Those lines are brief attempt at explaining how I proceed and describing the material I use. It is by no means intended as a “how to” monologue. Everything is indeed a matter of personal taste and choice. The key is simply to feel comfortable with the whole process, and enjoy it. There is no record to be beaten, nothing to be proven!
Oil colors
After trying and using lots of different colors - more than twenty, I discovered I was more comfortable with a rather limited palette, based on three colors each in their warm and cold version. I try to avoid white, feeling it takes the luminosity away and gives a pastel touch to many colors - I prefer yellow to white. If I have to use black (I can be lazy), I use the chromatic black from Gamblin. It shows very little bias.
My current palette (2014) is:
Titanium white
Cadmium Lemon
Cadmium Yellow Pale
Cadmium Yellow Deep
Yellow Ochre Pale
Transparent Oxide Red
Terra Rosa (I rarely use it)
Cadmium Red
Alizarin Permanent
Cobalt Violet (I rarely use it)
Ultramarine Deep
Cobalt Blue Light
Viridian
Chromatic Black (Gamblin).
My solvent of choice is Gamsol and I use Liquin or Neo Megilp for medium - but very rarely. My palette is a piece of glass (rectangle 15" x 20"). I have painted the back side with white gesso.
I find the Vicky McMurry's book (Mastering Color) filled with no-nonsense tips and excellent comments.
I learned a lot by trying to produce as many "green" swatches as I could, based on my palette of colors - from bright yellow green to dark and dull muddy greens. Each of them can then produce rich variations of brown and gray. It is a long exercise that I van only warmly recommend. Green is a difficult color.
Oil Brushes
I like with Filbert (sizes 4, 6, 8 and 10 –although I rarely use #4 and #10). I have seen very little difference between brands – probably because I still have a lot to learn.
I always try to use as big a brush as possible –fighting my watercolor habits.
As far as brushstrokes are concerned I can only recommend the teaching of David Leffel. The book "Oil Painting Secrets from a Master" is excellent.
Oil canvas
Unless I paint smaller sizes, I build my own canvases using a piece of plywood nailed and glued to a self-made frame (Home Depot) with masonite reinforced corners. All the parts are nailed and glued together (Carpenter glue) - it is essential. I use roll canvas from Dick Blick. It is quite a production but at least my canvas won’t warp and I could go up to 4’ x 8’.
Easel.
I have recently bought a Studio Design 13188 easel and really love it: sturdy, easy to move and move around and it can handle canvas up to 6' high !
Study
I spent a LOT of time preparing the painting. It can be days, weeks, even months doing sketches, watercolor studies or trying various compositions on my laptop. It wasn’t always that way, but the results are significantly better since I go through this preparation phase. These “study” steps are especially long and important with abstract paintings. The process turns into an obsession: everything I see, I look at it through my future painting.
Canvas preparation
I like to prepare the canvas in order to kill the white by either using a base color intended to increase the luminosity or using the complementary colors. I rarely darken the canvas in order to lift negative images. Maybe I should try this technique. Again it is only a matter of how you feel. There is no right or wrong way.
Starting the painting
Now comes the most important step for me: defining the darkest dark and the lightest light followed by locating and sketching the main shades (either warm or cold) while establishing the value range.
After this stage the painting is 90% finished. Everything I will be doing after this will either make the painting better (maybe) or make it worse (probably). I mean the whole character of the painting, its life, its luminosity and spontaneity, is already on the canvas. The danger is real to ruin all of that. It is especially true with abstract paintings. Ron Ranson used to say: "Don't fuss it!".
Painting
I paint rather slowly. One or two hours every day. The reason is that I am unable to immediately judge my work. I need to go away from it, and then come back to it many times. I take lots of pictures and play with them on my computer, changing color scheme, brightness, contrast, temperature …. endlessly. I still struggle with my brushstrokes. I have the tendency to mix my paints on the canvas (watercolor techniques are still haunting me). This leads to too much scumbling and a loss of spontaneity.
I have tried (and enjoyed) "plein air" painting but since I live in Miami Beach - it is not very practical. Watercolors dry in no time making it almost impossible to keep the fluidity I like. Oil painting is fine but the heat is still a killer - together with the bugs. The many tourists are all exceedingly kind and ... talkative. It is hard not to reply or start a chat... but that brings me away from the painting. Still I love the feeling of painting from nature. It is so much livelier than a studio.
I am amazed at the wealth of possibilities oil painting can offer. Compared to watercolor it is also incredibly more forgiving. I enjoy it - more and more. I hope you do too.
The last judgment.
Remember: Only YOU have to right to make a judgment.
And .... ENJOY IT !
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