The learning system, in public
Paintings are the output; this page is the machine. The ladder says what is being learned, the ledger says when, and the gates say what stays locked until the room is safe. Numbers, not streaks.
29hlogged at the easel
4 / 8ladder stage: pours and gradients
0 / 40panels toward the shop
2on the easel now
The commitments
- Three evenings a weekA studio session of at least 40 minutesShort and regular beats long and rare; the panels are layered, so progress is many small sittings.
- One per monthA finished, numbered panelThe shop opens at forty finished panels. One a month is the honest pace, not the ambitious one.
- Every sessionOne line in the ledgerThe practice page publishes real numbers. If it was not logged, it did not happen.
The weekly rhythm
- TuesdayColor: palette mixing and value studies
- ThursdayPanel work: the piece on the easel
- SundayLong block: pours, resin windows, or a new panel
Sixteen weeks of sittings
Empty cells are empty days, and that is all they are. The chain is allowed to break; the ledger just keeps counting.
The curriculum
- 1. Ground and gessoPrepare a panel so every later layer behaves: sealing and gesso.
- 2. Value before colorPaint the night in greys first; a palette only earns color after its values work.
- 3. Limited palettesBuild and mix a named three-to-six color palette and stay inside it for a whole panel.
- 4. Pours and gradients · nowControl thinned acrylic across a horizontal panel: tide lines, graded skies.
- 5. Texture and mediumsGels and pastes under the paint: the physical relief the lamps and foam sit on.
- 6. Glass glitterSet glitter into wet media in controlled lines, not fields; ration the sparkle.Gate: Gloves and eye protection in the kit; glitter is glass.
- 7. ResinMix, flood, and cure epoxy resin: the glass the night sits behind.Gate: Cross-ventilated room, respirator with organic vapor cartridges, and a dust-free 24-hour cure space.
- 8. The finished shelfFull pipeline fluency: panel to numbered, photographed, priced inventory without a checklist.Gate: Stages six and seven signed off; no shortcuts into the hazardous crafts.
The technique tree
- Color
- Value studies
- Palette building
- Night greys
- Warm accents
- Surface
- Panel prep
- Brush grounds
- Pours
- Texture mediums
- Light
- Lamp points
- Reflections
- Glitter lines
- Finish
- Varnish
- Resin flood
- Photography
On the easel
Totality minus one50 × 50 cm · waiting on: glitter and resin still to come, gated on ventilation weatherHarbor mouth50 × 70 cm · waiting on: lamps, glitter, and resin still to come
The shop opens at 40 finished panels; the shelf holds 0. The meter moves one panel a month, by design.
The last ten sittings
- 2026-06-30 · 55 min · surfaceTotality minus one: third ink coat down.
- 2026-06-28 · 90 min · surfaceHarbor mouth: night ground poured, kept level overnight.
- 2026-06-25 · 45 min · colorGraded sky studies, petrol to pine, six strips.
- 2026-06-23 · 40 min · colorRebuilt Harbor amber; last batch dried too red.
- 2026-06-21 · 75 min · surfacePour practice on scrap: two clean tide lines out of five.
- 2026-06-18 · 50 min · lightLamp points on black gesso; white underpaint first works.
- 2026-06-14 · 95 min · surfaceHarbor mouth: breakwater masses blocked in.
- 2026-06-11 · 40 min · colorValue pass on the eclipse palette, three greys only.
- 2026-06-09 · 60 min · surfaceGradient pours, tilt method; the slow tilt wins.
- 2026-06-07 · 80 min · lightLast ferry: wake lines, one breath each, second take.