A lesson in preparation & the six things I can’t live without when painting.
Seven pm, almost on the dot, my leg neuropathy kicks into high gear and I’m ready to head to bed. Most of the time I find myself thinking about what paint I want to toss onto what canvas to then go into which frame? I make a mental plan to paint right after work, before I make dinner for the family, but for sure before that seven o’clock bell rings and I just can’t stay upright anymore. Last night, I planned to paint a landscape with cows in a pasture… it was going to be fun!
I finished work yesterday around 3:45pm and headed straight for my art nook corner of our upstairs loft. On my desk, where my palette generally lives was the remnants of some ornaments I’m painting for upcoming markets, so I cleared the space, grabbed my palette and opened the lid to find leftover oil paint piles all dried up.
That mess of paint left gathered on the palette when I'm finished pushing it onto a canvas is quite beautiful. Life can be a lot like that. Messy, but beautiful.
And while cleaning up that beautiful mess, I found myself thinking about preparation. Preparing a workspace, clearing the piles of stuff, letting the beauty of what was go and finding joy in creating something new. And so I set up my phone and recorded the process to share with you. Praying for you to see beauty where there’s maybe been heartache, for you to give yourself permission to scrape the familiar mess off of your life palette so that there is room for something new to come to life.
Would you pray the same for me? Goodness, Jesus knows that this has been a hard season, for some really beautiful reasons and I just want to see clearly the beauty emerging! There are so many days that I am meandering in the place where it’s taking too long for beauty to pop through, but Jesus isn’t on my timeline and I’m committed to being on His! You with me? Am I with me?!?!
Spoiler alert: I did NOT PAINT the cows last night. School started today and we were out of SOOOO many things that we HAD to make a Costco run. But I sure hope to paint those cows in a pasture soon!
So today, I’ll be content to prepare my workspace, lay out new paint, and then rest in the assurance of who He is.
And since I promised you a list of the six things I can’t live without when painting (besides the paint), HERE YOU GO! (Numbers 1-5 contain affiliate links. There is no added cost to the buyer, just some little perks for me!)
1. A glass scraper tool to get up all the dried paint on your palette. (Make sure you are using the smooth side of your glass palette -link to my favorite below- or you’ll have a hard time scrapping the dried piles of paint off!)
2. This Glass Artist Palette used with the Masterson Airtight Palette Seal. I love these for two reasons. They are easy to clean AND besides keeping the paint wet longer, it makes it easier to travel with my palette.
3. Gamsol for getting the last bits of paint off the palette. I also use Gamsol to remove the first bit of paint of my brushes before the head into the oil soap.
4. Cleanup with the Gamsol is also MUCH easier if I use these disposable Scott Shop Towels. These are also what I use while painting to wipe excess paint from my brushes.
5. So far, I’ve been incredibly impressed with the quality, shipping time, and overall customer service of Rosemary & Co paint brushes. I’ve placed several orders now… and I love them all! Start off with a few Ivory long flat brushes and some Ivory filberts. You won’t be disappointed! Use Code AmieJones23 at checkout and help me earn some free brushes!
6. Lastly, I use my Canvas light every time I paint… not just for content creation, but also for the light it provides! It’s great!