About My Product Reviews

In general, like my movie & TV reviews, I don’t do negative reviews. However, since these are products I personally use, I may mention or review products that don’t fit their apparent purpose.

Generally, I think it’s more productive to steer folks toward stuff I like or thought was really good (sometimes that’s the same thing, sometimes not quite 😊)

I do often say what might/could be better, or I’d rather’ve seen or experienced, but in the context of why I liked the product enough to buy or try it.

Thanks everyone – Adan

Spectrafix Non-Toxic Fixative for Watercolors (and more) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Spectrafix general search – https://amzn.to/2LtejP8

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My review title is —
Important necessary addition to working with watercolors on canvas!

I’ve been experimenting with absorbent ground on 6×6 inch canvases lately and this is probably #6 or 7 in the batch. Brush on isolation layers worked on all the previous pictures til I reached the first one with gouache, ruined it! So, if I was to continue to be able to do pieces like this one, more delicate placed pigments, more nuanced with such small spaces, I needed a spray application. I didn’t want anything toxic or requiring masks or having to be done outside. My online info search kept taking me to Spectrafix’s fixative spray, so I tried it, and am extremely pleased it works so close to description! As my before (on the right) and after image (on the left) show, very little change, esp in regard to the tiny speckling of pigment and the wash gradations created by the watercolors (I feel I can only help that happen, the quality of watercolors does all the major work). My sig did get faded out some, so it’s the only major addition, one I was able to do with a permanent ink pen on top of the fixative coating (as advertised). I also added two tiny highlights I just wanted to add, not that were re-dos of work messed up. Highly recommend! Now I just need a non-toxic spray varnish 😊

https://amzn.to/2H5ZufT

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I’d presented a “before” spray application picture at the bottom of my Super Bowl post recently, and below is the same image plus, below it, the “after shot” —

I chose to over-write my signature (Adan) with permanent white pen ink, thought it too intense, and painted over it slightly to soften it. Did a few other minor touches, and other than that, I think the Spectrafix spray maintained my original watercolor better than anything I’d tried before. Even the Golden product literature for my liquid isolation coat said results, for watercolors, would probably be best via spray coat if possible. I think they were right 😊

Now I feel I have a means of preserving more of my original work, when I want to – other times a more liquid varnished glossy look might be best, or necessary. I’ll have samples of that, when liquid varnish is best, soon, as I post more of my finished 6.

What I need now, for this painting, is to find a varnish spray I can feel safe enough to use w/out also having to buy a mask etc. Unless, and I’ll need to make some product information calls, like to Golden, the fixative is also enough of an isolation coat for me to use a brush-able varnish and / or also the brush-able soft gel gloss before hand.

Flowering at Dawn is not one I want to lose, like I did First Twinkle of Snow, though the latter’ll somehow be salvaged as a much different version of its former self. Still working on that ☺️

So, I’ll be sure and do a post on that then, how Flowering at Dawn is finally finished, once I know how to, and, have finished the work on this painting, including painting the sides. I’ll have a whole separate post eventually, of how painting the sides has differed so much among the work, with lots of examples from the various 6×6 pieces I’ve been finishing.

Updates
In progress, is a floral work partially started with Fineline Masking Fluid.

Also in progress, is a new set of absorbent ground 6×6 canvases, including plans for another Clear Tar Gel coated black canvas acrylic, a very light toned floral with permanent black pen accents, and two landscape-inspired abstracts (ie, same image source, one of my photos of course 😊) w/one in acrylic and one in watercolor.

I’m also mentally formulating (visualizing) both how to better present more light florals on dark background, like Flowering at Dawn above, and like Floating Blooms (last presented in Dec ‘19, bottom of post), and inverse (reverse?) – dark silhouettes on a light background, kinda like Cobblestone Path, seen here at Art for the People Gallery in Austin.

Floating Blooms, my 1st (kinda) major acrylic since the 80s, is actually finished, and my wife has it hung in a hallway. I’ll try and have a pic and update and upload it to Fine Art America soon ❤️

There’s so much to learn, so much to try, and so much to look forward to!

Thanks so much everyone!

Stay creative! Enjoy the inspirations in your life, both the fluid and stationary!! 💕

Adan

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My Movies, Books, TV, Fitness, Amazon, and TripAdvisor Reviews are at –
https://felipeadanlerma.com/2019/10/12/category-links-reviews/

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My Related Posts 😊

Thanks so much everyone! 😊

Adan

Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA) – https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/felipeadan-lerma.html