Tech, Painting, Woodworking
These models were made following the first stage of online courses at the Professional School of Practical Stereotomy . 
 Stage one covers the basics of architectural drafting and l'art du trait.
The method used here involves placing model pieces directly on a full size drawing.
This was a bit different from how I worked out my earlier hip models . 
 Strayed Hip 
 The backing…

 
 
Another painting from the studio. I sat on this one for a long time not knowing how to finish it.
Last year during Lent I got into fasting.
I had done OMAD before but I did some real fasts for the first time - a few 36s, 48s, and one 72.
Working up to my three day I had some issues with electrolytes. 
 
 At first I wasn't getting enough (fatigue).
Then I found out what happens when you get too much (bathroom emergency).
But by the end of the season I'd figured out…
Lent is bread season. 
 I've been experimenting with bread recipes for a while now.
It's fun to just throw ideas at the wall and see what happens.
Even when the result isn't good , it's usually at least edible and better than any bread shaped object at the supermarket.
But as much fun as trial and error is, you get a higher success rate with your experiments when you have some idea…
So there's this crazy historical drafting technique called "L'art du Trait" (the art of the line in French).
I've been trying to figure it out on my own using some old engineering textbooks on descriptive geometry (also known as stereotomy).
The techniques use the properties of right triangles to find orthographic projections of oblique angles.
That sounds like super complicated nerd…

 
 
Finished up this ridgeline view from one of my favorite hiking areas.
Haven't been able to paint outside in a while since it's dark after work now.


 
 
 I thought this one sucked when I initially painted it.
Upon further review 8 months later it's not that bad.
I was annoyed I wasn't able to capture the totality of the light effects on the lake.
This was a really cool scene in person and I did not have the skills to pull it off on site.
Next time... 

I recently found a public land preserve that contains some of the only old growth forest in my state.
Problem is though, it's undeveloped.
The state bought the land to protect the woods and then did nothing with it for the last 100 years.
In order to get to it I have to bushwhack a quarter mile off trail.
Once there it's surrounded on 3 sides by private property.
As much as…
In my post about Mark Boedges workshop I mentioned that Mark specifically uses turpentine 
instead of OMS for his first layer because of its drying time.
Turpentine drys about 3 times faster than OMS.
Another petroleum distillate, VM+P Naphtha actually dries faster than both.
I couldn't find a whole lot of information on using naphtha for oil painting so hopefully this will be…
blog 
 sketch 
 gallery 

Rewired the sketchbook 
 I originally made the sketchbook page using tags.
That was kind of hacky though.
"Sketchbook" isn't really a tag and I don't want to clutter my actual tags with utility tags.
I changed it so that "Sketches" are in a subdirectory of blogs.
This way they still show up in the blog but they're still their own section.
The pages are now filtered using…
Introducing the "Sketchbook" 
 I've added a new section to the site! 
 A bunch of text links is pretty boring for a blog about painting.
Now there's a separate section called Sketchbook for image posts.
They're still part of the regular blog, but now they're over there too.
I'll probably add something similar to the gallery when I get the time to finish up the articles. 
…

 
 
 Painted a little river in Jericho this afternoon.
This one was a wild ride.
I was going pretty steady getting in the main rock in when it started to sprinkle.
I wanted to at least get the water in so I had some ideas to work from when I got home.
I quickly washed it in and at that point I was actually really happy with the painting. 
 But then it stopped…

 
 
 I did a little plein air yesterday to try out using naphtha as a solvent in the under layer.
It worked pretty well.
It dries very fast so I had no problems with lifting the paint from the block in.
I think I'll keep using naphtha for a while and then switch back to turp to see if I notice a difference.
Both solvents dry significantly faster than OMS and are…
Earlier this week I took a 3 day workshop with the painter Mark Boedges .
It was an awesome experience and I feel like it really took my plein air to a new level.
These are the biggest tips I can think of.
If you get a chance to take a workshop with him it is 100% worth the money. 
 5 - Turpenoid and Turpentine are not the same thing 
 Mark's plein air process relies heavily on…

 
 
 Painted a beer while I waited for my baguettes to rise. 

