Author: Sabra Awlad Issa

  • Cleaning oil paint brushes without solvents

    Cleaning oil paint brushes without solvents

    Many of my students who would like to work with oil paint, are concerned about the toxicity of solvents. And you’re right to be! Here’s a new video for you, showing you how I clean my brushes without nasty solvents. There’s no need to soak or wash your brushes in terpenoids or mineral spirits. It’s…

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  • Painting an eye in Golden Open acrylics

    Painting an eye in Golden Open acrylics

    Thank you everyone SO much for supporting me during my first ever live stream! I had a wonderful time and I hope you did as well. Here’s to a few more live streams in the future. 🙂 All live streams will be available for you to watch in the replay. I’ll post the stream and…

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  • Studio hours #5

    Studio hours #5

    I continued with yesterday’s panel, for a few short layers. I’d like to see what it takes to build some layers of textural paint, without applying very thick layers. With acrylics, this was a lot easier because of the way it dries. This process might take several weeks, so I’ll keep posting updates, and then…

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  • Studio hours #4 and an update

    Studio hours #4 and an update

    I wasn’t feeling great lately, to be honest. After the up – working with relative confidence on my panels – came the down. Besides my smaller panels, the main focus of my expo are on three larger works. And they freaked me out. At some point you realise; if I don’t start now, it’s gonna…

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  • Creative experiments #2

    Creative experiments #2

    My friend Anna and I made some plans for creative fun and unfortunately that meant having to place another order with my art supplier. The struggle haha!  I ended up adding some stuff to my cart that I wanted to try out and show you. I’m going to create some cool textures with gauze/muslin and…

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  • Creative experiments #1

    Creative experiments #1

    A few weeks (or was it months?…yikes…) ago I bought a gel plate and some other stuff to experiment with. After an initial surge of creative energy, they ended up on a pile, mostly unused. I wanted to make a conscious effort this week to experiment more. I’ve done a lot of studying and working…

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  • Starting out with oil painting

    Starting out with oil painting

    When it comes to oil painting, it can feel like you have to wrestle through a full-time chemistry study before you can make your first attempt. This video is for absolute beginners, or those who want to reset their process. When I wanted to take my oil painting process more seriously, I started looking on…

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  • More figures from my mind, part 2

    More figures from my mind, part 2

    I did another three figure sketches for you, drawn from my mind, in this new video. I hope you enjoy! As I explained in my last blog (and video), I’m drawing these figures from my mind to see how much information I have stored in my brain. I’ve found this week that I’m enjoying figure…

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  • Drawing figures from my mind, part I

    Drawing figures from my mind, part I

    Drawing from the mind is an exercise that can help you use previously stored information better. I’ll explain why this works well for me, in this series of figure sketches. When working from a reference photo, I often feel limited by a few things. There is a need to copy what you see, accurately. Sometimes…

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  • New (and some old) brushes!

    New (and some old) brushes!

    My recent venture into the world of oil painting was a perfect excuse to take out my Rosemary & Co catalog and drain my bank account. Let’s talk about brushes, choices and variety. I have a nice collection of brushes that work well for my acrylic and mixed media work. And I’d like to keep…

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