Dmitry Podgorniy, posts tagged: en

What I needed to start drawing Bob Ross’s wet-on-wet technique

Sun, 26 Aug 2018 22:14:14 +0200

You might seeing video where Bob Ross creates whole painting like such in 30 minutes.

I got impressed and decided to try this technique. Bob Ross’s “everyone can create such painting” was appealing. I’m gonna share below my experience of starting painting in wet-on-wet technique.

Shopping and caveats
Theory
Learnings

Shopping

Paint set.

To pain wet-on-wet you should use special brushes. Bob’s brushed look like ordinary brush for painting walls. But in fact that brush has special type of bristles. So to succeed you need to buy brush of special type. There are different sets which contain brushes as well as paint. I went with master set (4 brushes, palette knife, paints, liquid white).

Easel.

Next you need an easel. I recommend to take one to use atop of a table. Also make sure that construction is steady enough because painting technique requires to push canvas firmly from time to time. The one I bought isn’t steady enough. I have to hold it with another hand from time to time.

Mine looks like

Canvas.

You’re interested in double primed pre-stretched canvas. I use 30x40 cm. There is no point in using smaller canvas because it’s hard to use brush on it. I tries 3 types of canvases from different vendors. Some absorb liquid white very fast so blending attempts fail miserably.

See failed sky and water

And what blending I actually tried to achieve.

So buy one, try it and buy more after you know which vendor suits your needs. I found suitable ones by Van der Linde in their store in Amsterdam.

Palette.

You need really big one. The one I bought is 43x31 cm and it feels too small. I use another small palette to fit all colors. So you want something bigger. I bought plastic one and it’s not so good to work with knife on it because it bends and knife scratches the surface. I’ll hunt for acrylic glass one in near future.

Mine looks like:

Paint thinner.

You need one to wash you brushes as you progress through paining. Take at least 1 litre bottle. For me it lasted for 2 paintings then it became to muddy. And take odourless one. I made a mistake buying this one. Don’t buy it, it does not work as you would expect. I’m using this one now.

Get a bucket with lid (I did not find appropriate yet, using plastic one from paint store). Optionally buy cleaning screen to scrub brushes against it.

Theory

I watched about 15 hours of painting videos from seasons 1-2 plus random videos from next seasons. It gave me general idea how painting progress and what are elements of technique. Master paint set comes with 1 hour DVD which I found in digital version on the internet. I watched it 2 times and then worked on painting pausing video as progress. There is also a 3 hour instructions video somewhere on internet where Bob shows how to paint separate elements and ways to fix mistakes. I watched it before starting my first painting.

Learnings

You need a place to rid off excess of paint thinner. I use bucket with garbage bag.
It’s very easy to apply too much of liquid white to a canvas. You may scrub excess with palette knife. Too much liquid white will result in too much blending. My first clouds were too blended because of excess of liquid white.
Think about ventilation in a room where you paint. It gonna smell paint thinner.
Having a towel around is a good idea. You want to use it to wipe your knife.
Be ready that paint will get on your cloth.
It took me 2 hours to finish first paining.
Be ready that you first session will fail because materials won’t fit. Or because you won’t be 100% prepares.

Hope that helps. Enjoy your painting.

Cyprus experience. Mountains

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 10:53:11 +0200

Mountains were crucial part of my Cyprus experience. It’s a place where you can hide from high temperature and humidity, see some green plants, prepare souvla and fry halloumi. Astonishing view on other mountains, villages, reservoirs.

Artemis trail. A circle trail of 8 km around mountain of Olimpus. Must-visit place if you have a car. Easy trail, nice weather (in summer and autumn) and breathtaking views.

Are you tired dear traveler? Here’s a bench in the middle of the route. Have some rest and enjoy the view

At some places you forget that you’re still in Cyprus. It’s so wet and green around.

Kelefos bridge

Rains are is only source of drinkable water in Cyprus. Winter is a rainy season. Mountains “catch” rainy clouds, water drains with streams and end up in reservoirs.

Let’s get down and check it out

Another reservoir near Limassol. You can see that it’s quite empty. Recent years were not generous in terms of rains.

View of Limassol from the same spot

Let’s go to the Latsi and walk to the mountain. Part of straight tail.

And look from above. Trail is on the right.

It’s not lense effect. It’s halo.

Look from the other side of the mountain is gorgeous.

During other trip I swam in that water. Here’s photo from the mountain I took previous picture from.

At least 3 meters deep

Back to heights. Cape Greco. White wave foam in bottom right corner for scale.

Shoreline for scale

Cyprus experience. Animals

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 11:03:58 +0200

Name of this lovebird is Pardon. At pet shop he looked so sick he might not survive not speaking being bought by somebody. Kate’s heart could not resist this situation. She brought this guy home. We gave him to our friends when left the island.

Padeniy. Our first pet. Later we brought lady friend Marina. They spent long hours outside of cage flying around. Inexpressible experience for owner and for birds. And yes, bird shit on walls. We gave them to friend when left as well.

Last thing I expect to catch in mountain river. Freshwater crab. This buddy was released after photo session.

Geсkos. Frequent flat guests. Night creature, perfect climber (met several in our flat which was on second floor).

Tiny lizard.

Huge ant.

Boris the mantis. Caught this guy when he was 1-2 moults old. About 4 moults later he grew up wings. It’s time to release him into the wild. Released him into green area in Ayia Napa.

Wild boars near the abandoned village.

And of course cats. There are numbers of cats leave in Cyprus. Years back they were released into wild to fight venomous snakes and succeeded. Unfortunately tons cats live in the streets.

There is even a cat monastery. A way to appreciate cats effort for fighting snakes. But conditions are way worse than in sanctuary.

Our friends volunteered for cats sanctuary. Sanctuary is a home for 300 cats. They have doctor, enough food and shelter. Sanctuary is ran on donations and with help of volunteers. We put our small contribution as well.

Cicada. Loud small creature. Sings in summer. I never forget this experience: 40 degrees, high humidity and tens of these little fellas chirping shit out.

Watch out renting a flat for a long period near tall trees. If you rent in winter or spring, you might be surprised with choir of cicadas in summer.

Paphos zoo.

I love serpentarium.

Poni

White wallaby.

Cyprus experience. Seasons from the same spot

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 22:29:17 +0200

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter