March 2017 - What's on your workbench?

TimJ

TimJ

Well-known member
Out of the heart of winter and into the early stages of spring a man's thoughts turn to one thing. Yep you guessed it, Crappies. ;)

Since i finished this up this evening I thought I'd take the burden off of Steve for one month and start the workbench thread. This is an 15x18 portrait of a White and a Black Crappie on weathered wood. I'm liking painting on this type of material.

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Tim
 
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Out of the heart of winter and into the early stages of spring a man's thoughts turn to one thing. Yep you guessed it, Crappies. ;)
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Men might be thinking of fish, but we all know what your are thinking about...Pansies!
 
All of the base colors are in place. I will go over the side pockets and back and tertials with a 2/0 script liner and tie things together, as well as paint the primary feathers and highlights, and then keel it.


 
Spring = FISHING

Glad for the photo's of the Crappie Bass and the Pike from both Tim's. Very good work guys.

Fishing gear is all ready to go and your work just gets me more fired up. Thanx.


I've got some oil paintings and decoys in various stages, but still cannot post photo's. The sooner I get out of the studio/shop, and on the water the better.
 
Tim, very nice! You even painted the dorsal spine counts in the right range.
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Believe me if I didn't have it right I'd repaint it because it would bother me. :) I should have added a hybrid in there. Those will confuse people. They are usually shaped like Blacks with the 6 spines of the White.


Chuck, I've been fondling my seed packets.

Thanks guys.

Tim
 
Here's where I'm at on a Upper Chesapeake can. I forgot to put some dryer in the white, man it takes along time for that stuff to dry.


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Might help if you put it in front of a fan. At least the surface will skin over. Heaven only knows how long the inner stuff takes.
 
Darin~

Gorgeous!

You are right about White oils - takes forever to "dry". You might try over-painting the White with another coat laced (very sparingly) with Cobalt dryer.

All the best,

SJS
 
George, Steve

Thanks for the suggestions. I painted the eye tonight and brought it upstairs where it's a little warmer. I still need to finish painting the bottom, so I'll try painting over the sides and see if that speeds things along. The back with the vermiculation is pretty much dry so I can set it upside down to paint.
 
Darin, I would caution you on laying the bird on its back until the vermiculation layer is fully dried and cured. Assuming you painted a layer in dark as background, let it flash and then layered white over this to comb-in the vermiculation, the surface may no longer be tacky but the paint is thick and will likely smudge or distort the vermiculation while sitting on its back resting against a hard surface. This outcome puts you in the position of having to decide whether to strip and repeat you work....patience will likely serve you better in the long run to get to a finished decoy you are happy with.

If you have access to a sunny room space where you can place the decoy in full sunlight, the UV component will work its magic, speeding the paint cure.
 
An interesting (for me, anyway) side note on upper bay stuff. Many years ago, I have the honor of watching the late Madison Mitchell working in his shop. I asked him why he painted the heads last when doing decoys and he simply stated: "It gives you something to hold onto when you are doing the rest of the decoy." Made sense to me!
 
George - That's a good story from a old master to a new master.

I thought we all did that. A decoy head is a handle isn't it?

As far as the surface paint drying before the paint under it, that's a problem waiting to happen. Artist oils are interior paints and require patience in application and curing. Rust-Oleum and Ronan do a fine job if your unwilling to wait, are far less pricey, and durable.
 
Tim~

Love those scaly creatures of yours!

I completed this bird last month - but had to keep it a secret until we presented it to Anthony Babich for all of his wonderful videography for ON THE FALLING TIDE.


It's hollow pine. I like flat-bottom birds as per Wildfowler Decoys and Thousand Islands, et cetera - but they are especially useful when signing a bunch of names - all of the "movie stars" from our DVD. Since it is destined to live on a mantel or bookshelf, I put 2 coats of Minwax Furniture Wax (walnut flavor) over the flat paint.


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All the best,

SJS
 
Tim, I really like your crappie. I think you did a great job on them.

I finally have something to contribute to the workbench page. My carving club here in town sponsored a woodburning class this weekend and I was lucky enough to be able to get in on the class. Our instructor was Orchid Davis and she is a really neat lady. I liked her a lot and I thought she was a really good teacher. This was the first time I'd ever worked with a woodburner. I have a lot to learn, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

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Dani
 
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