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Painting with Knifes
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Message
Posted
As many of you know I am disabled with back and leg problems and now it is affecting my hands and I find painting with a brush very difficult so I have brought some cheap painting knives and I am going to have a crack at painting acrylics with these, I have a few artists whose work I like especially Jolomo www.island-blue.com and I am hoping to have a style of my own.
I am going to use square canvases 18" x 18" and I am hoping to produce landscapes of Uist and it's surrounding Scotish Islands, I have a Jolomo calender of this area and I will use the paintings as a reference product if Jolomo grants me permission.
If any of you know of other artists who paint with knifes please let me know thier websites...
Right now time to get ready for a pre-birthday meal..
Philipo
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Posted
Take a look at Amanda Bates, on POL and on her blog. Most if not all of her paintings are made with knives - she works in oil and acrylic. There are two now deceased painters who used knives - R O Dunlop, an Ulster painter, and Sir Kyffin Williams; and there was a painter from the south of England - I fear he's now dead, but I used to see his work in galleries in and around the New Forest: Harley Crossley, I think, was the name; might have been Harvey, or even Hartly - but it was certainly Crossley! All of these were oil painters.
I don't actually know any other contemporary painters who use knives as their most usual tools - so should you find any, do post links.
The gradual loss of physical capacity is horrible, but well done for looking for new ways to express yourself - we've got to keep trundling on if we possibly can.
Posted
Hello!
Phil knows me already, sort of.
Not all of my work is done with knives, but much is. I started using them as a way to loosen up. It worked, but the knives stayed. They are a lot easier to use with oils than with unmodified acrylics (I have never tried modifying acrylics with retardants or anything like that, so I can't comment except to say that the one time I accidentally acquired an "open" acrylic colour, it annoyed the heck out of me - darn thing did NOT want to dry, and I wanted to paint the next layer!). The reason I say that knives work better with oils is that you can push the paint around for longer, blend it better, and you won't get that horrible half-dry grittiness. You have to be quicker with acrylics, and the results are harsher.
Here's a example that I prepared earlier: the same subject, painted with knives ...
in oil. About 3/4 hour's work.
in acrylic. About 1/2 hour's work.
in oil. About 3/4 hour's work.
in acrylic. About 1/2 hour's work.
Posted
Take a look at http://knife-painters.deviantart.com/
Posted
I've painted with acrylics and painting knives - it was certainly a lot easier in oil,in terms of simply applying the paint, but I found I had a quite satisfactory degree of control with acrylic - possibly with a LITTLE gel medium; somewhere or other, there's a painting of mine on hardboard that I did with knives: an old acquaintance has it, or I'd show it here. Actually ... I've got two boards set up for oil painting, and a piece of watercolour paper ready to go, but now this subject has been raised I'm itching to get some more painting boards so I can have another crack at acrylics with my knives. I remember that the painting really seriously needed varnishing when I'd finished - otherwise there are areas of dry, rather chalky raised paint that can look a bit ugly. The best paint I found for knife work was Cryla, by Daler Rowney - its heavy body and satiny sheen worked particularly well, as did the Winsor and Newton Artists' acrylic Sap Green: it's a gorgeous colour - at least, it was in their old Finity range, which they've superseded; I hope they've not changed it.
Posted
I've done reasonably well wth D-R System 3 Heavy Body. I like to make things tricky, so I only bought the "process" colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK - like yer average desktop printer uses) and Ti white. Working quickly and only using white where absolutely necessary seems to avoid chalky / gritty results.
Posted
There must - but I'm not encountering them; we do have occasional postings from Abraham Fisher, of course, who has a very different approach with his knives. But most painters I know use brushes, as do most I know OF. And probably that reflects things as they've always been. I shall have another go with the knife myself though, when I get some more boards (and can think what to paint with them).
Posted
This fellow? http://art-on-google.com/profile/AbrahamFisher
He seems to dab more than spread, I think. Very nice. Very Impressionist.
Posted
Many thanks, Pat - and Amanda for the earlier links.
Yes, Amanda, that Abraham Fisher - I think one of the interesting things about him is that he uses the highest quality oil paint he can lay his knives on; and of course, he can DRAW, shape his subjects with his knives, can compose a painting. I hope he'll post again soon, because the site is now beautifully configured to show his paintings to their best advantage - whatever else we can find to moan about on the new site, the sheer clarity of the images is staggeringly good. I can well understand why POL staff are thrilled with this aspect of it.
Posted
Hello Philipo
I have used palette knives for many years and just love them. You said that you have bought some cheap knives and I'm a bit worried that they are not good enough and then you'll be disappointed with the result. I have got one fairly big Liquitex palette knife and some smaller ones and that's very sufficient. They'll also last forever! Good luck with the new style!
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