One of my favorite tools of all time.
OK, this is a little insight into the mysterious world of fine art painting. This is one of my favorite tools. It is a paint scraper. A two buck tool that makes cleaning my palette a joy.
Let me explain.
I am a fanatic about keeping my brushes and palette clean. I believe that I cannot mix colors properly and predictably if there is a mess of colors smeared all over my palette. So I clean my palette several times during a painting session. I use a glass palette which is a piece of 1/4 inch glass I had cut to fit the top of a microwave oven cart. I have a piece of neutral gray paper under it to give me a nice, middle-tone gray to mix my colors against. The reason for a glass palette is to make it easy to clean. I used to use a palette knife to scrape the paint off the palette but it left a residue and some streaks of paint that I would wipe off with a paper towel. Not a big deal but I always felt there would a better way somewhere.
So about a year ago I bought a DVD from Richard Schmid on painting landscapes. He is also a clean freak with a glass palette. In the DVD he nonchalantly scrapes the paint off his palette with a cheap, hardware store, paint scraper. It was beautiful. The obvious simplicity of using that tool was a revelation. Okay, I must be a little slow not to think of it myself. I can take the humiliation. It is a small price for a cool idea.
The one in this picture needs a serious blade replacement.
Any artists have odd favorite tools?
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Not goofy, insightful.
I use a steady stick. A simple dowel from home depot to steady my hand as I paint. Somehow I got the notion to carve a handle for it. Still in progress, I wonder if I will ever fininish it.
Not really something goofy, but when I paint watercolor and acrylic I am a stickler for clean water. I am also far too busy to spend any time cleaning up a water container. It must be glass, has to be glass, you know? I finally decided I needed dedicated water containers and bought some matching, not very attractive glasses at the second hand store for a dime a piece. With several, fresh water is always at hand and I don’t have to get up all the time to clean and/or get fresh water. They go in the dishwasher and back to the work bench. Not weird, but a necessity.
Hehe… One of my favorite tools too, but for the opposite reason! I”m terrible about remembering to clean my palette at the end of the day, so I’m always using the blade to scrape dried paint off of my palette a day or two later =)
It’s not strange.
i use a, you know the clear plastic palette, then I glue a white pastel paper to the back of it, then screw it on to a rolling gardeners table. I do keep it cleaned off enough so there isn’t a dried up mess on the palette. However, my fastidiousness ends there for I feel the less careful I am while working the better my unfolding process, as you know one really does not know the end result. Well, I follow the brush.
Scott – I have been looking for an old fashion, simple cane to use as steady stick. I might just have to whittle one myself. Good luck
Lynne – It is all about clean color. I started painting primarily using watercolor. You have whetted my appetite to go back to it sometime.
Stacey – Great to hear from you – I use it for the dry stuff, too. At the end of a session I often have great intentions to use what I have mixed on the palette the next morning. I cover it will plastic wrap. There is sits – often for days – dang.
Stephen – My palette needs the cleaning because is becomes a riotous chaos of color after a while. My fastidiousness is not a sign of orderliness.
I paint in acrylics and I like to have two containers of water available, one for rinsing my brushes and one for wetting them before I use my medium. I love coffee and buy Folgers in the plastic containers. As the older containers become stained with paint, I replace them with the newer cans after all the coffee is gone.
Also, I can’t do without my draftsman’s duster brush to remove dust from my canvas before I paint or varnish it.
After seeing the video of schmid , i came to the same conclusion as you did, and in the dollar store, I got myself one of this scrapers. now my palette is nice and clean, thanks to richard schmid
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
Of course. Be my guest, Polprav.