The Glass Painter's Method

I’m sure this scene’s familiar – it’s how your palette looks at the start of the day before you’ve done anything:

So what you see is:

• Your lump of paint under a small bowl
• Your reservoir of left-over paint is under a larger one
• And your “applicator brush” – your hake (on top of the large bowl) – is clean and dry.

So yes, I’m sure you’ll recognise that sight.

Meanwhile, this is where you want to be before you can actually start to paint:

It’s different – yes indeed:

1. The lump of paint is alive.
2. The whole palette is awake.
3. And your hake is loaded with paint and ready to go …

It’s ready to paint the undercoat.

It’s also ready to make the most gorgeous tracing paint you could ever wish for.

You see: your hake is a wonderful brush.

But … it’s like a teenager – there’s a right way and a wrong way to waking it up and getting it ready for a day’s work.

And what everyone needs is a reliable method.

Because, when time comes, you’ll actually trace far better.

Clean and dry

So your hake will start its day like this – clean, and dry as a bone:

And, to revive it – to wake it up – what doesn’t work well is this:

And maybe this won’t seem fair.

After all, it’s fine to revive a tracing brush like you see below – by plunging it in water, then shaking off the excess:

But the hake is different.

It’s special.

You must handle it with care.

And in this next video, I want to show you what we do.

Just please don’t do this …

… because drowning your hake can cause you all kinds of problems (it’s like screaming “Get out of bed!” at a 15 year-old).

There’s a gentler, slower, more effective way instead.

This method you’re about to see, it revives your hake and loads it.

It also helps you organise your palette:

How to revive your hake and organise your palette

Here’s how we do it.

Yes, it takes a bit of time.

But it sets you up for success.

(To download the video and play it off-line, click here.)

Effective – and fast

Now this video runs for five minutes.

The reason is, I’m filming it and doing it step-by-step.

The great thing is, when you know what you’re doing, you can do it all in four three two.

Yes, just 2 minutes.

FAST!

My point is: it won’t take you long to “swap water for paint”. Not long at all. And what you get in return is: a revived hake and an organised palette.

AND ALSO … perfect paint for undercoating or tracing.