Rustoleum Auto Primer

Well, I was only half-kidding about the used car salesman vibe, but if the shoe fits, right? Does anybody remember laughter?

To equate popularity or commercial success with artistic achievement is a bit misguided. They rarely coexist. The familiar, the inoffensive, the bland, and the safe are what society rewards. And that applies to slap-and-scrape palette knife decoration pieces, and just about any other form of art or creativity that you can name.
 
Hannah - I thought your post was funny. Where we disagree is that I think Stephen Baumann is a legitimate artist - and while popularity or commercial success doesn't denote artistic achievement it doesn't discount it either.

I get that you think using an Auto Primer in place of gesso seems bizarre. New techniques often do. But it was just something he said in passing that he had tried and liked - and passed on to his students as a time/cost-saving alternative. There are lots of videos where he uses the conventional method of prep with gesso - so he's certainly not saying there is something wrong with doing it that way.

I can also understand how at first blush he might come across as a former used car salesmen turned crackpot YouTuber.

But I've seen several of his " Grand View" episodes on PBS. I've watched many of his youtube videos. I've been to his website, looked at his paintings, taking other recommendations of his, such as getting "Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting".

My takeaway is - he is a big colorful, generous, gregarious, flamboyant, ego-centric, accomplished artist passionate about his craft who enjoys passing on his experiences to his students.

The proof for me will be in trying Rustoleum Auto Primer.

and no harm, no foul, with us disagreeing.
 
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I use tempered hardboard and don't seal.
Stefan Bauman uses untempered hardboard with his Rustoleum Auto Primer 😉 Seriously. I found a viddy in which he extols the virtues of Rustoleum for quick, convenient on-site priming for plein-air, then he goes on to recommend untempered hardboard to his students.

I guess the idea of tung oil (or whatever) leaching from tempered hardboard is pretty widespread.
 
Never heard of the guy. Looked over his site. Seems level headed to me. Anyone who says learn how to paint before you plein air is rational in my mind. Most artist say paint plain air to learn how to paint and the only reason they say that is so they can have plein air workshops and help amass a small fortune.
 
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Laika:

Sorry I was out for the rest of the day yesterday. I only have a certain window I can be here, but I was able to see some of the questions from my phone. It was frustrating not to answer. I'm sorry about that. :(
Not a problem! I figured you would answer at some point. Absolutely no need to apologize. Thanks for answering :)

But yeah, shellac flakes dissolve in ethanol (not in turpentine or mineral spirits) if you ever want to roll your own. And Hermes is correct: denatured alcohol is poisoned ethanol. I use trash vodka in my egg tempera binder solution (at 100 proof, it's half water and half ethanol/alcohol, I think). I finally found a small bottle of Everclear to mix SpectraFix's casein-based fixative for use with my colored pencils (the ethanol evaporates quickly). I use Everclear to wipe down my untempered hardboard/masonite - it's good at removing oils left from fingers and suchlike. High alcohol vodka would probably work for all those uses.
 
Everclear is the best solvent for shellac.

You're right, I'm sure. the water in the vodka would do no good for the shellac flakes.
I was thinking of my uses for vodka - pure Everclear is probably not necessary for my uses, which don't (yet, anyway) include dissolving shellac. Thanks for pointing that out.
 
I found a source for the Primer at AutoZone - I'm an O'Reilly guy so I waited till after dark to go there. They carry Rustoleum paints but had just one can of Auto Primer and that was in light grey - so I bought it - I guess my post has made the rounds on the internet and there was a rush to buy it up.

I sprayed an 18"x14" panel - and the fumes are toxic. Smells like an autobody shop, and it stays around for 1/2 hour+. The surface looks pretty nice, next step is to try and paint on it.
 
I never tried Everclear and don't know how it would work for the sealer I've been referencing. I can certainly try some when I run out of the other stuff.

As for using the denatured alcohol, I keep some of it in contained in a small paint can. I also use thicker gloves. I make a can of the mixture, and use an empty for only the denatured alcohol to clean the flakes off the brush. I wear a mask as well, especially because of the sanding.
 
FYI
Many of the Auto body spray paints are Lacquer. Sometimes it doesnt react well with enamel (oil base) Lacquer is softer than enamel and softens more over time.
 
FYI
Many of the Auto body spray paints are Lacquer. Sometimes it doesnt react well with enamel (oil base) Lacquer is softer than enamel and softens more over time.
I see. I always thought car paint was a kind of enamel. I am wrong then. I do not use enamel paint though. I'm an oil painter. But then again, I wouldn't use an auto body primer for paintings. I'd only use it to prep a car, which I have.
 
Baumann's knife scrapings and forest animal pictures aside, there's nothing wrong with advising amateurs or people making art as a hobby to use cheap materials. Most of that hobby art will never be seen by anyone, and will eventually be discarded, so the materials don't have to stand the test of time. And I would hazard a guess that most of Baumann's audience are hobbyists. Nothing wrong with that.

But for what it's worth, even hobbyists will have a better time when they use better materials. About 15 years ago I wanted to learn how to paint with hand-ground Chinese ink, so I bought a good inkstone and good traditional wolf hair brushes, but for some reason, I cheaped out on ink sticks. Well, not for "some reason," I did it because high-quality ink sticks are expensive.

But the cheap ink sticks took forever to grind out, and the resulting ink was thin, watery crap. It was awful. I almost gave up, but then I figured I'd try a quality ink stick before throwing in the towel, and the difference was astounding. The quality stick ground out to a thick, dark ink that seemed to interact with the paper rather than sitting on top of it or completely soaking into it.

Of course, the quality ink stick cost me about 25 times more than a cheap stick. But it made learning that process so much more enjoyable.
 
I see. I always thought car paint was a kind of enamel. I am wrong then. I do not use enamel paint though. I'm an oil painter. But then again, I wouldn't use an auto body primer for paintings. I'd only use it to prep a car, which I have.
You are not wrong. Some auto spray paint is Lacquer, some is enamel. Must read all labels. It’s not a good idea to spray one type over the other type. The only advantage i see of using spray paint for panels is getting that type of smooth finish easily. It usually does not sink in much unless you use the slower drying enamel type.
 
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The Rustoleum smelled like lacquer.

well - I went out to do some Plein Air today and the only panel I had ready to go was the one I spray painted with Rustoleum the night before.

It was a disaster, I couldn't get the paint to stick unless I loaded the brush . I had to lay the paint on thick to get it to stick. by the time I was ready to add detail I was already painting straight from the tube- so I had no choice but to pack up.

Also I was set up right against the wall of a Bed Bath and Beyond and didn't realize till I packed up that a gob of Phtalo blue had got on the cement. I blotted it up the best I could, then stuck a cigarette butt on top of it.

For some people I guess the Rustoleum works, it didn't for me. I wanted to try different ways of working with it before going out, but this time of year you have to jump when the weather lets you.
 
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