Art Coffee Break: The Triumph of Genius over Envy - Eugène Delacroix

I love a good allegory. It’s a way to say things that can’t be said. More often than not, allegory is not a way to say anything new, but it’s a way to say something that’s eternal. It’s the “It is known” of art, yet it’s still a secret club. And there are so many ways to execute on it.

In this allegorical Delacroix sketch “The Triumph of Genius over Envy,” Genius is the man in the center who is moving towards the left side of the sketch. The woman in the far left is Fame (Source). The younger character in the foreground with the club is supposed to be Heroic Virtue (Same source).

Let’s talk about Envy in this sketch. Rather than a singular entity, it’s a whole system of creatures - Envy is represented by two dogs tearing at the robes of Genius, as well as a fallen, spiny, dark humanoid figure, who is also tearing at the robes of Genius.

There’s also an airborne contingent of Envy, two snake-eyed flying creatures, where one is reaching out, and one has a dagger-like weapon. Whether the creatures of Envy are reaching our their claws for Genius, or they already have a fistful of the robes of Genius, there’s certainly a lot of them, and they either want to have a hold on him, or they have a slipping grasp.

There’s more to Envy that Delacroix had planned, like these two outlined figures below. One has the look of a humanoid salamander with a huge tail. Another couple figures similar to this one are supine in the background.

Envy crawls, it bites, it flies. It has reserve forces waiting in the wings, or the background. It’s both a beatdown and a teardown that Genius is transcending.

There’s a slight incline that Genius is treading up, he is going upwards towards Fame, while Envy is pulling down.

Who, or what, is Genius in this sketch? We can’t quite make out the face. Is he looking forward? Is he looking backwards? Down? 

Delacroix seemed to be in the middle of deciding this. If the youth with the club is already looking backwards, maybe his ultimate decision would have been to have Genius looking ahead, to finish out a triangle of gazes that happen on the upper left of the sketch. Fame’s head is tilted slightly down so that her face is pointed at Heroic Virtue. Heroic Virtue is looking back, towards Envy, but also supporting Genius. Genius is undefined. Aside from the outlined salamander people, Genius’s face is the most unfinished, mysterious aspect of the sketch.

I had to notice that Heroic Virtue isn’t raising the club at Envy. The club is a supportive weapon instead, a proverbial Big Stick. I get the idea that it isn’t Heroism’s job to defeat Envy for Genius. Envy also doesn’t look terribly injured or beaten back. Genius just has to plod out of it all, somehow.

Unlike Genius, we seem to know Fame very well. She’s clearly defined. Her clothes and body are easy to see, and Heroism is also very definite. Both Fame and Heroism have symbols on their heads, Heroism has laurels, and Fame seems to have a circlet of faintly outlined stars.

Similarly, the sprawled aspect of Envy is super defined, down to the muscles and tail.

What I also found interesting here is that Genius is almost stripped naked by Envy. Fame has plenty of clothes on, and Heroic Virtue is shirtless but looks pretty tidy. Meanwhile, Genius looks like he is about to lose his last ragged robes to Envy, perhaps the very moment he falls into Fame’s arms. The right hand of the spined aspect of Envy seems to be resting on some of Genius’s torn clothes.

I’m only a little sad that this sketch never became a painting - because it’s such a good sketch. It could have been its own form of Liberty Leading the People. As a sketch, the understated parts of it give a proper amount of power to the abstract concepts of Genius and Envy. Unlike Liberty Leading the People, where the French flag is highly visible, there probably wouldn’t be any contemporary references in a painting like this, unless they were hidden. This wouldn’t have been an allegorical painting about a nation or governance, but it would have still been about a battle and a clear triumph.

It’s an important and curious message. Why does Genius have to triumph over Envy, instead of something like Stupidity or Boredom or Distraction? Maybe there’s something of envy in all of those, and more. Striding, unseeable Genius is undeniably torn up by the forces of Envy, but eventually it triumphs.

Medium Moment: My Favorite Watercolor Papers

I learned early on in my deep dive into watercolors that not all papers are created equal. It’s good that I learned this. I suspect that, for some people, they never learn this lesson and they may give up on watercolor after using disappointing paper. For some blessed people, maybe it doesn’t matter. For me it did, here’s what I ended up liking the most.

Traveler’s Notebook No. 27 Watercolor Paper

For an off-white paper that shows blended colors well and is fun to draw on, with little tooth or little exaggerated texture, Traveler’s Notebook 027 Watercolor Paper is my favorite.

I realized as I was writing this blog that I don’t even know if Traveler’s Notebook 027 Watercolor Paper is hot press or cold press. I poked around a bit on the Traveler’s Company website and I couldn’t find an answer to this. Being someone who usually likes cold press papers, I would think it’s cold press but I don’t know for sure. I thought about why hot or cold isn’t listed in the product information, and maybe it’s simply not important to most Traveler’s Company customers in this case. I will admit that when papers say they are acid-free, my mind kind of skips over that, I take that as a given and not much of a feature that I need to see on paper. Maybe there’s a lesson in this, there’s no need to resist trying something that’s a bit mysterious, or something with selling points that aren’t even close to the typical bullets listed on a product page.

Strathmore Watercolor Postcards

This paper has a good texture and size. I found myself enjoying drawing animals on this paper. It’s small and low-risk to use, I made a couple ‘dud’ watercolors and I didn’t feel like it was the end of the world. It’s a great paper for warming up, and also for finished pieces. With all of the pieces I finished, I didn’t want to actually put them in the mail without an envelope first!

Fabriano Artistico Enhanced Watercolor Block - Extra White Cold Press - 100% Cotton

This Fabriano cotton paper is the best paper I’ve ever used for anything, ever. It made everything turn out perfect. If anything didn’t look good, it’s because of my own mistakes, not because of the paper or paints or supplies. This paper has a medium-high level of texture, which I think turns out beautifully.

The only thing wrong with this paper is that after using it, other papers can seem a little like a disappointment. I get over this feeling eventually, but it really is noticeable after using this paper.

How I found my forever paper(s):

What’s worked for me best is combining and trying different types of paper, and even drawing or watercoloring on one type while I’m waiting for another to dry. It’s a good way to observe differences. Here’s a day where I was working on the Fabriano cotton paper and also a Traveler’s Notebook page:

And Oops I did it again -

Sometimes, just going off of branding and price has led to good discoveries for me with paper. After looking at four or five local art stores, I couldn’t find the Fabriano cotton paper at a single one. I had no idea what the actual texture was like until I ordered it online. I took a risk in this case since it is expensive paper.

