The White Walls of Cassis

Taken from the first article in the first issue of The Artist in March 1931, Dorothea Sharpe explores the art of oil painting. Dorothea produced six articles for the magazine in 1931, the first three in March, April and May and continuing in October, November and December.

The history of oil painting

It is commonly supposed that the art of oil painting was invented by the brothers Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, who lived in Holland from 1380 to 1440. They certainly brought it into general use, but oil painting, though in an unsatisfactory form, has been definitely proved to exist as early as A.D 1100, and it probably existed in some form in the time of early Christians.

Vasari in his Lives of Artists, says: “Jan Van Ekck made a wonderful invention of great use to all pictures, in which he found that linseed oil and nut oil were more drying than all the rest.” This passage has been much disputed, as this was not new and had long been an established fact. Certain it was, however, that the Van Eyck’s made great technical improvements in the oil technique. Before that time tempera was used, covered with a coating of oil, to protect that painted surface from the moisture in the air of those northern lands.

It was not until some years later that Geovanni Bellini, the greatest Venetian artist of the fifteenth century, introduced the art into Italy. His best works were executed in oil and he handed his accumulated knowledge on to his pupils Giergione, Palma, and Titian.

It was not until after the Renaissance that canvas for working on was in general use. Some of the earliest oil painters used paper, which was glued to canvas by means of casein. Later, in the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century, wood panels were used, particularly by the French. Rubens’ “Magi,” in the Antwerp Museum, one of his largest pictures, is on wood.

The possibilities of oil painting

The art of oil painting is perhaps the most difficult of all mediums. It has greater possibilities and therefore greater pitfalls and snares for the young and enthusiastic painter.

Somehow a bad oil painting always appears far worse than a bad quality picture in either water colour or pastel, yet the quality of pigment in the oil sketch which is freshly put in with lively touches and good colour has a charm that can be obtained by no other means.

After all, however, surmounting the difficulties is half the interest in oil painting, for if solving the problems was easy, the amount of interest would be far less.

Oil Painting has an enormous scope, by reason of its brilliancy of colour, its lasting qualities, depth, and richness of tone, and certainly for large work it is the medium “par excellence.”

READ OUR GUIDE TO OIL PAINTING HERE

The importance of composition

If one were asked to mention the difficulties facing the student who takes up oil painting, composition would have to come first, for at the very outset of the preparation for painting a picture, we must touch on the composition, owing to its importance as a factor in producing good work. Some artists may differ, placing subject, colour, or drawing first.

In giving the awards at the great Pittsburg Exhibition, the highest honours are bestowed on the picture which is judged best in competition. It is interesting to note that the American artists value above all the thought and design that must always precede the actual painting of the picture. Good drawing comes second, colour third, technique fourth, and subject last.

There may be difference of opinion as to the order in which these are placed, but all will agree that composition must come first. Personally, I should say colour is as important as drawing—a picture with glorious colour, even though the drawing be faulty, has a great charm, and it is easy to overlook the bad drawing, but never bad colour.

How to acheive good composition

First sketch drawn on the spot of a picnic group, in a sketch book. Composition poor.

A badly designed or composed picture cannot be redeemed by good drawing or good colour, but good colour and drawing added to a fine defined composition places the picture at once in the first rank. We very rarely see a picture with perfect composition, and there are no laws to govern the artist, no fixed rules. It must be a personal affair.

Perhaps it is easier to suggest the stumbling blocks to good arraignment of form, rather than to try to give suggestions for the guidance of good composition. This sense of rhythm and the ability of placing forms in satisfying juxtaposition one to another, is a precious gift born in one rather than something acquired by actual training.

First, let us beware of equality—that is, of equal spaces, equal shapes, equal lights and darks—for equality stands for monotony, and monotony is always dull.

At the start, do not cut the picture into half, either vertically or horizontally. This is an obvious error, to be fallen into by only the most unobservant.

To have the sky and landscape of equal proportions is always a jarring note, but if two thirds of the canvas is given to the sky, and only one third to the landscape, the spacing at once becomes harmonious, for it is by the balancing of spaces, lines and tones, we get good composition.

A picture divided vertically either by line or by light and shade in the centre is also very unfortunate, though as a general rule the chief point of interest should be near the centre, slightly to the right or left—never in a corner or near the edge of the canvas, so that it almost touches the frame.

Think out your subject

Never try to say more than one thing in a picture—concentrate on the dominant feature and make everything else subservient to it. Think out the subject well beforehand, so that you know it thoroughly before starting to paint. Time is not wasted by doing this—many a good picture has been spoilt by a too hurried start.

