In March of this year, I attended a five day workshop with Ted Nuttall. I have mentioned several times in this blog how much I learned from Ted during that week. I feel that my painting took a big leap forward under his instruction and my subsequent almost daily practice. Here is the snapshot that I took of him during one of his lectures and the painting I am doing of that picture. The first shows some of the early washes and a bit of detail emerging. The next is how the painting stands now. I still have work to do. Ted paints entirely on Arches 300 pound hot press paper. He encourages his workshop students to use that paper during the workshop and I have been using it almost exclusively since then. However, I wanted to try this portrait on 300 pound cold press and I am pleased at how it is handling. Different, to be sure but actually quite a pleasure to work on. I think I will be using it more and more along with the hot press. And I can't say enough how much I LOVE the 300 pound paper! No warping, no stretching! A bit more money? Yes, but I work mostly on quarter sheets and usually use both sides, since I am in the practice stage and not the masterpiece stage! LOL!!! So that makes it a bit more affordable. From my days of sewing, I learned that nothing replaces quality materials. If I am going to spend my time doing something, I don't want to be trying to accomplish good work with inferior or bargain materials. Thanks for reading!