For me, I don’t exactly have paints that are “too good to use” which is a false artistic limiter anyways. The “too good to use” trap is like having lipstick or perfume that’s too good to wear, and so you never wear it, and it sits in a drawer for years on end, then becomes unusable.

While I try to stay away from “Too good to use,” I admit that I rank qualities in my head, and I prioritize what to use based on my budget and existing supplies that I have on hand. I’m more severe about paper than I am about paint - I don’t limit myself so much with the paint that I use, but I do find myself coming up with schedules and budgets for paper.

Here is my general thinking: The Traveler’s Notebook No. 27 paper is good enough for everyday use, the Fabriano cotton paper is what I reserve for commissions or something special. The Strathmore paper is in-between. It’s probably too nice to actually send the resulting watercolors in the mail, even with the best mail carriers on the planet … I probably don’t want to drop the watercolors into a mailbox and have them shuffled across state lines and dropped into other mailboxes.

Here’s how much I treasure the Fabriano paper: if I start a watercolor and make a mistake on this paper, one that can’t be ‘saved,’ I don’t throw the paper away. I put it in a paper recycling bin that I keep, and I eventually blend it into pulp and recast it as a new peice of paper using a deckle and a screen. Even if the recast paper has a tiny bit of color on it from the failed drawing, like blue or red, it usually fades out and I have a new piece of paper again, which I can try to use for crafting/collage or other pursuits. I have no problem saying I am very, very precious about this paper. Because it’s precious to me.

So there you go, these are my favorite papers for watercolor at the moment in 2024. How I really feel about paper is that it shouldn’t be forgotten, and that it should also be the first consideration for watercolor. I’ve had many people approach me over the years as I’m drawing or watercoloring, and ask me what pen I am using. I’m really flattered and I’m also kind of a direct person - if someone asks me a question, I will answer it for ten minutes if you want. I will tell you all about the pen, where I got it, how much it was, and my entire life story and where I went to art school etc etc. As a curious person, I know it can be hard sometimes to approach a stranger and ask them a question, too. With questions, I think the hope is that the answer will give the asker the most impactful takeaway. For the most impactful takeaway, I wish more people asked me about the paper.

Maybe paper gets forgotten next to shiny new paints, or we forget about it compared to a person’s talent. Or, it simply doesn’t have the best marketing. Either way I hope to keep shouting my paper discoveries from the mountaintops, because I think it’s the fastest way to up the watercolor game at every level. If a person is a beginner, or even advanced, paper is a maximizing force.

TLDR Paper List:

1. Fabriano Artistico Enhanced Watercolor Block - Extra White Cold Press - 100% Cotton

2. Traveler’s Notebook 027 Watercolor Paper

3. Strathmore Watercolor Postcards
   
   

TLDR How to Find A Forever Paper(s)

1. Try different types of paper and compare them next to each other. Truly put one watercolor next to another. I’m a cold-press person. You might not be!

2. Compare quality and costs.

3. Remember, nothing is “Too good to use”

I tried John Howard Sanden’s Portraits from Life in 29 Steps

I first happened across John Howard Sanden’s work and writing in the book “Painting the Head in Oil” which I found at Art Parts in Boulder. I flipped through the book and I liked the images and paintings, I thought they were really good. I also noticed that there were paint smudges in the book, which meant to me that someone else had actually painted while using the book, or they had it open while painting.

So, when I saw yet another John Howard Sanden book about portraits, I had to get it.

I found it to be really funny that there are exactly 29 steps. I feel like Sanden isn’t lying to us by saying it’s as easy as 1-2-3 or even 10 steps. He also didn’t round up all the way to 30 steps. There are exactly 29 steps. Without spoiling the book or committing some copyright error, I won’t go into the exact 29 Steps too deeply. TLDR; the steps worked well for me and here is how.

The steps involve a basic sketch in a neutral tone of paint, and taking your time to get the sketch right. Areas like the top of the head, the sides of the entire head and hair, and where the chin ends, are marked off and divided in a neutral hue or beige. There’s a mapping of ‘landmarks’ and dark areas of the face. Then it seems to go into undertones, making vast areas of the face very dark, even for a light-toned white person, and then pulling out the mid tones and highlights or light areas at the end.

There’s also a specific order to how you work the areas of the face. I wouldn’t say starting at the top or bottom matters so much, but what Sanden has done is that he makes it so you only touch one part of the face once with one layer or tone. So you aren’t going back and forth between the forehead and cheeks six or seven times. You make one layer or pass at the forehead, cheeks, and chin, and then you make the second pass at the forehead, cheeks, and chin. The goal seems to be to reduce the number of times you could possibly be working with a single tone on a certain area. For the mission of finishing a painting in a couple hours, this works well.

Even though there are 29 steps, and that may sound like an high amount of steps, under this system, each part of the face is only going to be worked on a limited number of times. There’s also a useful ordering of laying down darks and lights, and when to do that. This reduces the chance of the painting being overworked, and the colors or hues being over mixed and dulled.

Sanden mentions pretty early in the book that making a full pencil sketch isn’t too useful, in his opinion, because it just gets covered anyways. I found this to be pretty true as I followed the 29 steps, which never involve a pencil or full under sketch. I’ve certainly made pencil sketches underneath my paintings before, and they either haven’t turned out as good as the 29 steps painting, or, the sketch got covered right away.

What I found interesting about the 29 steps is that the initial neutral lines and the mapping of ‘landmarks’ was the hardest part, or, it felt the most brain-intensive to me. Since I seemed to get those right, the rest of the painting didn’t feel like my mind was churning through as much. I wouldn’t say the painting was ‘easy’ after setting down the neutral lines, but I would say it was ‘straightforward’. Figuring out the rest of the painting was more linear after those first 6-10 steps.

I certainly have more work to do before I reach Sanden’s level (don’t a lot of us?) what I will say about this painting is I was really happy with it. I feel it captured the photo of me that I worked from in the best way. There’s something about painting too, painting as an enterprise, that has opportunity that photographs don’t have. Painting has the opportunity of showing hidden spirits. That’s what I think I got out of this painting and this exercise as a whole.

