My home studio includes a painting work area, digital image editing work area, bookcases, work tables, and studio storage. The ceiling height is only 8 feet so most all of the large paintings are 24 inches or so in height. Its warm, comfortable, well lit, with large sliding doors to the back yard, adequate ventilation and provides all the space I need to paint and do my digital image editing and photo restoration work.

Surface and preparation – Landscapes
I prefer to paint on prepared panels, which I make myself using 1/2-inch Trupan Ultralight MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). These panels are 1/3 the weight of commercial MDF, never warp and require no cradling. I purchase them in 4 x 8 ft. sheets and cut them to size on a table saw. A ground coat is applied using Utrecht Professional Acrylic Gesso to prepare the surface for painting. It is a superior gesso, thick and quite opaque, easy to apply, non-absorbent and ideally suited to my paint and wipe-out method of painting. With an inexpensive 4-inch hardware store chip brush I apply the first coat of gesso using long random brushstrokes as I prefer a slightly textured surface. After drying I skim sand lightly with 220 grit sandpaper or sometimes no sanding at all. After drying for several hours or overnight (outside in direct sun less than one hour) I apply a second coat the same way.

Surface and preparation – Florals
Using the same panels as described above or on the bare MDF panel I attach high quality portrait grade Belgian linen using Lineco Neutral pH Adhesive applied with a 6-inch high density foam roller, one coat to attach and another coat on top to saturate the linen. After drying overnight the panel is sanding with 150-grit sandpaper. Next, I apply a coat of Gamblin Oil Painting Ground (alkyd resin, titanium dioxide, and calcium carbonate) with an inexpensive 3-inch disposable brush thinned with a bit of solvent to make it easier to apply, and then go over it with a 6-inch high density foam roller, leveling out the ridges from the brush marks until the surface is consistently smooth. After drying outside in direct sun for one day (one week or longer indoors), I  sand with 150-grit sandpaper. The process is then repeated for the second coat. On panels only (no mounted linen) I apply two coats of Premium Ultra Pure white 100% Acrylic Latex house paint, sanding in-between coats. After drying overnight I apply two coats of Gamblin Oil Painting Ground finishing off as described above. Check out my YouTube video demonstrations to see the process from start to finish, and more.

Drawing and transfer
For many years I would transfer my reference image – output to HP Everyday Matte Polypropylene print I purchased from Staples – onto my panel using large sheets of Saral Graphite Transfer Paper. Click HERE to view a video of this process. Nowadays I use a BenQ TH670 DLP HD 1080p Digital Projector to draw key shapes and details directly onto the panel using a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 3B Graphite Art Drawing Pencil.

Easel and palette
My easel is an antique French-made upright floor design of unknown manufacture. It is large and heavy and features a machined steel hand-crank mechanism for effortlessly raising and lowering the transom that holds the panel. Under the transom is a built-in box useful for storage both inside and on top.. To the left of the easel is a large mechanic’s chest of drawers which I use as a palette and to keep my most often used brushes handy. On top is a piece of 3/16-inch MDF and on top that rests my palette, a 3/16-inch thick piece of 18 x 41 inch plate glass The drawers underneath hold all of my tubed oil paint, brushes, drawing tools, mediums and most of my other art materials and tools.

Palette colors, medium and clean-up – Landscapes only
Currently for landscape I am using a limited palette including Yellow Ochre (Lefranc Bourgeois); Sap Green (Lefranc Bourgeois); Transparent Red Ochre (Lefranc Bourgeois); Royal Blue (Lefranc Bourgeois); Ultramarine Blue (Lefranc Bourgeois); Paynes Grey (Lefranc Bourgeois); and on occasion Light Green (Lefranc Bourgeois); Japanese Red (Lefranc Bourgeois); Primary Yellow (Lefranc Bourgeois); Phthalo Blue (Winsor & Newton). and Titanium White (Lefranc Bourgeois). This will probably change as I begin to integrate some favorite colors from the palette I used to paint my floral works. I am considering replacing the Sap Green and Transparent Red Ochre with Phthalo Green and Transparent Red Oxide and adding Violet Gray (Old Holland) plus a few other colors, while still maintaining a somewhat limited palette and a tonalist approach.

To thin my paint for I use Gamblin Solvent-Free Fluid. My painting medium is Rublev’s Oleogel, an acceptable substitute for the unsurpassed Classic Medium’s Flemish Maroger. In an effort to limit my exposure to reportedly harmful ingredients found in many artist’s materials, I longer use any solvents during painting, only to clean brushes with Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits after a painting session. I follow that up with a final cleaning of the brushes and hands in the sink using Savvy Soap Hand & Brush Cleaner and/or Dawn Dishwashing detergent. Although I am satisfied that my studio is now “solvent-fee”, there is price to pay for not using solvents, which evaporate rapidly and allow significantly faster drying times. It now takes 8 – 10 days for a work to dry before I can add another layer of paint, if I need to do so (I try not to) and up to 4 – 6 weeks to thoroughly dry. Previously, the surface “set-up” within several hours and was completely dry overnight. My work around is to always have several works in progress, and then go back and complete and/or sign them as necessary. 

