[BAS Newsletter] Rabbits - and studios again

[Adrian Fowle (BAS Chairman)]

We have had three new members join recently and plunge straight in. It 
was a pleasure to welcome you last week and this.

Those who attended enjoyed our chat on studios. I'll give a summary in a 
minute.

First, news of our next "social meeting" this coming Friday. We are 
going to try having a theme, topic or task for some of these meetings. 
This week, we suggest you produce a representation of a rabbit in 
whatever medium you fancy. Please don't spend too long on it, unless you 
really want to. You don't even have to do one at all - we still hope to 
see you at the meeting.

Deborah has kindly agreed to chair the meeting. There is no one time 
that suits everyone, unfortunately. We have picked 6pm again. With any 
luck we shall be able to have participants share their screens in Zoom 
to display their "homework".  I have already sent round the Zoom 
invitation.

*Technical notes - Our discussion on Studios*

Some members have converted an outbuilding or a garage into a home 
studio. Others with "empty nests" repurposed a bedroom. The remainder 
made do with what was available in living space, or painted outside the 
home.

The changing colours and direction of daylight bothered some, but not 
others. John Dawson uses cheap builders floodlights on  a stand, which 
he said are daylight bulbs. He showed us something that looked like this 
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-hlc400t-230v-twin-halogen-work-lights-w 
.Others use artists daylight bulbs, something like this 
https://daylightcompany.com/artist-studio-lamp-with-stand/. One garage 
conversion boasted daylight colour ceiling light, but in a fitting which 
might make changing the bulb difficult.

Access to water and drainage was another issue. I was not the only one 
to fear carrying anything painty over a carpet.

We also discussed the comparative smell of real oil paint, modified oil 
paints and altogether different paints. We didn't quite manage to 
discuss VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which is the technical jargon 
for these smelly and sometimes dangerous compounds. We had a brief 
diversion into oil and turps for oil paints.

I inadvertently suggested using hairspray as a cheap form of fixative 
for watercolour works, when I meant charcoal. Paul picked me up on it. 
His response is interesting and I quote it in full:

"I would just like to  pick you up on your hairspray comment and my use 
of acrylic lacquer to protection for watercolour on gesso paintings 
yesterday. It is not the quite the same as hairspray which I would never 
use on watercolour for obvious reasons! Practically everyone knows it is 
perhaps used as a cheap fixative for charcoal etc but never for 
watercolour as far as I know.

When painting on gesso it is quite different from paper. I will not go 
into the reason for using gesso occasionally rather than traditional 
watercolour papers but the paint tends to sit on the surface. The result 
is that the surface needs extra protection when complete.

Acrylic lacquer is quite different from hairspray. Please see its 
properties and usages below. Jacksons sell it but it is quite expensive 
in comparison.  When you look at the actual ingredients (which I mostly 
do to avoid brand hype costs) you can buy the same stuff far cheaper 
from other sources.

https://www.jacksonsart.com/lascaux-aerosol-uv-protect-varnishes-uk-only

Also when protecting watercolours with acrylic lacquer it no longer 
needs strictly to be protected behind glass."

So what did we learn? I had the impression that everyone learnt a little 
something, as well as just broadening our collective and individual 
experience. More sessions to follow!

Adrian


-- 
*Adrian Fowle
Chairman, Bromley Art Society*
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