One of our great painters went into the country sketching with a party of friends. At the end of the day, when they had finished their work, they came up to him, eager to see what the master had painted. His canvas was bare and he was sitting by the edge of a pond, idly throwing in stones. They enquired why. “Well,” he said, “I know now how water looks when it ripples.”

Applying the golden rule

For those with more or less limited artistic experience, simplicity of design is always the golden rule; if too much is not attempted at first, the big things are more easily obtained. After all, a dignified composition can be made from a very simple subject.

Take, for instance, a piece of low lying meadow land, a stretch of sand, or sea, painted with a beautiful arrangement of passing clouds that build up from the horizon—or maybe a group of hayricks against a glowing evening sky—any of these would make a better picture than a more complicated subject crowded with detail, for in sketching, nature gives so much more than we want that it needs practice to know how much to eliminate.

Undoubtedly the best way of planning the composition is the method adopted by most painters of nature, who make numerous rough sketches in a small note book about four inches by three, that can easily be carried in the pocket.

Don’t be content with just outlines, but jot down the masses of light and shade—the shapes of these, and the balance of tones are all important. Also in making colour notes of the composition, it is most useful to have a spare piece of canvas the same size as the lid of the paint box, fasten down with drawing pins, to jot down the fleeting effects of cloud forms, sunlight, etc; or it may be a figure passes by, exactly right in tone and colour for the sketch we are working on. The effect is so momentary; we have not the time consider its right placing. If put in and then altered the quality of the paint is apt to be spoilt. In oil painting the colour should be kept clean and bright—put in with a sparkling touch in which the separate strokes of the brush are left unbroken.

In arranging figures, etc., in a studio picture, it is a good plan to put the canvas in a glazed frame, then on the glass roughly paint the objects, changing the position until we have most satisfactory result—or another method is to cut them out in paper, and place on the picture, moving them about until the most satisfactory positions are found.

The importance of size

A good composition needs no alteration—no adding to or cutting down when once the picture is finished. But it is not everyone who, in the course of his or her artistic career, obtains this happy result.

If one is not satisfied, the trouble may be that the painting is too small in treatment for the size of the canvas. If this is the case, it may be re-divided by cutting down but do not resort to this drastic step without first giving it much thought and consideration. Be quite sure of the exact proportion to be sacrificed.

A good plan in a case as stated above is to place the picture behind a smaller frame, or cover up the edges with brown paper, so as to leave only the smaller proportion of the picture visible, moving the smaller frame or pieces of brown paper, until the exact proportion looks correct.

Then again, perhaps the picture looks good cramped. It may be lacking in space, or badly in need of more sky or foreground. The centre of interest would be better shifted slightly to the left or right—this may be overcome by adopting the plan of leaving a few inches of canvas more than the stretcher needs, when the picture can be taken off and re-stretched on a larger stretcher.

Once I knew an artist who exhibited a large picture in the Royal Academy. The following year he cut it in half and exhibited the two halves. It is much easier to point out the mistakes in a bad composition and suggest alterations that will help to set it right rather than to give any general rule for the guidance of the young artist.

The importance of sketching

A quick sketch, from which the principal figure taken for finished painting

I am using as illustrations for this first of my series of articles on oil painting, rough sketches that have served their purpose in the making of the finished picture reproduced in full colour as a frontispiece.

Take the first rough sketch—this is poor in composition but in getting an idea and subject for a picture, quickly get in the essentials. This is all that can be done. This sketch was made so quickly that I scarcely had time to do more than roughly place the figures and give an idea of their various sizes and actions, with their positions in the landscape for future reference, when younger members of the party had disappeared from view.

Little people cannot keep still, and we must not expect them to. This to me is one of their great charms but often it is very trying to those with only limited experience.

The landscape is a more or less faithful sketch, carried out on the spot. Note the alteration in the finished picture; how I have given more space to the foreground in order to help the figures. The placing of the figures also required much careful experiment before being finally decided, and I would stress the necessity for experiment to decide such points.

By experimenting, placing the figures in various positions to discover the best method of grouping, much trouble might be saved later on, when the painting is well on the way to completion. To discover that a figure needs moving then, is serious, necessitating a lot of trouble and work, all of which would be avoided by the preliminary experiment referred to above.

Never think it as a waste of time preparing preliminary composition sketches, for upon these depend the success of otherwise your picture. It is wise to decide every detail of the composition before commencing the painting. You will be well advised to remember this—always.

Later I will deal with these rough sketches more fully, when I tell you how I build up my picture step by step, eliminating this and adding that—altering here and there, all to help the balance and design.

Art is full of difficulties—disappointments and discouragement come so frequently, more often perhaps to those with real ability, that I hope in these articles to be of some real help in a practical way to the student at the offset of his or her career.