Posts Tagged ‘Oil Painting’
Yard Work
My daughter is coming to visit tomorrow! She lives in CA and I’m so glad she will be able to stay almost a week. We’ll have a nice visit and she will help me do a few things that I tend to put off.
I was working in the yard today – no time for oil painting today! I used the weed whacker until the battery ran down, but never fear, it will be charged up again by tomorrow so I can finish the job! Then I trimmed some roses and looked around. A large branch had fallen from the pine tree in the strong thunderstorm we had had Sunday night and I failed to notice it for 2 days! Out came the loppers and I cut off many of the small branches, but I may have to bring in extra help for this challenge!
My Studio
My finished garage is my studio. In addition to my car, it contains a table and 4 chairs, several closets, 2 easels and a work table. About half the closets are filled with items for oil painting, and the other half with items for the house, yard and car.
My friends and I have an understanding that Monday mornings are for art. We sometimes agree to meet somewhere to paint, but sometimes meet in my studio, sit around the table and talk about art topics or critique each other’s paintings or open up our paint boxes and work on a painting. It is wonderful to have a space that has easy access for painting, but even more wonderful to have friends with whom to share.
New Friends
Last Friday, I went to Bivalve, MD, to continue working on a large landscape painting I started approximately a week ago. These folks have the 3 large, very old trees in their front yard that I liked so much.
It has been great getting to know the owners of the house. The man said when he approached the previous owner, she refused to sell the house, even though it was vacant. It took 3 years of mowing the lawn – gratis – before he was able to purchase the house.
Now, he and his wife are redoing it in their spare time. They have been working on it nearly a year and have at least another one to go before it will be completed. I’m sure it will be beautiful when they finish and restored to the original condition, but what a labor of love!
Richard Robinson, New Zealand Artist
Friday’s letter from Robert Genn was about Mastering Colour. He explained some of the difficulties of same, and from the comments, a lot of people must have difficulty mastering color.
He noted that a subscriber and friend, Richard Robinson, a New Zealand artist, has an excellent downloadable video called Mastering Colour, with printable lesson notes. All is free! Go to www.livepaintinglessons.com and sign up for your free painting videos and then confirm from the email they send you. When I clicked on the link to confirm, I landed back on the page to sign up. That seemed odd, but it must have been OK, because I found Lesson #1 in my inbox!
Recipe for a Glaze
When I searched Google for “recipes for glazes for oil painting”, many comments were about a method of imparting color to oil painting by adding a thin darker layer of nearly transparent color over a dried, lighter color already laid down on the canvas. However, I did find a couple of specific formulations.
The one I shall give you has 4 ingredients. 1) Stand oil is a specifically refined linseed oil, of honey-like consistency, non-yellowing and has a tendency to flow smoothly to an enamel effect – just what you’d want in a glaze. 2) Damar varnish is a solution of damar resin in turpentine. I believe it’s purpose is as a dryer, but I could find nothing in the literature that said that. 3) Turpentine is the main vehicle for mixing all this, and 4) Cobalt drier is another dryer.
This is a typical recipe and “gives good results for all-round purposes and is in wide use”.
Stand Oil 1 fluid ounce
Damar varnish [5-pound cut] 1 fluid ounce
Pure gum spirits of turpentine 5 fluid ounces
Cobalt drier 15 drops
[Mayer, Ralph. The Painter's Craft. An Introduction to Artist's Methods and Materials. Revised and updated by Steven Sheehan, Director of the Ralph Mayer Center, Yale University School of Art. New York: Penquin Group. 1948. 1991.]
The Art Walk in My Town
Friday night there was an Art Walk in my home town. Since I had entered a landscape painting, I decided to attend the opening.
Five prizes were to be given: First, Second, and Third best and two Honorable Mentionsl The judge was a lady who had a Masters degree in Art, formerly lived in New Jersey, but moved here recently and was teaching at a local private school. About midway through the evening, she was introduced and explained why she chose those particular honorees.
Later, I asked her to critique my painting. She liked the lines and colors, but suggested that I put a glaze on it. The glaze would consist of turpentine, linseed oil and a small amount of damar varnish and I could find a recipe on the internet. She said that when brushstrokes are supposed to be seen and are, that is good. When they are not supposed to be seen, but are, this is distracting. (Some parts of my painting were shinier than others because the oil was thicker there.) At any rate, I was grateful for her comments.
Using the Art Tracker
Recently, I wrote about a book I had received, “Starving” to Successful, by Jason Horejs. He is the owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, www.xanadugallery.com .
I ordered his software, Art Tracker, which helps an artist keep track of the inventory, and began getting acquainted with it. For each painting, I need an inventory number which, when once chosen, automatically increases by one. Then I need to enter the name, size, type (oil, acrylic, etc.), price, and date created. He says to not put the date created on the back of the painting. This is where I am now.
Later I will record the gallery in which it is hanging, the sale price and date sold or returned. If I had started this a few years ago when I began to be serious about oil painting, it would have shown a clearer picture of my growth.
The Gallery Show
I belong to several galleries in the area, each in a different town. Very often the artist is required by the gallery to sign an agreement that the artist will show only at that gallery and none other within a radius of a certain number of miles.
Usually the galleries plan the themes for their shows a year in advance, so the artist knows whether or not her paintings will be appropriate for each show. There is a small fee to enter and often the gallery will accept up to 3 paintings from all who enter, depending on the space available.
Today I entered one oil painting in the new show at my local gallery. It will be on display for a month. There are prizes given, in this case none are monetary, but wouldn’t it be great if I could come home with an Honorable Mention?
On Not Being Able to Write
On days in which I do an oil painting, it’s easy to write a blog. On other days, not so much.
Take, for instance, Wednesday. I was scheduled for an appointment with the chiropractor for the last of a series of back corrections from having driven from Florida to Maryland a month or so ago. In the meantime, last Saturday I began the day with a large bucket of soap and bleach water and scrubbed my deck furniture and some of the mildew from winter that had collected on the back of the house. As a result, I had developed a stiff neck – for 4 days! The chiro fixed me up, but last night I got something in my eye that just about did me in!
This morning, I finally got the eye problem abated, after lots more eye drops! All that from someone who has been sick hardly a day in her life!
Pemberton Park, again
Today, my group decided to paint at Pemberton Park. I liked that because I could continue work on the large oil painting I started last week.
Since the park is only a mile from my house, I arrived first. Betty wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t want to paint, but came anyway for the camaraderie. Val set up along one of the trails for a different perspective. Finally Suzanne arrived, having to go the long way around because the ferry was closed due to high tide.
Two groups of children came by as we were painting. One group visited a while, the other, now so much. Suzanne and Val each went home with a nice painting, Betty felt better when she left and I got another third of my big painting finished. And we all had a great day!