I ‘discovered’ John Howard Sanden’s work only this year, and I was sad to read that he passed away in 2022. John Howard Sanden is an interesting writer to read. He gets impatient with what seem to be painting trends that people are following at the time of his writing. I can only really guess at that, but that’s my guess. It’s very funny and entertaining to read. He also had or has his own proprietary set of paints. It can be a little bit of legwork to mix paints that match the paints in his set, but I will say it’s worth it. I’m sure the set is still available somewhere, maybe on eBay at this time. On John Howard Sanden’s website, the area to order the paint set mentions that the creation of the set is in a kind of flux. I can only imagine, with his relatively recent passing and such a huge legacy to manage, there must be a lot up in the air.

In the book there are a couple images of John Howard Sanden teaching and painting. He taught at the art student’s league and had a couple incredible home studios. It seems like he was at home with dozens of people watching him paint, which I find impressive. He painted random people who would volunteer for his workshops, and he would also paint people like bishops and United States Presidents. I found this to be even more impressive, because he captures everyone from every walk of life so well.

I think a book like this would be useful for someone who wants to work specifically on portraits and work in-depth on it. There are tons of great videos, instagram reels, etc, out today with simple tutorials that focus on one area of the face. There’s so many timelapse videos where it’s so wonderful to be impressed with the artist’s skill and the outcome of their work, but we never hear why they artist is doing what they are doing, or what they are thinking while they are painting. This book contains all of that: the why, the how, and the what. He has an answer for every expression and skin tone. Of all things, the dog on the front cover was also a signal to me - he seems to have captured not just the woman in the portrait, but the dog’s expression is also so full of life.

My next step in oil portrature is to keep working on the 29 steps. I’ve asked a couple friends if they would volunteer model for me. I may also try to get my hands on some of the painting DVDs that Sanden offered. These, too, seem to be scattered across eBay and somewhat available on Amazon. To be frank with you, readers, I don’t even own a DVD player right now, but I want to see what more I can get from this person’s knowledge. I’ll report back when I find out more.

Thanks for reading and catch you soon!

Sakura Koi Creative Art Colors CAC Pocket Field Sketch Box

I enjoyed this set so much I bought it twice. With only 12 colors, I felt like I was getting everything I needed from this vibrant set.

Let’s talk about the tennis-ball yellow color. This color is gorgeous. Like many neons, it can run the risk of being too much, but combined with the other colors, it fits quite well.

The purple is the darkest-valued color in the set.

The color I use the least of is the sparkling white color in the upper left corner. I wasn’t sure what to do with this color. It may be a different story if I give it a try on dark paper sometime instead of white paper.

I found that after some time with my initial set, the sparkling copper and gold colors looked better and better as they were subtly mixed in with the other colors. Many of the drawings in this post have a sparkly sheen when tilted in sunlight.

I like working with this set in series - I will paint a couple normal-hue watercolors and then do a neon version when it seems right, like this mountain goat with a neon background:

I found myself combining this set with the other Sakura set and it working quite well, like in this image of Pinnacle Rocks from Final Fantasy IX. I loved this area of the game and it seemed like a place that only gets passed through for a couple moments. So I wanted to make a watercolor of it that brought out how vibrant it felt.

^ I usually have two sketchbooks open at once so why not two color pallets anyways?

The colors also make nice tones when watered down and placed into backgrounds, like the sunset behind the buffalo above.

These colors are a little hard to get in other places. I didn’t even know such a tennis-ball yellow was a thing I could get before buying this set. It also seems hard to find iridescent watercolors at such an inexpensive rate or included in a set. This is a set that has everything fun in it - bright colors and iridescent hues combined. If you’re looking for something bright, I loved this set and I continue to use it almost every day.

Traveler’s Notebook Ended my Journal Guilt

Has Journal Guilt happened to you? Maybe! How many of us have bought a finely-bound 100-page sketchbook journal with glittering aspirations to fill the whole thing with elaborate thoughts and sketches, only to get three or four pages in and be subsumed by life as it happens. And so we re-open the journal weeks or months later and learn once again that Time Waits for No Man, or no person. But we had such a good feeling about this journal! This journal was going to be The One, the journal that we finally sat down to work on, a heirloom we could all look back on with warmth and, hashtag gratitude. Maybe it’s not the journal’s fault. It’s wonderfully made, after all. Maybe it’s us.

Traveler’s Notebook has a flexible approach to journaling, scrapbooking, collecting, and scheduling that has worked for me like no other journal. It ended all the guilt I had about Never Filling Up a Journal.

The Traveler’s Notebook No. 27 Watercolor Paper Refills usually are priced anywhere from 6.50 to 7.60. Maybe 8.00 online if you need it in a rush. Each refill contains 24 pages, and I typically only use 12 pages since I want to paint on one side of the paper.

If I make an indelible mistake, as I often do, with watercolors, it is easy to remove the perforated page and recycle it. And it’s a low risk situation - the whole thing only cost seven dollars.

If I fill up the whole book - yay - ! I feel like I don’t have to beat myself up, and I can buy another refill without worrying.

With Traveler’s Notebook, the question isn’t “Can I fill 100 pages?” Or “What if I lose this notebook?” It’s “I already filled 6 of 12 pages so maybe I better get my next refill”

Funnily enough, with making watercolors, I’ve learned that the secret for me personally is to have three watercolor pieces on rotation in a setting, because often, as watercolor goes, each piece needs it’s heavier water pools to dry before it can be moved to the next step. So I keep three Travelers Notebook watercolor refill booklets on hand. Sometimes I might even have four of them in my backpack.

An example of how I use three Traveler’s Notebook watercolor refills at a time to rotate between pieces that are drying or dry.

Sometimes it is easier to take the refills out of the notebook to help them lie flatter and dry more evenly if I utilize a lot of water to make a piece.

A rare moment where I bought a smaller-size refill packet of watercolor paper. I like the format of this size, too!

A close up example of a sketch I did copied from concept art of Haanit in Octopath Traveler.

The way I think of my Traveler’s Notebook “build” is that I have my finished books in storage or on display, and I have three to four active, working notebooks. This keeps me moving through books at a pace that works for me. And, as I see the finished books stack up, it builds my confidence about completion.

Completion is one arena within which I battle, another is the scrappy dueling field of perfectionism. Fortunately, I don’t have any feelings about perfectionism with Traveler’s Notebook refills, because each one is seven dollars. That’s like half a fancy sandwich these days. Yet, I’ve definitely had feelings of perfectionism with sketchbooks that are more along the lines of $20.00+. Even though I’m sure I’ve spend hundreds by now on Traveler’s Notebooks, I’ve certainly used them without being stalled by my perfectionism.