Palette colors – Florals only
My working palette varies from painting to painting depending on the colors of the flowers in my reference image. Sometimes I put out only the few colors that I’ll need for mixing during a work session. Most of the time however, I use an expanded group of 22 or so colors, arranged prismatically and decreasing in value from left to right including: Flake White Replacement (Gamblin) and/or Brilliant Yellow Extra Pale (Williamsburg) and Titanium White (Gamblin, which is actually a mix of titanium and zinc white).; Nickel Titanium Yellow ((Old Holland); Cadmium Yellow (Michael Harding); (Cadmium Yellow Deep (Rembrandt); (Cadmium Orange (Rembrandt); Chinese Orange (Sennelier); Yellow Ochre (Michael Harding); Raw Sienna (Michael Harding); Quinacridone Rose (Michael Harding); Cadmium Red Deep (Michael Harding); Alizarin Crimson (M. Graham); Viridian (M. Graham); King’s Blue Light (Michael Harding); Ultramarine Blue (Michael Harding); Raw Umber (Old Holland); Burnt Umber (Michael Harding); Ivory Black (Michael Harding); Portland Light, Medium and Deep Gray (Gamblin). In the drawer below my palette table are dozens of rarely used tubes of paint relegated to the dust bin over the years.

Mediums and varnish – Florals only
I’ve tried countless mediums and varnish mixtures over the years, mostly Old Masters (now Classic Mediums) Maroger Painting Medium, Flemish formulation. This magical medium and its handling properties and set up time on my mounted linen panels is a joy to use. The only downside is that it’s smelly and contains lead. Fortunately my studio has adequate ventilation but I have stopped using nearly all toxic materials and have replaced my mediums with Rublev’s Oleogel and Gamblin’s Solvent-Free Fluid.  I’ve come to terms with a slightly longer drying time between sessions but they work just fine are non-toxic. About the only “toxic” material I continue to use is Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits because nothing quite seems to work as well for thinning oil paint and cleaning brushes.

Brushes
My go to brushes for the Landscape Series are inexpensive bristle “chip” brushes which I purchase in bulk from Harbor Freight. New ones are great for quickly massing in a general landscape composition and representing the shapes of trees, older, beat up are better for making the marks that create the illusion of detail in bushes, fields, and grasses, along with Rosemary & Co Series 3099 Hog Background brushes, which are expensive and quite nice. For a very long time before that I collected  the highest quality artist’s brushes (I still use some of them on the landscapes) from several manufacturers. My favorites were Princeton Dakota Series 6300 Brights which provided great control and sharp edges when I require them, and were great for the initial color block in. After that I usually switched to Royal & Langnickel SableTek Brights for color refinement and edge handling. For blending passages that have just been blocked-in I used Scenic Fitches — extremely useful and very hard to find brushes used in the production of painted musical backgrounds and sets. I also really like Princeton Imperial 6600 Series brushes, especially their flats and  filberts.  Their mix of natural and synthetic hair is quite nice and the bristles are a bit longer than the other manufacturers.  Other brushes include Winsor & Newton Monarch Series flats and filberts, Raphael Series 869 and Blick Scholastic synthetic rounds; Rosemary & Co. Series 279 Synthetic Blend Masters Choice Long Flats, Ultimate Long Bristle Flats, Classic Egberts (great for blending), Silver Bristlon 1901 Flats; and Filberts and synthetic White Sable Flats from Robert Simmons, when I can find them. I use older beat up brushes for the underpainting and block-in.

Lighting
Primary studio lighting is provided by two 48-inch overhead industrial light fixtures each fitted with two True Lite F40-T12 Full Spectrum industrial light tubes. These lights provide balanced 5700K, 2200 lumen light with a very high 92 CRI (Color Rendering Index). 65-watt daylight floods provide additional overhead lighting. Opposite my easel and drafting table is a large glass sliding patio-style door that provides east/south-east light most of the day.

Photo gear, image editing and printing
My camera is a Nikon D750, a solid full-frame DSLR with a 24.3 MP sensor and excellent built-in flash. For skies and landscape photography I use an AF NIKKOR 35mm f/2 D or an AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. My go to lens for florals and photographing my paintings is an AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G, a very high quality lens for macro (and portrait) photography.  I often shoot florals with Nikon’s R1C1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight System in conjunction with the 105mm lens and also shoot in ambient light when stronger shadow effects are desired. I always shoot in Manual mode and Auto focus, preferably in bright overcast ambient light, and adjust exposure compensation manually as necessary.  All images are shot in Nikon Camera Raw (NEF) format for post-processing in Adobe Camera Raw. During outings I shoot hundreds of reference images for later review using Adobe Bridge and edited with Adobe Photoshop. Only a handful make the cut — that’s just how it is. None of my working reference images are single shot keepers — all have been edited and composited as necessary using Photoshop from multiple source images to create a unique composition. Reference prints are output to an Epson P-700 10-color professional inkjet photo printer.