Frank J. Reilly - The Papers

If you are a representational painter, this is a must visit site: http://ennisart.blogspot.com/

John Ennis, who has taken on the rather daunting task of posting the personal notes of Frank Reilly online for the greater good of all realist painters, deserves all kinds of support from his fellow artists for sharing this information, so please visit and leave some comments.

Thank you, John!

Save the Environment Brush Washing Method

In a letter to Robert Genn, Mark Gottsegen, a member of the subcommittee on artist's materials of ASTM International (originally the American Society for Testing and Materials) since 1978, wrote:

In the recent clickback regarding cleaning brushes, no one asked what to do with the left-overs from washing brushes. Down the drain? No, that's environmentally irresponsible - putting solvents and pigments into the waste stream is never a good idea. If you have a septic system, you will pollute it; if you have a municipal sewer, you will pollute it. If you are in a class or a school, then in the US doing this violates federal law; if you are an individual artist, doing this is just bad practice.

Collect the veggie oil, waste water (or sludge), waste solvents, dirty rags and paper towels (dried) and take all the collected waste to your community's hazardous waste collection station, where it is consolidated, incinerated and burned to ash. Then it is cast into concrete billets and encapsulated. Only then can it be taken to a protected, certified landfill. The cleaning part is the easiest. Being environmentally responsible is more difficult.

Mark Gottsegen sets out an environmentally friendly way to deal with brush washing in his book, The Painter's Handbook. I will try to describe the system in my own words, with a few of my own tweaks, as follows:

1. Get 3 large plastic buckets with lids (about 5 gallon size, which can be obtained from stores like Home Depot, Lowes or Rona) and one that is even bigger that you will use without a lid to allow liquid to evaporate (I use a smallish, inexpensive garbage can lined with a plastic bag for easy cleanup). I have also recycled those gigantic protein powder containers to use for A, B and C and that has worked well in that when you swish the smaller opening keeps the splashing in the container instead of all over your clothing.

2. Label the first three buckets A, B and C. Container D is the larger plastic container which will hold at least 10 gallons. You will also need a container with vegetable oil. I use a coffee can with a tuna can (which has holes punched in it with a nail) inverted on the bottom. You could use a glass jar or any other container. If you use a fancy brush washer, line it first with a plastic freezer bag to save yourself some messy cleanup later on.

2. Fill A, B and C halfway with water. Add 1 cup of liquid dishwashing soap to bucket A. Make sure to use a highly concentrated, good quality liquid soap for this as the cheaper brands are diluted and you have to use more for it to be effective.

3. Now for the brush cleaning method I use: First of all, dip your brush in the vegetable oil and wipe it on an old phone book until much of the color is released. Second, rinse the brush in the can to get more of the pigment out - this will eventually fall to the bottom of the container.

You can use any kind of vegetable oil for this, so I use whatever is cheapest. You can also mix some water with the oil if you keep the mixture in a jar and shake it up just before use and that will make it less thick. Walnut oil is nice to use as it is less viscous, but it is much more expensive. The only downside to using regular old vegetable oil is that you have to be sure to wash the brushes more thoroughly to get all that non-drying oil out.

Squeeze the bristles and wipe on a paper towel to get as much oil and pigment out of the brush as you can. Then, vigorously swish the brush in container A, then container B and finally container C. Wipe the brush on a paper towel or rag to see if any color remains. If it doesn't seem to be completely clean, repeat this process until clean.

When container A becomes too dirty, transfer the contents to container D and allow the liquid to evaporate, eventually leaving a dry cake of pigment which can be safely disposed of by taking it to your local hazardous waste disposal center. When your cleaning oil becomes unusable, it can be recycled in the same manner. Pour container B into A and pour the contents of C into B. Add another cup of liquid dishwashing soap to what is now in container A.

There you have it, an environmentally friendly method of cleaning your oil painting brushes that does not involve any pigments escaping into our septic systems or drinking water!

An Early Masterpiece by Cedric Egeli

This life size portrait shows Cedric's wife, Joanette, an accomplished artist in her own right, with their daughter Anastasia.