Perfectionism? Guilt about … not using art supplies? Hopefully you don’t struggle with any of this, and as you are reading this blog, it’s kind of a curiosity to you more than anything. Maybe you fill book after book of 100 pages and you draw dazzling images on both sides and you haven’t had a perfectionist moment since 1999. But if you feel inklings of any of this affecting you, I can’t recommend Traveler’s Notebooks enough. Plus, it’s really, really nice paper. Traveler’s Notebooks have truly set my sketching life free.

Sketchbook Confessional July 2024

Welcome to July 2024’s Sketchbook Confessional!

The Sketchbook Confessional is a blog where I recap my work that I’ve done within a month’s time. It is my ‘done’ list rather than a ‘to-do’ list - a way for me to objectively review my completed work.

July went by in a flash, it seems. I was able to take a few days to fill up pages in my Traveler’s Notebook Watercolor refills with watercolors using the Sakura Koi CAC set, a group of twelve brilliant neon and flourescent colors. I drew things like Balogar from Octopath Traveler and scenes from Gene Wolfe’s Book of the Long Sun, or at least the way I see some of the scenes from the book.

In July it was so hot outside that I was able to make a lot of handmade paper and set it outside to dry. It seemed like on some days, the paper would dry in record amounts of time. Something about it felt like putting a towel out to dry and it already being dry by the time it was hung up.

Above is a good image of the Sakura Koi CAC set and how it layers. I’m working through the Watercolor Workbook by Budd Biggs and Lois Marshall (shown above) and mostly getting completely schooled, owned, or otherwise surprised, and am finding that learning to watercolor well is going to take probably my whole life, and it will be worth it. I like what I make right now, and at the same time, I am also sure I can make more and better watercolors.

After making lots of handmade paper, I usually paint the paper and then cut it into paper animal shapes. Here is a nighttime frisbee dog which was really fun to make.

I was able to get up to the high country at the end of July and get a few wildflower photos as well. This was fun, and it seems like there are many wildflowers out, this season.

All in all I got a lot done in July! It really did fly by though. Summer is so exciting. Catch you next time!

Canvas Rebel feature!

Recently I was able to complete an interview with Canvas Rebel. Take a look at the interview here:

https://canvasrebel.com/meet-becky-jewell/

Sketchbook Confessional June 2024

Welcome to June 2024’s Sketchbook Confessional! The Sketchbook Confessional is a blog where I recount all the drawings, paintings, and other efforts I made in a month. It’s my “done” list rather than my “to-do” list. The Sketchbook Confessional is a way for me to objectively survey and assess my work in a limited period of time.

June was an exciting month for me because June 22 was LAUGH or the Lafayette Art Underground Hustle, an art fair series installment that took place in a neighborhood in Lafayette, CO. I had a lot of fun and saw some familiar faces, as well as met some new people at LAUGH.

June was a good month for me to make paper art. I made several miniature paper dragon pieces and put them into series or groups as framed pieces. It was fun to do these and several have already sold.

I tried out some new papers and motifs. Some of the paper I made myself, which was satisfying. It’s great to take things from a pulp phase to a completed piece phase.

In June I worked quite a bit with watercolor, making portraits of my toddler. Above is the largest piece of this series. I made probably 6 or 7 watercolor drawings and studies of this same pose where he was sleeping. It continues to be a good challenge to draw him. He truly changes so fast, every month. It reminds me that all of us change a little bit as time goes on, even if we don’t grow as fast as babies or toddlers, we change a bit on the inside.

To work on watercolors and give them my best shot, I added some Sakura Koi watercolor sets to my art backpack. These have been fun and easy to use with my Chromatek water brush pens. Watercolor is tough, certainly, but what I like about it, is that it feels like traveling light compared to oil paint. It’s much easier to carry around watercolor sets and paper than it is to carry around tubes of oil paint, an easel, and canvases.

My new creative medium in June was … journaling, or taking journaling a bit more seriously. I’ve had a Hobonichi Techo each year for about five years now. Sometimes I will keep up with these journals very well, and I will fill out each page about things I did that day, or places I went to. Sometimes I fall behind. What has helped me keep up recently is getting a thermal printer, which has allowed me to print out little photos of things that I did that day, and stick the photo to the appropriate page. It’s been a good way to work on my memory, which was in bad shape last year with all the sleep deprivation I went through being a new mom.

I’ve enjoyed getting into washi tape as well as a journaling medium. It’s a fun way to be expressive in a journal or scrapbook without necessarily drawing everything out. With a thermal printer and washi tape, I have a fast and easy way to express how I felt about any given day.

Reading:

This month I worked on reading a couple books. I’m a few hundred pages in to this Van Gogh biography by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It’s fascinating to me. I felt like I knew a lot about Van Gogh after reading his letters, but this biography has much more context and much more information. Since in the letters, Van Gogh writes only to Theo, there’s much more to say and know since there were 6 Van Gogh siblings, and aspects to his story that emerge from other relatives like his uncle, and his mom and dad.

I also read “A Magic Girl Retires” by Park Seolyeon. I enjoyed this book quite a bit.

I definitely needed a shorter, lighter read as opposed to the Van Gogh book so this book fit the bill for that particular task. I won’t spoil anything in “A Magical Girl Retires” but I will say there were awesome illustrations and it was a surprising, fun read. I’m very glad the cover drew me in.

Lastly, this month I started reading “Grit, Guts, and Determination” by Cole Chlouber, a book specifically about the founding of the Leadville Trail 100 race. I was born and raised in Leadville and volunteered at several LT100 races, but I certainly didn’t know the whole history of the race. It’s full of references that will be familiar to any Leadvillian and it will also be exciting to read for anyone who wants to get to know Leadville a bit more.

That’s what I got for this month! Catch you all next month.

2024 Figure Drawings

*content warning - which is probably too late - anyways there’s drawn nudity here, so probably nsfw unless your boss is really cool or, you know, you are the boss

It’s been fun to get out to Art of Modeling drop-in figure drawing in North Boulder this year. I haven’t had much of a chance to work with live models in the past few years, and I took about 6 years off of figure drawing. My last drawing of a live model before these was made in 2017. It wasn’t much of an intentional break, I think I just had a lot going on with career stuff, covid, and eventually having a baby too. Many - if not most - of my drawings and paintings these days are done outside the studio environment, where my toddler can’t reach them (yet).

