Supplies for Impasto Painting

Looking to experiment with impasto palette knife painting? Here is a quick cheat sheet of my favorite supplies to get you started. While I strongly prefer using oils to achieve texture, heavy body acrylics paired with a good medium can almost mimic the textural qualities of oils. (**This is not sponsored by any of the following companies, it is simply my list of favs)

Oil Painting Supplies

1. Gamblin White Oil. This will help you achieve a nice buttery consistency and is about $50 for a 16oz can from Dick Blick. I tend to use at least three to four times the amount of white as I do other colors combined, so it's more cost efficient to buy the white in bulk. Titanium white tends to turn yellow more often than zinc white, so keep that in mind.

2. Mediums. You may want a medium to beef up and thicken your oil so you can get more use out of your oil paints, thus saving some money. Liquin Impasto Medium is a semi-gloss, quick-drying, non-yellowing medium perfect for palette knives and will retain crisp textures. Another medium I enjoy that creates a softer texture is Gamblin cold wax. It is made of beeswax and will dry no harder than a candle, so it's important to only mix in about 1/4 wax to 1 part oil paint for a nice smooth, matte finish.

3. Colored Oil Paints. In terms of selecting which brand of colored oil paints to purchase, I use a range from Winsor & Newton, M. Graham, Gamblin, Utrecht, and Dick Blick. Utrecht seems to be the most affordable, but often doesn't have the bold coloration and pigmentation as some of the higher-end brands. I suggest buying small tubes of the colors and experimenting until you find which colors you like. You'll be surprised at the differences in prices, heaviness of texture, and brilliance of colors across brands. I always buy exclusively through Dick Blick since they almost always offer discounts and free shipping for larger orders. If you want to experiment with the higher-end paints, I highly suggest Williamsburg, the oil paint line from Golden Paints.

Acrylic Painting Supplies

1. Dick Blick Titanium White. For acrylic painting I generally stock up on large jars of Dick Blick Titanium White. Similar to my oil painting process, I generally go through at least one jar of white per painting while using small amounts of color from other tubes.

2. Colored Tubes. For bright beautiful colors that maintain their peaks I like to use a range of tubes including Liquitex Heavy Body and Golden Heavy Body. It is important to only buy the "Heavy Body" variety because the "Soft Body" will flatten out while drying. Some of my favorites include manganese blue, cadmium red, pthalo blue, cadmium or naphthol red, and sap green (all by Liquitex). Golden also has a range of beautiful heavy body acrylics, with some of my favorites being their hansa yellow medium and florescent pink. These tend to be a little pricier than other brands so you may just want to sample one or two to see if you can tell the difference. Try to avoid house paints. These are not archival and will not retain color like the artist quality paints.

3. Heavy Gloss Gel Medium. I also always use the super heavy gloss gel medium by Liquitex, which can create sculptural effects that maintain their high peaks. I prefer the gloss for a nice shine, but they also have matte if you prefer.

Palette Knives

I suggest purchasing at least five different knives in a range of sizes and shapes and playing around until you find your go-to favorites. There are many brands on the market but you should always get stainless steel if possible to prevent rusting and in my opinion they tend to bend less easily than other types. You can find knives for around $8.

Any questions?? Let me know, I'm always happy to offer suggestions or answer questions. Have fun!!

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Artists Beware

Perhaps other artists out there have been contacted by scammers but it's happened to me so many times in the past few months that I wanted to share my experiences in case others come across these nefarious individuals. Each time I receive an email through my website from an apparent potential client looking to buy a piece of art. They are always uncertain about what they want and they seem to have no budget. There are usually a few misspellings and an odd use of language. Just a few days ago I was contacted by a "Rob Carter" robcarter052@gmail.com who said that he lived in Colorado and wanted to purchase a piece for his wife. The first email is always seemingly normal, but the following emails always inject a request to pay via check and ship the piece via an unusual method. The follow-up emails always grow increasingly unbelievable, often snowballing into stories about family tragedies and short-notice travel. Although I never got to this point, the scammer will eventually mail the artist a fake check for a large amount over the purchase price then ask you to cash the check (which will not go through) and wire them the extra money. It sounds insane that anyone would fall for this, but unfortunately some people do. I'm blogging about this so that other artists out there will be able to search by his email address and learn that this is a scam. Unfortunately there are so many of these scammers out there that it is impossible to track, especially when so many use different email accounts. It's unfortunate that this is the world that we live in, but as artists we need to be weary and always wait until checks have cleared before shipping any artwork. Have any fellow artists been contacted by scammers? What was your experience? Please do share.

