I have started attending a Monday evening Open Studio at the RAL Art Center in Kilmarnock. It gives me an opportunity to settle in quickly and get something done. This was the last one for 2017, but the facilitator/instructor says she will kick it off again in January.  Most of the participants are beginners who just want an opportunity to focus on small projects in a safe place (without the input from spouses, kids, and parents) while they work through challenges their paintings are giving to them. Folks bring a little something to eat, there is usually a bottle of wine or two… its just a nice place to be for a few hours on a Monday night after a tough day at work.

Because it is in an enclosed space, the facilitator agreed to let me bring my oils only if I left my solvents at home. I have some solvent free gel medium from Gamblin that I like and figured I could clean my brushes when I got home. I confess I was tired when I got home, and have not yet cleaned my brushes. Instead, they are wrapped in plastic and are sitting in the freezer along with the palette with leftover paint on it. I’ve used the freezer method for delaying the inevitable a few times and it does seem to work for at least a week. I haven’t tried to push my brushes longer than that, but the palette lived in there happily for over a month once and the paint was still perfectly fine once it thawed.

This is a little 6X6 oil on a board painted from life. I chose to paint a pinecone because I’ve always told myself they were too hard to paint. I rather enjoyed it and will probably paint another at some point.