Hobby Accident $$$

Arrghhh! I just dropped an airbrush and broke the paint tip (somehow, the needle survived!). Who would believe a piece of metal smaller than a caraway seed could cost so much!?

Oh well, I guess I can practice equanimity now and patience while waiting for the replacement...

How do you handle those situations when a hobby suddenly becomes more distressing than work? Perserverance? Or maybe change of pace? As I get older, I'm finding quiet perserverance pays off in the long run.

-Neil

 

I'm trying to get back into art as a hobby. An airbrush is a tool for spraying paint under air pressure. They vary in size, but it my case it's an illustration brush with lots of small, delicate, and expensive parts. The part I broke was the smallest, most delicate, and most expensive.

It's amazing how little painting is actually involved in airbrushing. It's 30% cutting friskets, 30% mixing paint, 5% painting, and 30% cleaning the brush (with 5% swearing and throwing things distributed over the entire process!).

LOL. My Dad is a 9 1/2-fingered carpenter. He flush cut three of his fingers with a circular saw. He's a true craftsman -- you can see the twinkle of pride in his eyes when he holds up his hand and shows the eveness of the cuts! (Probably a "guy thing.")

-Neil

 

I do agree. There are two approaches when outfitting to learn a new skill: buy the most stuff or buy the best stuff. The second approach almost always works out better. Poor tools can be especially frustrating for beginners, since you often can't tell whether the problem lies in a lack of skill or just a bad implement or material. I went through this with my first airbrush (now relegated to spraying primer).

Eveness is a problem. Another problem for me is I'm working in classic watercolor illustration style, which means no painted white except gouache highlights. The white paper tends to get covered awfully fast with an airbrush, and thus the overall painting comes out too dark. Oh well, I've got lots of paper and practice makes perfect.

The rubber mat is a good idea. Someday I want to build a more proper hobby room, and I'm considering rubber "spill-through" matting for the painting zone.

Oops! Sorry -- no offense intended. Female craftsmen have just as much right to be proud of their "handiwork" as guys . (I'm glad there was no serious injury.) Oddly enough, most of my power tool hand injuries happen when the tool is off -- usually when I'm changing a blade.

-Neil

 

Laurenda-

I got into painting in a roundabout way. Initially, I started learning figure sculpture in wax. The results were OK, but I realized that to continue making progress, I needed to learn more artistic anatomy. So, I started doing figure drawing to learn anatomy and posing, and general-pupose drawing just to improve my "seeing" skills (I drew skeletons until I was seeing them with my eyes closed!). While visiting on holiday, I borrowed my niece's watercolors and they were a lot of fun, so I added watercolors to my sketching. I've had airbrushes for a while (model making), and it wasn't long before I started spraying washes using dilute watercolors.

Now I'm kind of hooked on painting; I'm not sure when I'll get back to sculpting (the callouses I built up have long since worn off my fingers and thumbs). My favorite sculpture style is art deco, but the watercolor style I'm working in is realistic. I also like impressionistic watercolor, though I am de-emphasizing that until I accomplish my original goal of learning more anatomy.

My favorite sculptors are the deco masters Chiparus and Erte, and the contemporary master Bruno Lucchesi. My favorite painters are the realists John Singer Sargent and J.W. Waterhouse. I like the contemporary realist masters D. Jeffry Mims and Nelson Shanks.

You're right, watercolors are finicky. When watercolor sketching, I sometimes think the difference between a watercolor beginner and an accomplished sketcher is the ability to turn accidents into oppourtunies! When I'm doing (i.e. "trying to do") realism, I work by laying down lots of thin washes. This makes any mistakes a little easier to correct. I'll try some acrylics for highlights -- gouache covers well, but it re-dissolves too easily if you have to work the area wet again.

-Neil

p.s. You mentioned your husband did graphic arts for advertising. We share office space with a firm in that field. I'm a computer programmer, but I think their artists spend more time on the computer every day than I do. Computer art was just getting started when I decided (lo! these many years ago) to major in science instead of art -- how things have changed!

 

Hi Laurenda -

I've been experimenting with both cold-press watercolor paper and Bristol board. The watercolor paper tends to work slightly better, since I'm airbrushing in thin glazes (i.e. very high ratio of water to pigment, thinner even than ink). The paper absorbs the excess water and -- since each coat is so thin, the texture isn't a problem if I spray at high angles. I also like the fact that watercolor paper can withstand a lot more re-working with colored pencil -- but the bristol board does allow a much higher level of detail. However, I suspect that if the painting were reproduced, the paper texture would become apparent.

I'm also trying soaking various smooth boards like Bristol and then letting them dry thoroughly. This seems to expand the nap and increase absorbency while leaving the smooth surface intact.

I want to try a good hot-press paper, but I haven't been able to locate any around town. I guess I'll have to order some. (Speaking of orders, the replacement airbrush nozzle that started this thread finally arrived and is installed!)

Re. artists, I'm discovering the "lost world" of classicism and Victorian realism. Painters were doing amazing things in those genera, most of which was eclipsed by the rise of impressionism and modernism (and the loss of interest in classic literature). I happen to like impressionism and modernism, but I'm also starting to realize that an entire world of realistic art lies relatively undiscovered in the period from 1800 to the present. Most modern realistic painting leans toward either the impressionist/primitivist or the photorealist. Modes like classicism and traditional illustration are under-appreciated in the fine arts (as I'm sure your husband will agree).

-Neil