A rundown on my process

I've been wanting to create this post for a while. Some of you have asked some of this in the video comments but I wanted to gather some of those answers in one place. So here it goes...

Style

My style continues to evolve with every painting session. I paint every day, even if just a doodle no one will ever see. It keeps me on my toes and my skills ready to go.

Abstract painting is hard because our brain is designed to find shapes and recognizable things regardless of how abstract we think we are being. Practicing is crucial to relax the brain while we paint but recognizable elements will continue to pop in regardless.

I suppose that really is semi-abstract work rather than abstract. While I started with figurative art when I first began my watercolor studies, the goal was always to move into more abstract work and style.

I think I am starting to see that happening with my work and that makes me very happy.

Easel/Desk

I use a reclinable easel with a white board and a bath towel over it. This works really well for me as my style of painting is messy and I use a lot of running water. The towel absorbs all of it and there is no mess on the table. I change the towel every two weeks or so.

Paper

When I first started painting I did not know that much about paper texture and quality. As I continued to grow as an artists, it became clear to me that paper matters a lot if I wanted decent results. Since then I paint almost exclusively on Arches paper.

I use all their textures: Cold Press, Hot Press and Rough. I also prefer their paper blocks as they don’t require having to tape paper to a board. I absolutely hate how much masking tape was wasted during my first 6 months painting. I always felt so guilty about that.

Same goes for tissue paper. I tend to use artist brush cloths I ordered from Etsy instead. Sometimes I do use actual tissue, when the task calls for it, but for the most part I use brush cloths.

Paints

For watercolor paints, my go to is Daniel Smith. I have worked with Rockwell Canada paints as well but for the most part, DS dominates.

I also use Dr. Ph Martin’s Hydrus liquid watercolors. These are so vibrant and interesting. They also have some unique colors I have not seen elsewhere. You will see me using Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleed Proof White as well quite a lot.

Inks

I mostly use Daler-Rowney FW acrylic inks, but also use Dr. Ph Martin’s Bombay Inks. Again Bombay Inks have a really interesting selection of colors and vibrancy I have not seen in other brands.

Special Painting Mediums

I use sticks of Oil Pastels, only white so far, as a way to create areas on the paper that will resist color, leaving interesting organic areas of white stains.

I also use Winsor Newton Granulation Medium quite a bit, pretty much in every painting I make. I absolutely love how quickly it turns acrylic inks into amazing flows of pigment sediment. Absolutely beautiful to see.

Brushes/Application Tools

You will see me paint a lot with cut off store cards and palette knives. This is a very common technique for mixed media artists, especially semi abstract artists. While I do use brushes often, I think the majority of my pieces start with a card or knife swipe of some sort.

An old tooth brush is often used to splatter paint in certain areas of a painting.

I use two different sizes of spray bottles, small and large. The small ones are for smaller paintings or places where I want a delicate spray while the large is for larger pieces and aggressive flow of water.

Sometimes I use granulation medium in a small spray bottle as well. Makes adding the medium to an area very easy.

Finally, you will often see me drying a piece with a heat gun instead of letting it dry naturally. There are different camps on this all over the web, and I am an impatient man. So I often want to dry the piece immediately, especially if I want to stop pigment from spreading any further and when I see an effect I want to make sure stays as is.

I hope this post answers some of the more common questions I get about my process. Feel free to reach out for anything else I missed. Thanks for reading! Rodney G.