Comment by Cecile Hines on March 31, 2012 at 6:38am

Beautiful Jennifer!

Comment by Sharron Boxenbaum on March 31, 2012 at 8:49am

Hey Jennifer! How are you? Love the lighting in this - was this from your Florida sojourn?

Comment by Jennifer Holmes on March 31, 2012 at 12:53pm

Hi Sharron Hi Cecile,

  Thanks for your comments here. Yes this was part of my painting adventures in FL. I can see how it will be very hot in a month or two from now and I would probably not be able to paint then. We had such a mild winter in CT there was not much snow to paint so I don't feel like I missed anything. We had our one big snow in October... weird weather. Florida painting was fun.

Comment by Cecile Hines on March 31, 2012 at 2:11pm

Good to hear that as we plan on moving to Pensacola...hope we don't roast.

Comment by Ed Cahill on March 31, 2012 at 4:56pm

Top notch work. Love all the beach stuff.

Comment by Jennifer Holmes on March 31, 2012 at 10:07pm

Thanks Ed, I painted this one on a self made panel, which, after adhering raw linen with 3 coats rabbit skin glue, drying between layers, sanding,  I brushed on a clear acrylic gesso and sanded lightly. This left the linen color as the mid value under tone for the painting. It worked for this painting, but is not always the best choice. Depends on what you are looking for in final look of the painting. It was fun to work with this surface.

    Weather in Florida in the summer is excruciatingly hot and often humid. If you paint outside, better if you are an early riser or late nighter. But then there are the insects... I was born and lived in FL for the first 6-7 years of my life and we always came north for the summer. I never thought about why. Now, though it seems important

Comment by Ed Cahill on April 1, 2012 at 6:50am

Thanks for all your information Jenn. I too now make my own panels using MDF and linen with that amazing miracle muck. I used oil primer on the first batch but I ddid not like it so I went back to gesso. In collage I used rabbit skin glue a lot ( it was cheaper) I always liked it and yes, it does give you a nice ground. So I'll try it again.

About Florida, It's spring break here any everyone goes to Panama City and Destin from Atlanta. I love the white beach and aqua green waters but the crowds are crazy. I've been going to Hilton Head for the last three years—a bit quieter and you have the marshes too.

Comment by Jennifer Holmes on April 1, 2012 at 7:23am

I did use some oil ground over some of the panels I made with the rabbit skin glue. I liked them also with just one or two thin coats of the oil ground. Too much and you lose the linen weave coming through. What didn't you like about painting on the oil ground?

Comment by Ed Cahill on April 1, 2012 at 3:31pm

I used Kilz, they make an oil primer, but It didn't seal to well and the paint sort of absorbed in— yuck. I even tried a few coats but I still did not like it. It is great for painting over an old canvases though. I suppose there is a better product for priming. Eventually I just used some titanium white oil paint.

Love your work. How long have you been doing plein air?

Comment by Jennifer Holmes on April 1, 2012 at 4:46pm

I used for the oil ground: Gamblin oil ground, which is fun to apply but do this with a big acrylic spatula. You apply it thinly and let dry and sand between coats. Takes a few days in humid weather so prepare in advance. That works pretty good and is archival. If you don't want to wait, Golden has a professional grade white acrylic based gesso that is very nice also. If you are using raw linen though, It might be a good idea to rabbit skin glue it first to size it. Production line is the most efficient way. If you have oil paint on the painting surface already, as in an old painting you want to paint over, then it is a good idea to use either oil paint or oil ground to prepare the surface for a new painting. Remember Fat over Lean and you will not go wrong. I always sand my paintings outside with a dust mask and gloves and I don't go down to the bare surface. Just sanding to get rid of any high ridges and then wipe clear of dust. If the painting has an over all hue, like green you can use a tint of opposite color to gray it down so it is less distracting to paint the new painting. I never did this because I feel that the original becomes the under-painting and I actually have to concentrate more when painting over another painting. It is entirely up to each person how they want to accomplish this, but the outside sanding work is a safety matter because many hues contain cadmium or other heavy metals that you don't want to absorb, breathe or have settle in your studio or house. I painted outside with pastels for about 7 years until finally switching to oils in 2002. The one good thing about paint being absorbed is that it forces you to paint with more paint and be more decisive with your brush strokes. When I first started with oils I didn't ever use enough paint. I would look down and realize I was not painting with any paint at all!! I didn't want to stop and mix any so I would just keep using the spot where it used to be. Pretty bad. Eventually got over that problem but it took some hard thinking on my part.

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