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Message
Posted
Hi Norrette, I am far from finished but thought I would give a quick update. I haven't worked with oils for three weeks due to covid but I am recovering now. I managed to get a fourth glaze on the face before I came down with it. Today, I've picked it up again. I've started adding some texture to the clothes and hat although this will take some time. I've done some of the background. Now, I will continue to work on the face and the textures of the things mentioned. As for your questions, the size is about 20 inches by 16 inches. I usually give a canvas a couple of coats of gesso as this gives a good base for the oils. I must admit, I just plain forgot to gesso this canvas but you can bet my application of the oil, would have been a much smoother application. The thing is, I usually have a few canvasses of various sizes, gessoed, waiting in the wings.
Posted
It's coming up beautifully Denise!
I used to enjoy this blocking in technique myself a lot.
I did experiment with different shades as well, but for the flesh tones I used to adjust the colour to be more greenish to compliment the reddish glazing...
It is time consuming a bit, but the efekt is very pleasing 😉
Art.
Posted
It is looking fab Denise, and thank you for the update on your prep and surface. Today, I am going prep a few canvas boards ready for future use, great idea. I prepped a board on Monday for starting on our Friday group, but it's still nowhere dry. I just used a thin background colour diluted with thinner. I've got some acrylic gesso, is it the same thing?
Yes, it's water miscible, Robert. I may well end up agreeing with you about their quality. One of our group is asthmatic and had problems when we broached oils the first time last year in what was our class then. So the tutor couldn't use oil in future lessons. So 2 of us who want to develop in oils, are using miscibles to keep everyone happy.
Posted
Thanks Art, yes I enjoy the process and it probably would have been finishes without the three week break from oils. Yes Norrette, it's the acrylic gesso. I'm not a fan of miscibles. I have tried them and their texture differs slightly but the best of luck with them Norrette. Many artists use them with great success.
Posted
Water miscible oils are still made with oil - I don't see how that would affect the asthmatic painter less. What could affect them isn't oil, but some of the rubbish people insist on mixing with regular oils - solvents, and it really doesn't matter what they are so far as health risks (and flammability) are concerned. Turpentine is particularly hazardous - for us, not so much for the paint - but all the others, OMS, Sansodor, Low Odour thinners, any material containing petroleum distillate in any quantity, all are hazardous in general, and particularly so for any breathing conditions. But - and I shall continue to beat this drum until it deafens! - you don't have to use solvents at all. People became so frightened of fat over lean that they thought solvents were essential, rather than adding "extra" oil - it's time this drivel was debunked entirely.
Oil paint is made using one of several oils, of which the best is Linseed (in its several forms). Walnut is a second choice, but hasn't the strength of Linseed. You don't need to add it to everything - try deliberately restricting it, see how you get on with tubed paints. You'll have trouble with Old Holland paint, which is extremely thick and stiff, but others rarely require more oil than they have already. Mash them with a palette knife to make them move about a bit, and only then use more oil.
There's only one way in which thinners score at all, and that lies in applying an initial colour wash to canvas or board, as many like to do. Even there, though, it's perfectly possible to do without them: just add a minimal quantity of oil to an earth colour, apply it with a lint-free paper towel - kitchen-roll is actually perfectly fine - scrub it in, with that little bit of oil if necessary (which it probably will be) and then go over it with a clean piece of kitchen roll ("shop towel", if you're in the USA) to remove as much as possible while leaving you with a stain of colour.
That's all you need to do. You don't need solvents to paint, you don't need them to clean your brushes, and you certainly don't need to pollute the air in your art classes with them.
Sorry to burst in like an avenging angel on this thread, but it is beginning to get to me a bit: there is no good reason to use water-miscible oils, they're student quality paints, they're a marketing gimmick, they cater to a problem that just didn't exist. (I know Murray Ince sang their praises, and he was a good painter and a sometime friend of mine: he had asthma, and couldn't cope with solvents: but he really never needed to!)
Edited
by Robert Jones, NAPA
Posted
Diane - I was complaining to someone about lack of storage space; "why don't you sell them?", he breezily inquired...
There are times when a low, despairing moan is the only response that's appropriate: a less appropriate reply would have consisted of seizing him by the throat, slamming him against a wall, and hissing directly into his terrified eyes "because people won't buy them: but I take cheques - you can make yours out now, while you still have breath in your body". As a sales technique, it lacks finesse - but worth a try?
Posted
Denise: you mean you add gesso to a pre-primed canvas, I assume.
Do you make your own gesso - i.e. is it real gesso - or add the acrylic priming which is called gesso (and isn't), to get a smoother surface? I'm assuming that's what you do, which is also what I do when I remember to do it; but I'd be particularly fascinated if you used genuine (plaster-based) gesso.
There is a US painter I've mentioned often, author of the Traditional Oil Painting book, who does get adorably cross if people call acrylic priming by the makers' name, i.e. acrylic gesso; I gave up getting peeved by it long ago, and I think Virgil Elliott (for t'is he) is fighting a losing battle here. After all, very, very few people use real gesso now - how wonderful it would be if you were one of those who do, though!
PS: You're dead right, in my opinion, with your comment about using water-miscible oils when once you've used conventional (and good) oil paint. I have a friend who's a professional artist: she switched to water-miscibles for environmental reasons (her concerns were genuine, but over-blown) and simply found she could not get the colour depth or subtlety that she needed in her work with oil and water. I found the Grumbacher range - hard to find in the UK - rather better than Artisan from W & N; and there are those who recommend Cobra; but it's just a matter of mild degree; none of them is good, and none a pleasure to paint with.
Edited
by Robert Jones, NAPA
Posted
Yes, I do mean that Robert and I am sure I have watched or read something about making your own gesso. I don't think it is difficult. I should give it a go sometime and I will surely tell you when I do. I have been also looking at homemade Tempera recently, thought I might try this sometime, also. I think from scratch is best but of course, we are not always in the know how or there are limitations on what we can do or, it is convenient to buy ready made but I think it is good to try, were we can.
Posted
Denise & Robert, I spent a good afternoon splashing around my "gesso" adding drops of acrylic ink, so I have one white, 3 neutral beige, 1 grey and one flesh pink coloured bases to work from. I'll see how it goes over the next weeks.
Our group has a difficult problem. We're all from a Local Authority painting class (which we treated as a group) but we think the LA have cuts as they did not renew with our tutor and messed around with dates and times, so the whole thing collapsed. So we've clubbed together to hire a hall once a week, to go it alone. As such, we daren't upset the dynamic over misconceived ideas about oil paint. We're using miscibles to keep the peace.
A note to Alan who talked about advertising as a tutor. With LA cuts up and down the country, tutors and students need to connect.
Edited
by Norrette Moore
