August, 2016 - Daniel Kenneth

August 30, 2016December 1, 2020

Palette

I finally broke down and bought a painter’s palette. I’ve always been a little thrifty with painting. I wait for the best deals, use household goods when I can, and buy relatively inexpensive brushes. Art supplies can be very expensive and while I’m not a cheap person, I do have a lot of interest in different art mediums so I need to spread that art supply money around. Up until now, I’ve always made do with wax paper or palette paper… because cleanup is as easy as tossing the paper in the trash can. But, using an actual palette seems to be a thing, and for $15-ish I figured why not give it a try?

When I bought it, it was all plastic wrapped and such, so you really couldn’t try it. Slipping it on my thumb I noticed it wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but after a few hours of painting, I’m sure I’ll appreciate the rubber thumb cushion. After using it for a bit I realized what I’d really like is a plain board with a cushioned strap on the bottom so you can hold it flat in your hand without worrying about dropping it.

And then there was the cleanup. I keep moist hand wipes around the art spaces to just do a quick clean up and I thought, ‘hey, this will be a breeze.’ Nope. By the time I was ready to stop for the night most of my paint had dried and while most of the paint came off after a little wiping there’s still a very thin layer of paint on the board that’s almost like a stain. I know you can use a razor to scrape old paint off, but I wanted to avoid scratching up my new palette on the first use. I scrubbed with all my might and finally just tossed it on the table and decided it wasn’t going to get any better without a magic eraser sponge or something more than moist wipes.

So… I guess I’m happy I bought it, but I wouldn’t mind redesigning it and maybe changing it’s color since stains will obviously drive me crazy. I’ll keep using it and maybe my attitude towards it will change. Palettes are a thing, after all, I just need to figure out why.

August 24, 2016December 1, 2020

And we have shelves

To be honest, not much art or crafts have been done lately. Work has been taking its toll. By the time I get home most nights I’m lucky to shove something in my face before heading to bed. But, last weekend I did manage to get to Home Depot and grab a closet shelf system. Things have been piling up and this closet has been a catch-all for junk around the house that really doesn’t belong anywhere. So I took the few things out of there, hung up the shelves, and now it’s time to reorganize…. especially now with everything on the floor.

I’m slowly making my way through the pile of stuff and I am almost done. It doesn’t seem like a lot of work but I’m coming across a lot of things that were always ‘next’ on the list after I finish the current project. For instance, I had a pile of shirts I needed to cut down into reclaimed materials. Lots of stuff that I don’t want to just slap down on a shelf and forget about…. so it’s a process of actually dealing with things instead of just organizing. But soon my sewing room / temporary painting room will be ready for use again. After this, I should really move on reorganizing one of the other art rooms (yes, I have many, don’t judge) but I may need to slip in a painting or quilt first. My art has been suffering and life can’t be all cleaning.

August 2, 2016December 1, 2020

One In & One Out

This last weekend I finally had time to bring in my SpongeBob end table from out on the deck where I had lacquered it. I had sprayed it down and let it sit for several days since the can of lacquer said not to use it for 4 days and it was going to be sunny all week. I never used a paint sprayer and it turned out to be quite the learning experience. The spraying was fine, however, the wind liked to blow up the tarp I had put down on the deck. Even with it being weighted down it got loose and stuck to the legs of the table. Ugh! So the backside is not as great, but who cares – it’s the backside after all.

I brought SpongeBob in and took the coffee table out. Again, I lugged out the sprayer and got to lacquering the table. Then, I ran out around the second or third coat, and I didn’t feel the coverage was great. The wind was blowing a lot of the spray away and this table is going to get plenty of use, so I wanted to make sure it was coated well.

This time, I got the same brand of lacquer but in aerosol form. Easier right? Nope. When I came back the aerosol coats were all spotty (the picture was taken before this point). Some parts glossy some parts satin. It was supposed to be semi-gloss, so if by semi-gloss they meant some parts glossy and some parts satin then I guess they were right. So I gave it another coat … how many coats was this going to take??? When I returned it was still spotty.

It’s staying out there and not coming in until it understands why it’s bad!

… or until I decide what to do about it. I think I may just go get some gloss lacquer and go over the top where it’s spotty. I think gloss should hide it pretty well, but I haven’t decided yet. I may just go get some Plexiglas and cover the top so I don’t have to worry about it getting dinged and scratched from usage.

Besides that, I still have to make the themed coasters and stuff to go on it. It never ends.