So, it’s been great to get back to a real studio environment and sketch figuratively again.

For all of the figure drawings shown here, I used a Kuretake No. 55 Double-sided brush pen. This is a useful pen for quick sketching because it has a fine point on one side for working on details, and it has a broad point on the other side for laying down dark areas very quickly. In addition to using ink, I also use a Chromatek water brush pen. I have a set of 6 of them and I use one with a more pointed tip, rather than the square tip ends. To get a good shadow going either on or behind a figure, I give the water brush pen a good squeeze while running it along a line made by the Kuretake No. 55. Usually, even if the ink of the Kuretake has been dry for a bit, it will fan out and spread if it is touched by the water brush pen. This lets me lay down quite a few shadows and values very quickly. Even so, it seems like the 10 and 20 minute poses pass in the blink of an eye.

The paper used here is a medium-sized SOHO sketchbook. I really like the tooth and thickness on this paper. It works well for the water medium I am using - there’s been no sinking through. In lowlight photos like the photos above, the tooth really appears in a beautiful way.

Something that surprised me about the figure drawings I did lately was that I really enjoyed drawing the model’s tattoos. It felt like a kind of meta game somehow. A drawing of a drawing. I realized that getting the tattoos right was a big deal.

Check out what The Art of Modeling has to offer - especially if you’re in Colorado or visiting. The Art of Modeling website is here and you can check them out on instagram .

Sakura Koi Watercolors - June 2024

It’s been fun to combine oil painting with watercolor lately. Both are quite different for me. For painting in watercolors, it really feels more like drawing and then brushing water into the drawing. Oil painting feels like setting down areas of color and shaping them.

I shopped around for a bit and then finally decided on these paints: Sakura Koi 24 Assorted Watercolors Field Sketch Set because I did want to take the set outside on my hikes, and the size and color range seemed perfect for what I am hoping to do. With 24 colors, there aren’t too many or too few colors to choose from. In the photo above I have the 18 color set and a 12 color set shown, so 24 is the right happy medium, I think. Here is the 18 color set:

I made the above self-portrait as a test and it worked out great. It was a pretty traditional watercolor approach where I made the drawing of my face and laid on the light colors first.

The paper used for this drawing is Traveler’s Notebook watercolor paper. To get the paper to lie as flat as possible I pinned it down with a lamp and a crayon container. I did have the pink/light magenta gouache on my palette but I don’t think I used it for this.

I’ve also been enjoying using watercolors to make portraits of my toddler. He’s at a really cute age right now. Everything he does is adorable and magical to me. I’m working to capture his face in the best way that I can.

Painting or drawing kids is always an interesting artistic task because they have such round faces compared to adults. There are some adults who keep kid-like faces throughout their lives but many of us grow out of or into a different face. At times, to me, it’s almost like I might as well be painting a cat instead of a human, that’s how different painting a baby versus painting an adult is to me. Maybe it’s not this way for other artists though. I think it would be interesting if there were an art school out there where students spent a whole semester on painting the very young. It also wouldn’t be bad to have weeks of classes dedicated to other singular topics, like plants or fabrics. I’m sure there’s curriculums out there that exist like this, but I haven’t seen them.

Sketchbook Confessional May 2024

*content whatever thing, some nudity in the form of drawings included in this post, probably safe for work but only if your boss is cool

Welcome to May 2024’s Sketchbook Confessional! This is a blog where I look at all the drawings, paintings, and other art pieces I created in any given month. This blog is my “done” list rather than my “to-do” list - it is an objective way to review what I have done in a limited time frame. I also catalogue other pursuits such as reading and exercise in these blogs.

May was a good month for my work.

In May 2024 I made several pieces of paper, painted the paper, and created animal bookmarks from the paper. Mostly: dragons!

Aside from paper art, I did get outside a bit to oil paint en plein air. I found a few waterfalls to paint and really enjoyed it. I also tried a new size of painting canvas panel for the outdoors - 12 x 16. It just so happens that I have a painting suitcase that was designed to hold panels of this size, so I gave it a try. The larger format is working out for me, though I do need a decent amount of time to cover a 12 x 16 canvas, it’s been worthwhile to get these done because more space has meant more brush movement and more possibilities for me. I do have to take a whole backpack of paint for these, instead of measuring out tiny daubs of paint beforehand and packing those. Luckily at this point, I’m pretty strong from lifting my 30 pound toddler all the time, and the easel and wood suitcase are already heavy, so I figure what is the harm in taking a few more pounds?

I was really happy with this 12 x 16 plein air painting.

Here’s a painting where I had a bit less time, but still really liked ultimately and … it’s always fun to make these even if some seem to turn out better than others.

As far as drawing, I got to North Boulder ArtofModeling Figure Drawing for one session and finished some drawings I was happy with.

The above drawings were all done with a Kuretake no. 55 double sided ink brush pen, and a Chromatek water brush. I had fun. The model was amazing! I hope to get in to do this once a month or so.

At the very end of May I got a little fed up with the smell and cleanup of oil paint, and I think too that I was exhausted from plein air trips and hikes, so I bought myself a simple watercolor set. It’s been fun to fall back into the arms of watercolor. I’m still a little confused by it, so I am reading as much as I can about watercolor to bring myself up to speed. It makes me feel a bit better when I look at watercolors by masters and I can see that something eluded them in the painting.

As soon as I finished the watercolor above, the next day was June 1 so I’ll post those in another blog!

Reading:

I finished Haruki Murakami’s Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and loved it. I could not put this book down and I read it for hours at a time at night. Probably the best book about the theme of ghosting and closure that I never expected to read. Or, not a spoiler, it is sort of about Ghosting before it was a thing. I didn’t realize that it was considered the best book of 2014 by a few critics before I started reading it. I can certainly see why people felt this way. It’s my favorite book of his, though I think his book about running is kind of in its own category. Usually I give books away after reading them, or I put them in Little Free Libraries or sell them, but I think I’ll be holding on to this book for a while. There are a couple paragraphs about life that really stood out to me, that I want to go back to.

Books published from 2008 to 2019 before 2020’s coronavirus crisis strike me in a certain way. It’s the recent past at this point. Many of them seem optimistic to me. When we were all in the thick of spring and summer 2020, I could hardly bear to read some books that were published in 2018 or so. The problems or goals of the people in the books didn’t seem important to me. I guess it was one of those moments where life is so dramatic that the need for any kind of entertainment that has an ounce of drama is grossly diminished. Does a person read a mystery book while an earthquake is happening? Does anyone need spy movies if there is a forest fire nearby? In 2024, books published in this timeframe still feel to me like watching someone in a haunted house (due to the global financial crisis) walk into a room where a Covid-19 monster is waiting.

