FREDRIX PRODUCTS UPDATE

THE DON FOSTER CD and COMPANION OIL PAINTING SET

After more than 30 years as an artist/instructor, I've learned from my own experience and that of my students to avoid both unnecessary expenditures and false economy. We painters need materials that will do the job expected without surprises that create frustration, limit potential, or cause us to go into debt. Never fear, Rex Art is here.

Below, I've explained my personal reasons for choosing specific items for the Don Foster CD Companion Oil Painting Set. I highly recommend them for those taking our CD course and all others, including you. You'd be making wise choices.

Testrite Table Easel - This dependably sturdy folding easel is lightweight and easy to set up. It's a wonderful investment.

Weber Turpenoid - Because this thinner is odorless, it's ideal for indoor use, for washes on a canvas, or cleaning palettes and brushes.

Masterson Sta-Wet Palette -The lid on this 12" x 16" light-weight plastic box securely holds your palette (with leftover mixed colors) in place, diminishes air drying, and keeps your pigments fresh for your next painting session.

Paper Palette Pad - There are fifty 12" x 16" sheets on this pad, useful for oils or acrylics. They stay firmly in place. When your easel time comes to an end, discarding the top sheet exposes a pristine surface awaiting your next color mixing.

Tara Palette Knife - A sturdy stainless steel blade, such as this, is essential for color mixing, for moving piles of color on the palette, and for applying or removing paint from your painting surface.

Loew Cornell Script Liner #1 Brush - You'll discover many uses for this rounded, fine tip brush. It's excellent for detail work, such as foliage, twigs, rock cracks, bark texture, and loose strands of hair on portraits of people or animals. Many artists use a script liner to sign their finished work.

Loew Cornell Flat Bristle Brushes - These size variations, #5, #8, and #12 will enable you to depict specific widths and shapes. The brand is recommended because of proven quality and durability.

Canvas Boards - All artists enjoy experimentation. The 9" x 12" size provides freedom, and the low cost encourages use.

Permalba White - This is a titanium white with a smooth, buttery consistency. Because it equalizes the oil content of colors used, they dry at the same time and have an attractive low-gloss sheen. For me, it also eliminates the need for blending a medium with colors. It simplifies the process and saves money.

A word of warning, Weber Permalba White is not always easy to find, unless of course, you order it from Rex Art. Doing that will also save you almost 1/3 of the common retail price. I can't imagine anyone objecting to that!

Grumbacher Pre-Tested Oils

My teaching of oil-painting workshops has taken me far and wide, but it seemed no matter where I found myself, I could always locate a shop that stocked Grumbacher oils. Yes, there are cheaper and more expensive brands available, but to me the Grumbacher colors are perfectly adequate to produce prestigious gallery quality work. By the way, I've discovered that manufacturers produce pigments designed to be compatible with one another. In other words, if we try to combine different brands, the results can range from surprising to disastrous, if not while wet, certainly when drying.

The Rex Art / Don Foster CD Companion Set of oil painting equipment is made up of warm and cool variations of each oil color as I choose to define and use them. My CD-ROM art course, also available through Rex Art, provides fascinating color theory and guidelines, applicable to all mediums and any subject. For example, the warms are essential to creating illusions of light and nearness, attract attention, and the depiction of exciting, happy moods. Conversely, the cooler colors are reserved to produce illusions of shade and distance, to subdue importance, and to communicate tranquil, passive moods.

WARM COLORS	COOLER VARIATIONS
Cadmium Red Light	Alizarin Crimson
Burnt Sienna	Raw Sienna
Cadmium Yellow Pale	Yellow Ochre
Cerulean Blue	French Ultramarine Blue
Permanent Bright Green	Viridian Green
Burnt Umber	Van Dyke Brown
Paynes Gray

If you have art-related questions, please feel free to ASK DON through my email address, info@artistsworkshop.com We'll do our best to be helpful with personalized guidance, at no cost or obligation. Happy Painting! Don Foster

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