$600.00 Crappie

I love to fish for crappie, and have always loved to draw, so one day about two years ago, I decided that I was going to learn watercolor painting. I wanted to do an original crappie painting as a gift for a crappie fishing friend of mine. (the most consistent productive crappie fisherman that I’ve ever known) . . the Crappie Master!!


I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint in watercolors, so I ordered a bunch of watercolor supplies from an art supply store on the internet — about $600.00 dollars worth! I know, that’s crazy, but that stuff is expensive I learned.


After watching some YouTube watercolor painting lessons, I made lots of sketches, and finally came up with an original layout of a crappie suspended in some wood.


But, as soon as I started painting, I discovered that I was severely allergic to both the paints, and the paper. Every time I started to paint, I got sick with headaches and nausea.


I couldn’t believe it — come on now, “watercolor” paint sounds so innocuous. I couldn’t believe that I was allergic to them.


But, after doing some research, it turns out that many of these pigments contain heavy metals, and the papers are also processed with chemicals. When the paint and paper are dry, there doesn’t seem to be a problem, it’s only when the water is applied .


I even tried painting outdoors, but I was still affected, and I don’t have the possibility of effectively venting my painting area.


So, I put the unfinished painting away for over a year, not knowing what to do to finish it.


Then just recently, something put me in mind of trying to use a 3M vapor mask. Huh? Would that work? . . well so far it has. It’s uncomfortable, and hot to wear while trying to paint, but the Lord willing, I am able to paint without getting sick so far.


So here I am, looking like an Alien painting a crappie.


It’s likely going to be my first, and last one! Maybe after I finish the painting, I’ll just stick to fishing. : )

Hate you’re allergic to the paint and paper cause that is very good. You obviously have a talent for it.

Thanks for the kinds words, it’s been somewhat of a struggle to finish it . . .everyone has a knack for something, — but we didn’t have it, before it was first given to us!

Beautiful! I do paint work on crankbaits etc and it keeps denting my wallet!

the artwork looks great , but to be sure allergic reactions to things are pretty common ....
my wife can't handle any sort of EVEN slightly toxic fumes in small quantities , she even really gets to not feeling well if she stays in the garage for very long
some people are just sensitive to toxic vapors , no matter the compounds involved .....

Please finish it because it looks great!!! Sorry to hear about the allergic reactions to the paint.
If you do finish it please post a pic


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

All great artists have something that bothers them. Just remember the greater the pain the better the artist! So move over Monet! You definitely have the talent :highfive. Beautiful work Sir!

Please finish it!
Have you thought about taking something like Benadryl BEFORE you start a session? Maybe it would lessen the reaction to where you could work comfortably.

It's a shame that such god given talent can't be utilized. Hopefully you can find a work around...

Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by deke95

I love to fish for crappie, and have always loved to draw, so one day about two years ago, I decided that I was going to learn watercolor painting. I wanted to do an original crappie painting as a gift for a crappie fishing friend of mine. (the most consistent productive crappie fisherman that I’ve ever known) . . the Crappie Master!!


I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint in watercolors, so I ordered a bunch of watercolor supplies from an art supply store on the internet — about $600.00 dollars worth! I know, that’s crazy, but that stuff is expensive I learned.


After watching some YouTube watercolor painting lessons, I made lots of sketches, and finally came up with an original layout of a crappie suspended in some wood.


But, as soon as I started painting, I discovered that I was severely allergic to both the paints, and the paper. Every time I started to paint, I got sick with headaches and nausea.


I couldn’t believe it — come on now, “watercolor” paint sounds so innocuous. I couldn’t believe that I was allergic to them.


But, after doing some research, it turns out that many of these pigments contain heavy metals, and the papers are also processed with chemicals. When the paint and paper are dry, there doesn’t seem to be a problem, it’s only when the water is applied .


I even tried painting outdoors, but I was still affected, and I don’t have the possibility of effectively venting my painting area.


So, I put the unfinished painting away for over a year, not knowing what to do to finish it.


Then just recently, something put me in mind of trying to use a 3M vapor mask. Huh? Would that work? . . well so far it has. It’s uncomfortable, and hot to wear while trying to paint, but the Lord willing, I am able to paint without getting sick so far.


So here I am, looking like an Alien painting a crappie.


It’s likely going to be my first, and last one! Maybe after I finish the painting, I’ll just stick to fishing. : )

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Really nice painting! But stuff for doing that is about like stuff for doing anything else. There's expensive and not expensive. Humans seem to always apply cost to value, doesn't cost much then not worth much! Could have bought a package of typing paper and bunch of colored pencils and done about the same thing. I like photography and you should hear the good photographers rail about the need for expensive paper that will hold an image 100 yrs or more. Listen to them and if you don't by that expensive stuff you photo's are junk! I've got some photo's on the wall I did about 30 yrs ago and they are still in good shape! And why would you want a 100 yr old photo? You probably won't live that long!

$600 for some equipment to paint a picture is outrageous! I would think most pro's couldn't afford to spend that much money on supply's make it pay! But that is a very nice painting, gotta give that to you!

Thanks for replying. Yeah, art supplies are ridiculously expensive, some tubes of paint smaller than your little finger cost $10.00.
The whole point was to set up, and supply a complete watercolor “art studio” at home, because I wanted to learn, and paint in watercolors. You can’t just buy one sheet of paper — a pad of good watercolor paper is $30.00. Good brushes can be $25.00 and up, etc. etc.
I could probably paint 100 pictures with the supplies I bought, but then I found that I’m allergic to the paint and paper, so now I’ll likely only get one painting finished with about $600 dollars of supplies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by deke95

Thanks for replying. Yeah, art supplies are ridiculously expensive, some tubes of paint smaller than your little finger cost $10.00.
The whole point was to set up, and supply a complete watercolor “art studio” at home, because I wanted to learn, and paint in watercolors. You can’t just buy one sheet of paper — a pad of good watercolor paper is $30.00. Good brushes can be $25.00 and up, etc. etc.
I could probably paint 100 pictures with the supplies I bought, but then I found that I’m allergic to the paint and paper, so now I’ll likely only get one painting finished with about $600 dollars of supplies.

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I went to college for commercial graphics and art supplies can get extremely expensive. We had to have a complete marker set, color pencil set, art pencils, sketch pads, tracing paper, on and on and on. Use them once for an assignment or two and then we never used them again... what a waste. Your work looks very good and you should be proud. Hopefully you can find a way to work with watercolors, you definitely have talent.