In May I also finished The Origin of Creativity by Edward O. Wilson and enjoyed it. I am not sure if he finds the answer to his questions. Much of the book’s information about the human brain was fascinating to me, as to how it is pretty much the most complex piece of matter, and our main talent as a species is to think. Regardless of whether the book has answers I will be going back to it. It is interesting to note that few other species create anything at all. I feel since this book has been written there might be more to say about animals creating kinds of art, though.

Running?

For workouts I’ve walked back most of my running and much of my fitness routine is integrated into my daily life. I carry my toddler around and if I don’t have him with me, I am usually carrying my easel and backpack. It’s been a strength spring, with bursts of weight-bearing activity rather than endurance activity. I think I will keep going in this way for a while, it’s working well for me.

This is what I got for May 2024! Catch you next time.

Sketchbook Confessional April 2024

Welcome to April 2024’s Sketchbook Confessional! The Sketchbook Confessional is a blog where I recap all the paintings, drawings, and other pieces that I made in any given month. It’s my ‘done’ list rather than a ‘to-do’ list, a way of objectively reviewing what’s going on in my studio.

In April 2024 I finished several oil paintings, mostly portraits.

I was able to get outside a bit to do a few plein air pieces, Plein Air April or #Pleinairpril was a good excuse to do this.

The weather in Boulder this April was snowy, unusually snowy, even for Boulder. On April 1 we had a bit of hail and then it snowed very thoroughly two more times in the month. I ended up staying indoors a bit more than I thought, which was good!

I finished a piece based on a moment from Gene Wolfe’s Litany of the Long Sun. The piece is based on the quote “What are we to do? Your lightest word will be treasured.”

What are we to do? Your lightest word will be treasured.

I plan to do more work with these books as I have dozens of ideas in my head at any one time about things to illustrate. There’s quite a bit of freedom of imagination that can be set loose given these stories.

Ironically I think the best way for me to work with anything I have in my brain about Gene Wolf is to keep painting these ideas in oil. I do like what I have created digitally but I like my oil paintings too.

All in all, things have been good. I missed writing my monthly-recap blogs for February and March this year, but I did some art during those months that I really liked - I will find a way to post them eventually outside of instagram.

Alzabo Soup Banner

Earlier this year I was able to create a banner for the podcast Alzabo Soup, featuring characters from Gene Wolfe’s Book of the Short Sun.

You can see the full banner here in the gallery and throughout the podcast website. Even more info about it is available on the Alzabo Soup Patreon page.

I had fun working on this! I had quite the enjoyable journey reading all of Gene Wolfe’s Solar Cycle throughout the past few years. I’ve done some work here and there with other moments throughout Gene Wolfe’s books and I plan to post them on this site eventually, when I feel they are at their best-appreciated stage. It’s such a visually-rich world that I feel many artists would enjoy illustrating these books. I hope to re-read the books throughout my life from time to time. There’s much to learn and see from these books.

Creating the Perfect Art Space for Your Apartment

Creating an art space within your apartment isn't just about carving out a corner; it's about curating a place where your imagination can thrive, inspiration can flourish, and self-expression can live. This ApartmentGuide article which I am featured in will share expert tips for you to create the perfect art space in your apartment. Be sure to check out Artistic Oasis: 15 Expert Tips to Create the Perfect Art Space in Your Apartment.

Sketchbook Confessional January 2024

In January 2024, Boulder had a run of shockingly warm days near the end of the month. I realized it was so nice out that it would be silly to stay indoors, so I got out for a bit and did plein air on the Mt. Sanitas trail.

I think for many, Mt. Sanitas is an exciting and beneficial climb, for my purposes it’s certainly fun, and I go incredibly slow and only maybe 1/4th of the way up. There are many colors to see in the rocks on the trail, because the rocks are red and gray, and often covered with bright yellow-green lichen. There are also deep shadows on the rocks and glaring white mica. I find myself using a complete range of values of paint when I am painting around here.

Aside from landscapes, I worked on portraits a bit too, which I go into in detail more in this blog. I was happy with how these turned out.

I also made several flower and mountain paintings in January.

I made a few other lupine pieces that aren’t shown here, but I think there were about 5 of them total, mostly of small size.

I’ve been able to do some ‘collaborations’ with my 18 month old, it’s been very fun. He scribbles a bit and I make a drawing. It’s fun to do these on canvases from Michaels because they are durable and survive all the spills, footsteps, and other mishaps that paper cannot.

In January I also made some non-collaborations of art of myself and Bebe. We’re right on the line between being able to still call him Bebe, he’s more of a toddler now I suppose.

On the digital art side of things, I finished Glass House Man, a piece I’ve been working on for a while

Anyways, that’s what I got for January!

Portraits in Oil January 2024

Lately I’ve been working on painting portraits in oil, and it’s been a fun journey so far.

Every now and there there are old cigar boxes for purchase at the creative re-use center in Boulder, Art Parts. I usually buy a few of them if I see them so I can put my paint tubes in it. I suppose cigars and paint tubes are roughly the same size, so these kinds of boxes work really well for table-top organization. They wouldn’t be terrible for plein air painting either,

The other thing I often get at Art parts are sheets of acrylic plexiglass. These are great to get from the creative re-use center because they don’t have to be any special size or even clarity, and they are usually a dollar or less. I usually either turn the acrylic plexiglass into paintings themselves, or I place white paper/cardboard underneath them and use them as palettes, like below. My palette for portraits is as follows:

Here we have 3 daubs of white and a series of mostly-warmer colors on the left, followed by cool and dark tones on the right. The jelly-like substance that you see in the upper right is gamblin solvent-free gel. It’s the only medium I utilized for these portraits, and I use it pretty sparingly. It helps brushes glide more easily across the canvas, while extending the paint throughout. Just about every paint stroke eventually has a little bit of medium, unless I am working on details where I don’t want the brush to slip or glide too much.

What I found out while working on these portraits of myself is… I am very pink. My face is almost pink everywhere in fact and seems to be either pink or yellow when I really look at it. I didn’t have any cool tones except in my neck and in my eyes. My ears took up a bunch of cadmium-red hue colors and they seemed to be either red or orange.

