How to make your own paint

Paint is expensive. Grant you, you are paying for quality so if you make your own paint, don't expect the same movability or quality as that made by the professionals. I make my own paint from time to time, for various reasons, whether they be money related or if it has a specific correlation to my work, like using makeup as pigment to tint my paint, which goes well with my ongoing theme of body image and beauty standards.

In this blog post, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make your own paint. It's easy to make a variety of paints with things you probably have at your house right now.

To make a paint that is thick and dimensional, like puffy paint, all you have to do is mix a few simple ingredients.

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4-1/2 water
• Food coloring or other pigments

Combine all these ingredients and slowly mix in the water until it is the consistency of a milkshake. Add colorant until you achieve your desired colored. 

However, for a looser paint that you can spread with a brush, take the above recipe and add a half teaspoon of vegetable oil and boil the ingredients so that ingredients blend into a smooth mixture. This is important if you are using a dry colorant.

I learned how to do this thanks to about.com

ArtWorks Cincinnati

Last week, we visited ArtWorks. Their website describes them as such "ArtWorks is a non-profit arts organization that empowers and inspires the creative community to transform our everyday environments through employment, apprenticeships, education, community partnerships, and civic engagement".

ArtWorks is a truly wonderful organization and I have gotten the wonderful opportunity to paint a mural with them. However, I was mildly disappointed in this field trip. I didn't feel like I gained any knowledge about ArtWorks that I didn't already know plus I was utterly humiliated when Tamara Harkavy, founder and artistic director of ArtWorks asked me to tell everyone about my experience and struggles involved in the Helentown mural project with which I was associated with. I have social anxiety and she put me on the spot, which nearly sent me into a panic attack and I completely froze up and couldn't think about anything but every one's eyes on me. Then the field trip ran over and we nearly got a ticket because our meter ran over. I would like to go back and actually get to tour the facilities and actually get to learn more about the business besides that which you can find on their website.

The Helentown Mural that I helped paint!

Cedric Michael Cox

Last month Cedric Michael Cox came in and visited our class. His work is so very different from mine (but awesome nonetheless), but I was really taken by him as a person. A friend of mine has worked as an intern for him several times and she told me that he is awesome a happy and chipper person and a great, down to earth artist who is always full of wonderful advice.

I don't remember the specifics of the presentation but what I really enjoyed about him was that his presentation was a grim look into the future. He wasn't angry or bitter about his life or the art community, but was as eager and excited as a college student who has just graduated and has his entire future ahead of him. He provided useful advice on how to not be a starving artist, like lowering your expectations and living expenses and how to grants and scholarships, while still maintaining that fervor for life and your art, so you don't end up as a angry old man, bitter because you never 'made it'. Be happy and make the art that you need to keep yourself sane.

Like I said, he was a truly inspiration artist and speaker. For more information on him, please visit his personal art blog.

An Interview with Jenny Ustick

Earlier this year, I got the amazing opportunity to interview one of my favorite local artists, Jenny Ustick. I have taken many classes with her and she is one of the most inspirational women I know, as well as a jack of all trades. She is a drawing artist, a sculptor, an installation artist, a fiber art and yarn bomber with the Cincinnati Bombshells and also a brewer of delicious craft beer at the Mount Caramel Brewing Company. Below are the interview questions I asked and her answers.



1. Location of your studio

Complicated. My husband and I own a home on a half acre of land, and on that property is a separate building that used to be a tool shed. It's a large shed, so we improved it to have heat and a/c, a couple of windows, and nice French doors. I used it as a studio until moving to Michigan in 2008. When we moved back in 2011, it became a storage area and I haven't done any work in it since. When i do make work at home, it's in my garage or kitchen. This summer, we will clear out the studio and I will begin making work in it again. However, there is a possibility of building another barn, in which case I would work in there. Additionally, because I have done and do so much collaborative work, a lot of the studio work has been completed in the spaces owned or rented by my collaborators.

2. how long have you had this studio?

Small studio on my property: since 2002.



3. why did you get a studio?

Even though my studio changes locations, and when my studio is located on my property, it's good to be able to go to a place separate from your living space in order to really feel like you are at work.


4. How do you financially support your artwork? (Through sales, salary, grants, etc.)

My teaching job here at the university is the primary means of support. In the summers, I work with ArtWorks, and I am essentially commissioned to create public artworks.

