Day Six; Phoenix face and the start of the wings. I thought the painting ugly for a while, a sin for I'm responsible for every square millimetre. After that I called her beautiful, and it worked! forcing me to focus all the harder on the bits that needed attention. I began a new brush, making three that I've used up in under a week! Hard surfaces really punish brushes. I noticed that when painting on canvas the brushes stay in top condition. I also began a new tube of mars black and cobalt turquoise, before I'd finished the old ones. The Winsor and Newton black turns rather grey and pasty near the bottom (as do all of their oil paints; many paints exhibit oil separation in the tube, but this make in particular seems extra thick and greyish in the second half). As with the nickel yellow their cobalt appears dull compared to the Blockx version, which costs a lot more at about £40 a tube. That colour is perhaps the most beautiful of all paints. Tip of the day is to use blu-tak to remove wet paint.
In other news my new business cards arrived today. The front and rear (web version)...
I also heard that my painting has got into the M.O.M.A. Wales exhibition. It will be on show in the gallery in Machynlleth until September.