I also don’t seem to be green, at all, I seem to only have pinks, oranges, or yellows. I looked hard and couldn’t find any usage for green in the original photographs that I utilized to paint these portraits.

After making each painting, I loaded the above photo into Clip Studio Paint and took several eyedropper-tool pulls from it. The colors seemed to stay in the carnelian-orange-red area.

I thought maybe if I kept eye-droppering the photo, eventually I would find some sort of surprising color, like green or purple, but I tried it maybe a few dozen times in promising areas and it seemed to be red/orange each time. I guess maybe one surprise is that my skin in the photo never registered as actual pink, it only ever registered as light red or light orange. So I suppose what I said a few paragraphs above isn’t true at all, I’m not pink in any way, I’m simply very orange-red with different levels of white.

To get the dark tones of each portrait, the color I utilized was Payne’s Gray. To me, Payne’s Gray appears like more of a mid-tone gray when printed on the tube, but in reality, it is quite dark compared to the printing. It made a good default unmixed color for deep hair shadows and pupils, and mixed with red it was a good hair-shadow color.

Once a good mix of colors is on my palette, it looks a lot like the photo above. You can see the heavy use of Payne’s Gray (dark blob on the right) and the somewhat more sparing use of the three white daubs. I guess in working these paintings, I wanted different whites so I used different daubs of white for different mixes.

The second photo I worked from I liked a bit more because I could see different colors in my face, like purples.

Overall I made six portraits of myself, three from the 3/4ths angle and 3 from the front-ish angle. I liked all of these for different reasons. In some situations I think I nailed down certain areas better than others.

Sketchbook Confessional 2023 - My Year in Art

Each month I write a blog called The Sketchbook Confessional, which is a recap of everything I completed in a month. The Sketchbook Confessional is a ‘done’ list rather than a ‘to-do’ list - it’s an objective look at things I completed, a way to keep myself focused and understanding towards my own output, rather than mythologizing myself as making more or less art than I actually did.

2023 is the second year where I am writing a recap of my entire year, 2022 being the first. So here we go:

I started out January by making some watercolors of rainbow trout.

In January/February I put together many ‘Dragon Families’ or Guardian Dragons. It’s been fun to make these. I make them out of hand painted paper. Usually I paint them with gouache, and sometimes, shiny watercolor such as iulie watercolors.

I made a series of a mineshaft at the Robert Emmett mine in Leadville, or just east of Leadville up on 5th Street near the Mineral Belt Trail.

It was fun to paint these in a series and work with straight/straightish lines.

Another series type that I started in 2023 was a series of oil paintings featuring a lone hiker, sometimes two hikers, on fantastic imaginary landscapes or rock features.

This was one of my favorite series of the year. I wanted to work with the idea of traveling the unknown and the immensity of nature, and also use my typical bright color palette.

Here’s me in Leadville at Harperrose Studios with a few of the Hiker series paintings.

As usual I made several paintings of Mt Elbert in Leadville, I think this was my favorite:

On the realism side of things, in early 2023 I did finish one nude painting that I really liked. I started a few other more realistic paintings but haven’t finished them or I won’t finish them on purpose.

For some reason I was really proud of her knees in this. It is interesting how skintones can have shades of green and blue in them.

As the weather cooled off in the fall I returned to making more art out of paper, such as these paper dragon bookmarks.

I began to put paper dragons on mini canvases as well - the above are 2 x 2 inches each. Making each of these is very fun for me, I enjoy layering the mountains and landscapes with each dragon.

On the papercraft side of things I also made several hummingbird pieces:

It turns out 2023 was a bit of a cowboy/Western themed year for me. I began working with a series about night riders in deserts, with a galaxy of stars in the sky above.

In keeping with the Western theme, I started making these watercolor-ish drawings, where they are really made of acrylic ink from Winsor and Newton. One could probably make the very same thing from watercolor but they are in fact acrylic ink.

I made a couple more bigger cowgirl drawings and made archival prints of the drawing on handmade paper made from recycled fabric/cotton. These turned out well, one of these prints is below. Each one is so unique I’d call them 1/1.

In addition to paintings, I did many drawings in 2023 in my Traveler’s Notebook. To make these, I used a Kuretake no 55 double sided pen and a Chromatek water brush pen. Here are a few of these drawings.

For many of these I focused on the Boulder Flatirons, but I also drew areas around Ghost Ranch in Santa Fe and a few scenes from around Leadville. It was fun to work with limits for these, not just the limits of ink but also the limits of color and value. They helped me get more creative.

A new character appeared in my art in 2023. I made several paintings and drawings of my baby-now-toddler. Since he is a redhead, he makes for a fun subject in color, though I also did some drawings of him in black and white.

It’s been fun to learn to paint and draw my favorite (very) young person.

On the computer side of things, I had tons of fun with digital art in 2023. The piece I am most proud of is this animation involving a waterwheel, of a floating island environment.

I made this one week in August where I had a cold. After drawing all the bricks and buildings and finishing the static version of this piece… I was still sick with some non-covid thing, drinking theraflu like there was no tomorrow, and couldn’t go outside or run because I felt so bad. So, I decided to push this piece a bit further, and add animation to it.

Here is the animation on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwf_KpdA73-/

Animating a wheel from a 45 degree angle … where there is water involved …. completely by hand … is what I would call difficult. The wheel is rigid but the water is not. It’s a good mix of movement. Maybe it’s even perfect as an assignment to oneself. This was a breakthrough exercise for me because it was so challenging and varied. I’m sure if I had used 3D modeling software to animate the waterwheel, it would have been much easier. I’m glad I spent the time to do this by hand, however. As it is, I used Clip Studio Paint and Procreate both to make the animation.

More digital art:

I made another piece I really like, featuring the ‘back’ of the Boulder Flatirons near the trail to NCAR. I was running out in this area one day and took a pic of where I was, realizing it was the back of what I usually look at each day driving through Boulder on my way to McGuckins or whereever. The idea of the back of a landmark, like the back of Mt. Rushmore, or the Niagra Falls from the other direction, made me think of making this piece.

I also reworked some motifs from earlier years, like the piece below.

Also in the digital category, I tried out a couple AI apps and sent my modeling photos into the app. This one below is from an app called Prequel.

