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Glenfinan, Scotland WIP
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Message
Posted
You paint really thinly Linda, in fact I can see minute areas of the white board showing through.
Ever thought of working on a neutral ground, say mid grey or raw sienna? Nothing wrong with painting directly onto white of course, Turner used to with oils, not watercolour though.
You’re doing well working in layers, I wonder if you should think of thickening up your paint strokes in the final stages - as in the technique ‘ fat over lean’ otherwise known as thick over thin, gradually increasing the oil levels etc, I’m sure you’re familiar with this.
Posted
I did use an underlayer of acrylic Alan but I took the foreground layers of oil off where I wasn't happy with the pebbles, I will try and thicken my layer's up in the final stages, I am leaving it for a day to let it dry a bit. I am always grateful to you for taking time to help with advice and comments, thank you.
Posted
Just a thought - you could use alkyd oils for your base/under-painting. And you could employ the spatter technique for foreground pebbles (just shield everything, if you do!). It's one technique which works fine across all paint media.
There was a painter named Victor Voysey, an RA I think, whom I met around 50 years ago - he used very, very thin oil paint, though so far as I know used very little oil, and no turps, to thin it with. Working on a white ground, he achieved some very distinctive results. Most of us, as Alan Bickley says, prefer a neutral grey ground, or even a warm reddish-brown; I used to use a Raw Sienna ground quite often - not sure why I stopped. The only thing I have against a toned ground is that you need to ensure it's lighter in tone than the colours you lay over it, since otherwise it will in time (probably a LOT of time) gradually darken your upper layers as they age and become more transparent. You don't have that problem with your white ground, so if you're happy with it, I wouldn't rush to change it.
Toned grounds do make it a bit easier to see values, though; which is why many of us like them. But you pays your money and takes your choice - I think you've already got a feeling of light and air in this, which you also achieved with the last WIP you showed us; so it's working for you - but I'd still warn you off too much Payne's Grey; you may not even be using it in this one, but I just have a feeling that you are - and in my opinion, darks are much better mixed from other colours.
Posted
Oooo Robert you are so clever at detecting colours, Paynes grey is there, but not a lot, my base coat was a mix of yellow red and white cheap acrylic, don't know why I chose this as a I usually use a wash of yellow ochre. I use very little linseed oil and no turps. I am learning such a lot from you and Alan and I find it all helpful. I think I have got to the stage where i'm not going to add anything else. I lost the plot as usual and decided to add more layers, and thought " what the heck, just go for it, you can't make it any worse other than scrap it .lol " So here it is, your comments and advice always welcome.
Posted
I think the greys are counterbalanced by the yellows, but this is a graphic technique. It would look more natural or artistic with blues and purples in the darks. However that is what I would do, but it is not my picture. I can appreciate it as it is, although it might sound as if I am contradicting myself.
Posted
I think it's worked very well - I do agree with Linda Wilson, and think you may be finding some problems with achieving deep darks without Paynes Grey or Black, but as she perceptively says, you're using a graphic technique in which this approach works. I think your foreground has come off extremely well - strong features, against a generally delicate and light painting. You should be happy with this one, like your cottage on the shore painting, it's coming over well, and represents the area and its colouring and atmosphere.
If you'd like to try a range of darks which will compete with the colours you've been using, and introduce a little more colour, red and green (taking a broad definition of those colours going from crimsons to earth reds) will give you some colourful and very strong optical blacks. Very deep greens can be made with Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna or even Burnt Umber; good darks can be got from French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna or Indian red, and can also be lightened with white to give a very attractive range of soft greys. Viridian - my favourite mixing colour, much kinder (though also much more expensive) than Pthalo Green - makes great darks with Permanent Rose/Quinacridone red or violet, Burnt Sienna. Have a play with them all; there are more mixes in my e-book (he said, temptingly).
Having just had a quick shufti, I can exclusively reveal to an expectant world that in my oil paint box - or rather chest - there is no Paynes Grey to be found, and only an elderly tube of Ivory Black, last used I don't know when. On the other hand, or rather in another box, I do have PG in acrylic, plus several blacks. I think they're more manageable in acrylic, but that's a story for another day.