Re: gum question
On Sun, 8 Jun 2008, Diana Bloomfield wrote: .... So, while digital technology has opened up all kinds of possibilities-- in some ways-- I think there are people out there who just don't know what to think when they see something that doesn't look like it's "supposed to" (ie, big, colorful, digital).Generally speaking, art crit today and probably the galleries, are run by the class dummy... I remember in the long long ago when we had "art talk fever" (artists/critics and related panel discussions practically around the clock) in NYC & CAA (maybe while some folks here today were in kindergarten?)... again and again on a panel of art critics the "star" would mention how he (always a "he") had been doing an MFA at Yale (one of the first & most prestigious MFAs) and, dismayed to find he couldn't cut it with the other students as an *artist,* became a critic (usually stated in so many words). I don't know if dealers (now called "gallerists" -- yuck!) had the same background -- tho maybe they were going for an MBA?). In any event, they may know what they can sell (or WANT to sell), but lack the last word from Olympus on "art." This, Diana, is a dilemma I've heard from several photographers -- and probably goes back to the first photographs (Adam & Eve and that serpent !). It happens to painters,too -- the dealer doesn't like the "new" work ! New topic: Re the beauty of Diana's one coat on the Fabriano -- I don't recall, Diana, if you said you sized the paper in advance? Maybe on that heavy Fabriano shrinking/sizing didn't raise the nap the way it tends to, or maybe you didn't give the ususal hot shrink first, so the paper was less ruffled up ? or you actually coated "virgin" paper? IME, you get one free coat on many papers before you need a size -- the problem being that if you haven't pre-shrunk, you can't re-register for a 2nd coat (unless, if I recall correctly, you're Sam Wang). That's because, as I understand the paper-making process, there's usually a final smoothing roller plus a finishing size of some sort... Then wetting the paper (either to shrink or for the first coat) raises the nap again, unless you've sized. You get away with the first coat, but the raised nap spoils the next. Or that's been my experience and understanding -- that most papers can do a single coat with no added size, but when the nap is raised, the 2nd coat is spoiled. (Tho this probably varies with the paper, the mix, the relative amount of gum, the particular gum & brand of paint, et al.) Finally, re clay as color (and breakfast?). There used to be a fellow on the list with an evocative name I can't think of now, from (I think) a Scandinavian country who dug up his own pigments from the roadside... I think several folks were thus inspired. (I almost was, but fought it.) Judy
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