Earlier this year I read Nassim Taleb's book "Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder" .
One of the most important things that gain from disorder is - believe it or not - human beings.
Our bodies are designed not just to endure stress, but to gain from it, and hunger is no exception.
Modern people believe that fasting is extreme and dangerous. Even skipping breakfast is…
Digital cameras have ruined photography 
 While out painting this winter, there were I couple times I decided to limit myself to only 10 photographs per trip. 
 Two things happened when I did that: 
 
 I usually took less than 10 pictures 
 They were all good 
 
 With no limits on what I can capture I try to get everything and end up with nothing.
In fact, what I…

 
 
 Fallen tree on a path behind my house. 


 
 
 This is a painting I did before I took Mark Boedges' workshop .
I was really struggling with my solvents at that point.
I don't like the way the surface turned out and it's a little dull on account of using too much OMS.
The drawing was spot on though.
Despite floundering with the medium I felt like I was in the Schmid-Zone the whole time. 


 Social Media Sucks 
 All social media sites are bad. Period.
They are engineered to make you anxious and waste your time.
I know this, you know this, everyone knows this.
Yet we continue to use Facebook and Instagram because there's no other way to stay "up to date". 
 Except... there is. 
 Really Simple Syndication 
 Before sites like Reddit and Facebook came…
It's officially spring in New England and that means green.
I recently did two plein air paintings, both of which I think are some of my best plein airs so far. 
 
 
 
 
 But when I look at them on the wall they just dont pop.
There is something about green that no matter where you see it, your brain just wants to tune it out.
Next time I go out I'll try to keep my…
View from my room 
 Quick sketch from my bedroom window. Trying to work on color. 
 Palette: 
 
 Ultramarine Blue 
 Lemon Yellow 
 Yellow Ochre 
 A very small amount of Cad. Red to grey down trees in the front. 
 
 
 
 
 I'm finding that the key to non-muddy colors is to actually use less color.
I've noticed that most good paintings have only one…
Build and Deploy Script 
 #!/bin/bash

(cd /home/tyler/www/tsm ;
hugo ;
echo "uploading";
rsync -rtvzP ./public/* root@tsmckee.com:/var/www/tsm;
)
 
 New Blog Script 
 #!/bin/bash

NAME=$1

(cd /home/tyler/www/tsm/;
hugo new blog/$NAME;
nvim content/blog/$NAME;
)
 
 It's kind of amazing how easy it is to program on linux.…
New Site 
 I've made a new site for personal stuff.
Hosting images of my work is my one excuse for retaining an Instagram account.
I have my other site but that one is pretty strictly woodworking and it would be kind of off brand to start posting random projects on it. The added benefit of the new site is that I've got this neat blog system. Maybe I'll actually write something with it?…
The fourth semester at VWS is a chair.
The focus for the chair class is compound angle joinery.
This project takes the least amount of build time (many people make two) but requires thoughful design and excellent joinery to be successful.
Sloppy tenons make weak joints.
While you might get away with it on an end table, the constant and dynamic forces being exerted on a chair don't…

 
 The third semester project at the Vermont Woodworking School is a chest of drawers.
There are two main goals in this semester; learn web frame construction and get used to doing a lot of work.
Most people try to go big during this semester and build a dresser or a vanity.
I, in my quest for tedium and minutiae, built the smallest chest of drawers on record to house my…

 This wall hung cabinet was my second design project at VWS .
My initial design for this semester was a very ambitious piece with mutlitple curves.
Half way through the project I took account of what was left to be done, how many hours it would take, and I realized I didn't like the design enough to see it through.
I knew I would learn more from a simple project well executed than…

 I wanted to focus on joinery for my first design project at the Vermont Woodworking School.
The frame of the table consists of four 3-way miter joints for the top and the legs.
The sides are frame and panel construction. 
 
 
 Staying consistent with the Asian inspired leg joints,
each mortice and tenon includes a hand cut "bird beak".
The chess board is walnut…