5. What are the problems you face in getting your artwork done?

Distractions, tiredness, overextension, sometimes feeling like my creative energy for the day is spent teaching.


6. What do you do to market yourself as an artist?

I have a personal website, and am active on social media platforms.
(View her personal website here)


7. What type of person buys your art?

Often philanthropists or patrons of the arts, supporters of the nonprofits with which I am associated.



8. What are your greatest challenges as an artist?

Distractions, limited time to devote to my solo work, fear and anxiety about money.

9. What are your greatest rewards as an artist?

Sharing what I do with others, with my community. Teaching. Realizing I have many gifts and talents that a lot of folks desire, and enjoying the feeling of artistic alchemy that occurs when I've taken something simple and made something kind of magical or powerful out of it.


10. What recommendations would you give to an artist who is just starting out?

Learn to quiet your self doubt. Don't be like a plastic bag in the wind and just float around with he trends or with every little bit of advice you get. That said, listen to feedback. Consider it--you can use it or reject it, but consider it. It represents what others see in your work. It's important to know how your work is seen, and who your audience is. Then out that through the filter of your intentions. To become a professional artist means that you have made the decision to present your work to the public, and you have to be aware that it will be judged. Wherever, that doesn't mean that you should tailor your work to someone else. Learn how to take rejection gracefully. Be nice to people--they will remember you later. Ask for what you want. There is no fairy godmother waiting to fulfill your every wish. You have to let people know you want an opportunity. Sometimes you have to be aggressive, sometimes you have to be patient.

My Favorite Band

As I have stated several times in the last hour (I procrastinated on a blogging assignment so No I have to update a ton really fast) I am really inspired not only by artists such as Jenny Ustick (I'll write about her later), Euan Uglow, Tina Tamarro and Rebecca Bickers but also by musical artists. Music is a huge factor in my art, in fact, it's difficult to create anything without music playing.

Panic! At The Disco is my all time favorite band. I discovered them in a very dark time in my life, and their music really helped me climb out of a really terrible depression because they made me feel like I wasn't alone. Even into my adulthood they have remained one of my biggest influences because their music brings back so many memories of the depression I survived. They remind me of what I have overcome and continue to inspire me to keep going.

My work is much different from their's in many obvious reasons, they create music and I create visual art, but in the end we create work about life, love and the feelings associated with these themes. Grant you, my work deals more with body issues but also with the feelings associated with them and how they affect the lives of those oppressed by them.

An Inspiration How-To

Whenever I feel like I am in a rut with my art making, I have to find little ways to get inspired to create. I get inspired by a lot of little things, but for me, two things always work for me, Emotion and Music. So here is a little how to by Trinity Sutterfield.

1. Get fired up. Find something that makes you feel an extreme emotion. For me, anger and sadness work best. When things make me extremely sad or extremely angry, my work is unparalleled to my work that I create when I'm happy. I get fired up by running a body positivity blog called CurvessAhead.

2. Find some new music. Or some old, whatever, but be willing to try new music; it could completely change how you feel, it which case, see number one. I highly suggest getting a Pandora Radio account,  as it will inspire you with comfortable, familiar music followed by new and exciting music.

I could go on, but for me, these are the top ways for me to get inspired. I hope it helps! Now lets get creating!

My Technical Process

I don't really have a "technical process". My work is all very 'whim-y'. I typically get inspired by getting fired up and then I have to create simply to remedy my feelings. But I have noticed that I work better under pressure. I send too much time on my blog, trintrintrini.tumblr.com, and that helps me waste time, I usually will leave a project until the last few days until it's due just so that I feel the pressure, but can also have a decent sleep schedule, because we all know that Trinity is very unpleasant to be around if I don't get enough sleep.

But the most important thing to have while creating is a good playlist. On my itunes, I have a playlist called creART, which is a play on spelling that helps me create art. This playlist includes everything from Panic! At The Disco (my favorite band), all the way to the pure symphonic orchestra music, which creates some inspiration for me.

Finding inspiration. My non-technical research process

I find inspiration in everything I see. The nature of my work has to do a lot with body image, health at every size and beauty standards perpetuated by the media. I spend a lot of time on body positive blogs like Dances With Fat, Body Positive Yoga and scrolling through the Fat Positive and Body Positive tags on Tumblr. But what really gets me going is when I see things in the media, like magazines, them promoting unhealthy weight loss and body hate, and then I get fired up and start writing long dissertations and drawing my feelings out. It's easy to make art when you're really angry about something.