Being someone who has made drawings and paintings my whole life, and also someone who models, I have a lot of thoughts about AI image creation, and recorded some of the thoughts here. As time goes by and more technology is sharpened, as as I hear and read more artist stories about AI, my thoughts change, and I will do my best to keep them updated. For the moment, it’s certainly not only visual artists and models who are (unwillingly) providing content for AI, it’s everyone and everything with an image on the internet, I’d say.

A new medium for me that I tried this year was embroidery. I enjoyed embroidery quite a bit and found it to be very fun, like painting or drawing with thread. I hope to try a new medium every year.

I started out 2023 hoping to count every painting I made. I lost count shortly after making the watercolor rainbow trout in January. I didn’t have the best system for tracking this. Maybe in 2024 I will be able to do this, but perhaps just the idea of counting paintings is a good enough idea to kickstart a year of art.

Until next time, See you, Space Cowboy ….

My journey into embroidery

I started embroidering this year and I have been loving it! It’s like drawing and painting with thread.

I’m by no means perfect or even ‘good’ at embroidery. Since it’s new for me, I find myself focusing on every stitch. I forget everything else except the stitch, so it is very zen as an activity. Maybe embroidery is like this for people who are very good at it, I’m not sure.

The cool thing about embroidery is anything can be embroidered, especially after making a plan and identifying the right techniques

Sometimes I find myself thinking about other stuff while drawing or painting, I think this is because I’ve spent so much time mastering drawing and painting that my brain, sometimes, doesn’t need to focus as much to make what I am hoping to make. While drawing a face I can very easily start thinking about chores or traffic or some kind of drama. It’s not always this way but sometimes it is.

With embroidery, it’s not this way - if I drift off in thoughts it’s usually to a neutral space where I’m not thinking about other things. It’s a chance to focus evenly.

I took a local class on embroidery and learned a few different types of stitches. This 3 hour class was a good way to get started and to learn various techniques and also to just sit down and focus for a bit on learning something new. The hand above is what I made in the class. I’m pretty happy with it - I learned quite a bit while making this hand, which employs many different stitch types, and a high frequency of each stitch, so that anyone making it learns the stitch type very thoroughly.

As far as books I have read or flipped through to find techniques and patterns, I have been loving these two: The Royal School of Needlework’s Book of Embroidery and Rachael Dobbins’ Modern Embroidery.

Both of these books are full of ideas with new things to try as well as useful information about traditional embroidery. I found myself reading through Modern Embroidery quite a bit and appreciating the writing and images. One might think with books like this that they are all about the images, but I really appreciated the clear writing in this book. It can be hard to fully understand stitches through writing and images alone (hello youtube!) yet I found myself understanding everything very easily with this book.

One of my favorite patterns I’ve made so far is this one, which I found online by googling “Winter scene embroidery”. I didn’t draw the pattern on this or anything, I just looked at the image on Google and copied it in thread, and put my own spin on a few things here and there.

All of the embroideries pictured here are small except for the hand - they’re about 4 x 4 inches. I am putting each one on my christmas tree this year as ornaments. I think they will be great decorations in the years to come, maybe heirlooms if I am lucky, we will see.

Until next time!

The Go Gopher

Today I made a version of the Go Gopher out of paper! I think it will be a fun gift.

Touching up Frames using Furniture Repair Sticks

A very front-of-mind occupation that I have as an artist is finding and paying for frames for my artwork. I’m probably like many artists - I love making art most of all, and I want my art to look it’s best, so it’s worthwhile to me to seek out the best frames possible for my art.

Even though I know that framing is a worthwhile pursuit, I still like making art most of all, so, framing can risk being a bit of a chore. Restoring frames has made the chorelike task of framing more fun for me, and it’s also very economical. Restoring frames that are scratched or damaged taps into the problem-solving aspect of my creative practice.

So very many options for framing lay scattered across the internet in various shops and channels, yet a resource I’ve come to appreciate over time is finding frames at local yard sales and estate sales.

The frames I find at yard sales are 90% wall-ready frames, yet, they’ve usually been moved into a yard or driveway or piled together with other items. They’ve been bumped or scratched.

Restoring frames that I have found at yard sales has been easy and inexpensive, but finding out the best way to do this did take me some time. The best way to repair scratches on frames is to use furniture repair sticks, like this one below:

In this example frame, you can see below some of the scratches the frame has. Most of the wood structure looks very good, yet there are small chipped or scratched areas on the frame.

The photo above is the entire frame ‘before’ my wax stick coverage of the scratches and bumps. Below is an after of a specific area:

Here is the before and after together:

Like I mentioned above, the frame in the before photo looks 90% wall-ready, all it needed was a few touchups to be truly ready for prime time.

To do what I did here, especially if you’re new to restoring frames or you’d like to spruce up some old frames and save money, I recommend buying a set of furniture repair sticks online or from your local tool/home improvement store. These are wax sticks where you can run the stick over a frame, smooth down the wax after it is applied, and voila, your frame looks like it’s brand new. Scratches are now repaired by the wax.

What I liked best was getting a set including several colors of wax sticks to make sure I could repair any frame I came across. A range of different browns, reds, and cream colors is what will have the most application.

Before finding wax sticks as a solution to fixing up frames, I went through all sorts of other ideas in my head to repair the wonderful frames I’d found for 50 cents or sometimes even free. Should I paint the frame? Refinish it somehow?

While I have run into frames that need a full repaint, it’s pretty rare. 9.5 times out of 10, wax sticks are the way to go to repair the frames that I’ve found at yard sales or estate sales.

In addition to saving money and time, this process also rescues frames from the landfill. I remember one estate sale that I went to on a Sunday afternoon, where the sale was ending soon and the seller was eager to get as many items as possible cleared off of their property - the seller gave me a box of a dozen old-timey frames for free. I fit them into my car - barely - and wasn’t sure what I would do with them all or if I could even come close to fixing them. They were such nice, wonderful frames! Some of them surely had cost over $200 when they were originally purchased. Yet all the frames had the 90% problem. They were A- or B+ frames at best. It was this experience that led me to go down a research path towards finding the wax sticks and the best way to repair the frames. Surely if I hadn’t been to the estate sale at the last minute, and if I hadn’t been so tenacious at researching frame restoration tactics, the wonderful frames would be in a landfill right now.

As far as saving money, I can conservatively estimate that the original cost of all the frames I’ve salvaged this summer is around $1000. Who knows? Unconservatively, maybe it’s more like $2000. The wax furniture repair sticks cost me $7.

Good luck in retouching any frames you may have, and I hope this blog is helpful!