Notes from the Studio
Almost all my paintings are created with large palette knives. For me, this approach is enormously satisfying, as large amounts of paint can be placed on the canvas in one go, and textures are easily built.
A few use some brushwork (e.g. Buy Me a Beach), and some (e.g. Diana's Cauldron) are made with brushes only. Several others, as in the Blues for the Night Queen series, use brushed backgrounds.
Most of the pieces use impasto (textures of varying thickness) rather than flat applications of paint. I sometimes employ wet-in-wet methods; mostly, though, the layers are allowed to dry before overpainting. And mixing small amounts of paint with soft gel gloss allows for relatively thin layers of very translucent color.
The paintings are acrylic on canvas. In terms of factory-made products, I use Golden heavy body and fluid acrylics, and Lascaux Artist paints, mixed most often with soft, regular or high-solid gel and polymer medium. Almost all have a glossy finish, which serves to increase the depth and luminosity.
Recently I have begun making my own paint, using pigment concentrates, binders and thickeners from Guerra Paint and Pigment in NYC. This extends the range of available colors, allows me to create varying paint textures, and is great fun!
© 1993-2008 Merlin Emrys. All Rights Reserved.