Thank you, all...I live about 3 hrs north of Toronto so I could check out Hornet. In the meantime, PF certainly makes up for a lot!

Mary.

When you make the trip down here to the big smoke, Hornet Hobbies (if its the one I'm thinking) and The Sentry are about 15 mintues apart. When you're that far away, you gotta make the most of a trip to Toronto.

Does anyone know of any other shops or groups in or around the Toronto area... I'd be interested to know as well

Happy hunting
Colin

Dave Browne is an ex president of OMSS - Have seen outstanding work by him. Understand re The Toy Soldier side of things - not my cup of tea so can understand the drop off of figure painters.
Ajax has an IPMS branch which had a few figure painters - there was an Ottawa club too

Ian

Mary,

Speaking of the Guelph Show, here's the link to the flyer for this year's show:
http://www.thesprue.com/files/Wellcome15_flyer.pdf

Please consider this a personal invitation to come down and meet a few of us figure types, including very talented folks like Paul Kernan (thanks for the plug for the show!), Dave Browne, Alex McCutcheon and Greg McEvoy from The Sentry among others. You might even get one of us to spring for lunch !:lol:

Cheers,

Brian

Thank you, Brian. I'll put it in my calendar!

Check out Joe Videki's web page. He maybe a valuable contact and have a conversation with; he is in the Toronto area. http://joevideki.com/TMWOJV-Index.html

Mary, here's a couple of handy things I picked up since being on PF:

- Good brushes indeed. I found my way to Winsor & Newton series 7 for the hard stuff. Not that expensive either, if you consider their durability.

- Fine lines: Use a bigger brush than you think, size 0, 1 or even 2. The key requirement is a fine point. The bulk of the brush is needed to hold sufficient volume of paint. I fooled around with 000 brushes for the fine lines but my paint kept drying on the brush before I was finished.

- Invest time in proper pinning and holders. This avoids damage and greasy finger prints.

- With acrylics: sufficient dilution. At the right dilution you need 3 to 4 passes for a solid layer. Highlights and shadows: even more dilution.

- Do not try to blend acrylics like oils. Put on a layer, and let dry completely 20 sec to 2 min before progressing. This avoids a dirty sheen. Hair dryer speeds things up.

- Big error: not cleaning your brushes properly. Don't forget to clean them during paint jobs as well, as acrylics dry so fast. Avoid to get paint in the ferrule, the metal bit.

Hope this is of some help. Without PF I would have had much more error during the trial!

Cheers,
Adrian

Hi Mary
Adrian is right about the brushes a no 1 or 2 will hold more paint than a 0000
and will improve flow, if you buy quality IE red sable they will last and hold a fine point and you can use the edge off the brush also to paint fine raised detail .
Wash them with hand soap in lukewarm water after initial cleaning with turps if you are using oils or other solvent based paints and as Adrian says try and keep the paint out of the ferules.

Ron

Adrian and Ron, I tried a little bigger brush and it's making a huge difference. I had the same problem with the really fine ones; they wouldn't hold the paint.
Thanks very much for the advice,
Mary

Mary, Go to Dick Blick Art Supplies on the net and look for Winsor-Newton Miniature series. Usually a No.1 and 00 are all you'll need.

Bill Ottinger

I much prefer full-size brushes to the miniature series Bill. Plus I wouldn't buy Series 7 brushes sight-unseen if I could avoid it. There are plenty of less-expensive options available these days where the quality is as good or better anyway.

Mary, I advise using the largest brush possible too - we pay a premium for brushes with fine tips, we might as well take advantage of 'em

Einion

I've used these W-N Miniature Series brushes for the past 4 years with no problems. They're shipped with plastic protectors around the sable tips. I just prefer them to the regular W-N Series 7 although both work perfectly well. Bill

I was referring to the 'build quality' more than anything that might happen in storage or transit

Einion

Mary, serie 7 W&N are the best in market, well treated may during decades.
For my figures I use W&N nº1 and sometimes Davinci series 1520, lately I found Rosemary´s brushs and I am happy with.
Dont forget your steady hand and good optivisor ever.
The results come with lots of pratice, with time you will see that.
Mary, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint and paint...

Hi Mary,
While I agree with all the previous posts about techniques, tools and application, for me who is still a newbie - I think being in the right frame of mind has the biggest benefit. If your not then you will make far more mistakes even if you own the greatest set of artists tools and medium in the world.
cheers
Richie

Got to agree with the above statement "if you are not in the right frame you will not produce your best"

Ron

Don't worry, guys...I never start painting when I'm mad.
But sometimes I'm mad when I'm finished

You need to be mad in the bloody first place

There are some previous threads (and numerous other references online) that touch on the quality issues with Series 7 brushes if you're interested. Some variation in a hand-made product is arguably inevitable, but when you pay a premium for something it shouldn't be a "I hope I get a good one."

:lol:

Einion