Below are our correspondences:

• Name Rob Carter

• Email robcarter052@gmail.com

Subject Artwork Is Needed

Hello, I am Rob Carter from Colorado.. I was looking for some artwork online and I found your contact while surfing and I must tell you, You are doing a great job, I would really love to purchase some of your works for my wife as a surprise present regarding our forthcoming 20th anniversary, I would like to receive further information about your piece of work and what inspires you..Also, kindly email me back with some images and price list of your artworks that is ready for immediate sales within my price range ($2,000- $13,000).. Hope to hear from you soon.. Thanks and best regards..

___________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Ann, Thanks for the message, I must tell you I intend to give my wife a surprise with the immediate purchase of the piece. Also If you'd like to know, I'm relocating to the Philippines soon and our wedding anniversary is fast approaching. So I'm trying to gather some good stuff to make this event a surprise one..I'm okay with the paintings (Blacksmith Farm $2,000 AND April Blooms $1,800 Total $3,800).. I think it's worth it anyway, so I'll be sending a Check. As regarding shipping, you don't have to worry about that in order not to leave any clue to my wife for the surprise. as soon as you receive and cash the check, my shipping agent (who is also moving my personal effect) will contact you to arrange pick-up. I would have come to purchase the piece myself but, at the moment, am on training voyage to the North Atlantic Ocean (I'm an ocean engineer) with new hires who are fresh from graduate school and won't be back for another couple of weeks. Regards, PS: In the meantime, kindly get back to me with your full name (you want the check payable to) cell phone no. and contact address (preferably for USPS not P.O box) where a check can be mailed to so I can get the check prepared and have it mailed out to you as soon as possible. Thank you!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a great resource about how to recognize art scams by the Agora Gallery.

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Inspiration Here and There

It's funny how we are inspired by different things around the universe but somehow they are all similarly connected. Are any thoughts completely original? After viewing the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibition at the Hirshhorn this past winter I was completely in awe of her use of polka dots. I wondered how I could maintain the textural complexities of my work while focusing on the beauty, simplicity, and infinite possibilities of the polka dot. It became clear to me that I could deconstruct my paintings to the most simplest form of texture with the same tubes in my supply drawer that I regularly use. I mixed up my palette in a similar fashion and slabbed the paint straight onto a previously gridded canvas in a simple pattern. I named this series my Polka Daubs paintings. I thought this manifestation of the polka dot was completely original in contemporary art while still respectfully paying homage to the great Kusama. I soon learned I was slightly wrong.

Below: Polka Daubs, oil on canvas, 14" x 11" by Ann Marie Coolick. In private collection.

First, someone pointed out the uncanny resemblance of my work to Damien Hirst's Spot paintings. I was amazed and dumbfounded by the similarities especially in the color palette. How could this be when I had never seen this series of his?! I'm very familiar with his sculptural work but somehow his Spot paintings had never been on my radar. Perhaps they were buried so deep in my subconscious after 15 years being out of art school or had I truly never seen them? Hirst's artist statement also rung a similar bell. He said: "To create that structure, to do those colours, and do nothing. I suddenly got what I wanted. It was just a way of pinning down the joy of colour.”

Below: Damien Hirst's Spot paintings

Second, another person pointed out the likeness of my work to John Grande's polka dot portraits. Again, I had never seen his work before. Now I'm really beginning to feel like I don't know as much about art as I thought I did!

Below: John Grande, Courtney Dot

Perhaps it is the universal language of the polka dot that has us all subliminally connected and inspired by this simple form? After all, aren't we all inspired by similar things yet manifesting our responses in a slightly different manner? I believe that the inspiration I found in Kusama's work and the expression of my response were completely pure and honest, and I hope that while we as artists can find inspiration in other's work, that we always pay respect to the root of our inspiration. If you are an artist, has anyone ever pointed out your work as closely related to another contemporary artist? Please share your thoughts.

"A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement... Polka dots are a way to infinity." Yayoi Kusama. Photo via Welker Media.

Below: Infinite Polka Daubs, oil on canvas, 36" x 36", Ann Marie Coolick.

Below: Confetti Polka Daubs, oil on canvas, 20" x 20", Ann Marie Coolick. In private collection.

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