are using watercolour or watermixable oils, at the end of your session you can quickly rinse the towel out and use it again and again. Even with acrylics, the towels are so much more absorbant than regular ones that I use a lot fewer. Hope you will also go green with blue towels – and thanks for the tip Judy S. 

A not uncommon problem for the visual artist is how to decide when a painting is finished. This applies especially to works that are moving toward abstract. Here are some questions you can ask to help determine whether a painting is done. 1. Has it captured the essence of what you wanted to express about this subject? 2. Does it have a center of interest that is in harmony with the whole? 3. Does the eye find a pleasant pathway to explore the painting? It’s always a good plan to leave it alone for a few days, then check it out again. Lastly, don’t be afraid to leave some mystery – undefined edges or shapes – so that the viewer’s imagination can participate in the work too.  

There are some similarities between a glazed painting and a glazed donut. The painting definition for glazing is ‘a transparent colour placed ontop of a previously dry colour, so that the previous colour shows through.’ This effect of transparent layering of colour can give beautiful subtle shifts in colour. The light traveling through those layers does indeed give a different effect than just mixing that colour to start with. It’s most challenging with watercolour. For best effect in watercolour, make sure that the paint is completely dry, and use a quick light touch to apply the next colour. You may be surprised how little the first colour moves if you do this quickly, because it takes a few seconds for the first colour to reactivate with water. Sedimentary colours, which sit up on the surface, make this more difficult than working with staining colours. If you aren’t sure which is which, a good quality artist colour will tell you on the tube. However the best thing is always trial and error – that’s how most of us learn. And donuts? Well, with a sugar glaze on a chocolate donut, the colour of the chocolate does show through. Conclusion: the main difference between a glazed painting, and a glazed donut is … calories.