Category Archives for Tips & Techniques
The Value of Color Sketches
When I’m getting ready to paint a larger painting I sometimes get too anxious to get started and forgo doing a series of color sketches to explore other possibilities in lighting and color and I end up regretting it. Even if I have a sketch that I’ve done outside I still try to find different ways of approaching the color or composition.
The habit of doing 3 to 5 small color sketches (3 x 5) or (4 x 6) is a good way to Continue Reading
The Value of Color Sketches
When I’m getting ready to paint a larger painting I sometimes get too anxious to get started and forgo doing a series of color sketches to explore other possibilities in lighting and color and I end up regretting it. Even if I have a sketch that I’ve done outside I still try to find different ways of approaching the color or composition.
The habit of doing 3 to 5 small color sketches (3 x 5) or (4 x 6) is a good way to Continue Reading
When Oil Paint Doesn’t Dry Fast Enough
Usually, if I’m trying to alter the drying time of oils, it’s to speed it up to meet a deadline or to make changes over dry paint. But once in a while, like in portraiture or figure painting, it’s nice to flow down the drying time to achieve subtle changes over a longer period of time.
Oil of Cloves is one way of slowing the drying time. It’s a preservative that’s used to cover up the odor of decomposition. It has a pretty strong odor but it’s tolerable. A few drops in a paint mixture retards the drying time. Ralph Meyer’s book “The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques”
Using Brushstrokes to Show Form
Since painting is done on a flat surface and the goal is to make your subject look three dimensional, it’s important how your brushstrokes lay on the canvas. Using value changes gives flat objects form and so does temperature change — warm colors come forward and cool colors recede. Hard and soft edges do the same thing, softer edges recede to the background and hard edges stick out and stay in front.
Brush strokes can do the same thing. The video here Continue Reading
Painting Over Old Paintings
There have been times, especially in art school when I’ve been tempted to paint over an old painting and the results have almost always been regrettable. The impasto lines or passages of the old painting always show up in Continue Reading
Painting into a Dry Painting
When a painting dries, the color tends to go flat. The lights and darks get duller and flatter. So when you want to praint back into a dry painting you haveto do something to bring the colors back to their original state and value. There are several options you can use. Continue Reading
Keeping Brushes Clean
How important is it to clean your oil brushes? And what’s the best way to do it?
I suppose painting everyday would take care of it. The paint in your brushes wouldn’t have time to dry and ruin your bristles. The problem with just rinsing your brushes in turpentine is that turpentine, paint thinner, turpenoid or any mineral spirits leaves your bristles brittle. There are oily paint thinners that soften your bristles but they are not good for thinning your paint while painting. Plus the smell is very strong which tells me it is toxic to some degree. , a Gamblin product, is non-toxic and has no odor. About twice a week at the end of a day I rinse the brushes out very well in Gamsol. This should get the paint out of the bristles. I then use Dawn dish detergent and wash the Gamsol out of the brushes which keeps them from getting brittle. You can always dip the brushes in walnut oil or lard to keep the brushes suple. If you paint a lot your brushes will probably wear out before you have to do much washing.
Painful Summer Greens
There is nothing worse than painting outside in the middle of the summer when everything is green, unless you’re painting in the middle of the summer during the middle of the day when everything is flat and green.
One option is to go home and take a nap until the late afte
rnoon light gets more dramatic, but the best option is to look for value and color changes. Even though the sun is overhead, there is still a direction where you are looking into the sun which gives you back lighting and more shadows. Also use the planes of the landscape to give up more dark and liht values. The four planes of the landscape: 1. Sky Plane 2. Ground Plane 3. Slanted Plane 4. Upright Plane. These four planes are at different angles so they will all be a different value. The sky plane will be the lightest, the ground plane the next lightest, then the slanted planes, and then the darkest will be the upright planes. If you push the differences between these planes you will get more contrast.
When the summer colors are all green look for Continue Reading
Trying Other Mediums
We all gravitate to a particular medium, one that feels most comfortable and helps us “express” ourselves better. We can also get into a rut with that favorite medium, periods when inspiration dries up and it’s hard to pick up the brush. So instead of
trying to find some other distraction, try another medium. I find painting outside with pastels a great change of pace. It’s a quick response medium to the colors I’m seeing . Also more color mixing right on the image instead