Cedric is a modern master, following in the footsteps of amazing portraitists such as Raeburn and Sargent, with the addition of amazing color pioneered by the French Impressionists.

Cedric combines a deep knowledge of human anatomy and how to portray people on canvas with tonalist as well as colorist knowledge. He studied with both Frank Reilly and Frank Mason at The Art Students League in New York and later Henry Hensche (who studied with Charles W. Hawthorne, a student of William Merritt Chase) in Cape Cod. As a result, he is exceptional in his abilities as a painter.

One of the main things taught by this great painter is how to create form and construct a figure rather than just copying.

Every January, a group of enthusiastic students, a large percentage of whom are working, professional artists and teachers in their own right, convene on the Maryland studio of Cedric and Joanette Egeli to learn more about how to improve their work and grow as painters. Summertime finds a lot of the same group on the beach in Provincetown, studying the effect of color and light on the figure. Very few instructors have this comprehensive knowledge of both drawing the figure, tonalism and also color. Study of color is crucial for paintings set out of doors.

Origin of Inspiration - New Book by Sam Adoquei

I am always interested in writing that addresses issues pertaining to creative people. Origin of Inspiration: Seven Short Essays for Creative People is the second book for Sam Adoquei and it has already made it to number one in only two weeks!

Many people believe that inspiration comes to only a chosen few. However, in his new book, Mr. Adoquei shares his decades of experience in finding lasting inspiration to achieve any creative goal and proves that anyone can do the same. This book will prove beneficial for artists, musicians, filmmakers, actors and entrepreneurs.

As an added note, for anyone who has not yet obtained a copy of Mr. Adoquei's first book, How Successful Artists Study: Effective Learning Ideas and Knowledge for Artists, now is the time to order it - it is going into a second printing, but the new edition will have less images and cost more.

More Information on "Painting The Plein Air Portrait"

This excellent DVD series simplifies the process of capturing the true light effect out of doors, both with colored blocks and when painting a portrait. Utilizing the method of painting taught by The Cape Cod School of Art, every plane change is not only a value change, but also a color change (not just darkened or lightened with black or white) when painting with this colorist process.

Ms. Baumgaertner is an excellent teacher who explains everything you need to know about painting a portrait "en plein air", from the materials to how to set up your model to shocking new ideas about color - did you know blue turns pink in sunlight? Sounds crazy, but it really works!

There is now information about how to purchase this unique instruction here:

http://portraitclasses.com/dvdvideoandbrushes/pleinairdvd.html

Age and Gender - Does It Matter?

I just read a very interesting post by artist Alexandra Tyng, who is represented by a New York Gallery, about discrimination women face in the art world. Go here to see what she has to say about contemporary figurative work:

http://alexandratyng.blogspot.com

One of the issues she discusses is age discrimination by galleries, asking, "doesn't age bias eliminate many female artists whose career trajectory takes a different path?"

Shouldn't choosing artists to show in a gallery be about the art?

Food for thought.

New DVD from Margaret Carter Baumgaertner - Painting The Plein Air Portrait

I have wanted to view this DVD for months, but have been so crazy busy (selling my house, moving to a smaller place and subsequently spending hours hunting for things on a daily basis) that it has taken a back seat until now!

In the photograph above, you can see a rundown of the contents of the DVD, filmed by Baum Squad Productions. The footage I have watched so far has been clear and well edited.

This DVD fills a gap in the market for art instruction videos by addressing painting outdoors in a colorist/impressionistic fashion, following in the footsteps of artists such as Monet, Sorolla and many others.

Ms. Baumgaertner (also known as Peggy) trained with Cedric Egeli, whose teacher was Henry Hensche of The Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown.

In this DVD series, she explains how to capture the light key, initially with colored blocks and then by painting a little girl in sunlight.  The beginning of the painting process, after a charcoal drawing is dividing the subject into areas that are in the light and shadow. Peggy, an accomplished painter and teacher, uses an extensive palette (over 20 tubes) and does all her mixing (other than to match value) on the canvas rather than the palette.

For more information, here is the website to peruse:  http://www.baumportraits.com