Posts Tagged ‘Oil Painting’
Burnout, again
I love to travel! One year, a few years ago, I was able to visit many places. In July, I was in Phoenix celebrating my relative’s 100th birthday, then stopped in NC for a week of plein air painting. In September, I went to Montana for a week of painting the mountains. I celebrated Thanksgiving in Banff, Canada, and Christmas in CA. In January, I was in FL to spend the winter, but in March, I was in Mexico, again painting. Finally, in May, I went to France for 10 days. When I returned, I didn’t want to go anywhere for a good, long time. I was burned out!
If you are burned out in your artistic venture, here are 3 more things to possibly help. Prioritize – perhaps get help for the tasks that others can do for you or allow more time to complete the work. Try something new – perhaps partnering with another artist on that large project. Take a workshop – online workshops are available and even You Tube has videos to bring fresh ideas, advance one’s skill and build confidence.
Pat
My sister, Pat, and her husband, Jim, live on a 15 acre tract of land that is heavily wooded and gently rollng. It is a beautiful area with squirrels, birds, and sometimes deer and other wild life. They also have a pond, about 1/3 acre in size, which is home to frogs, turtles, fish and other critters.
A few years ago I did a large abstract landscape painting of the pond and entitled it, of course, Pat’s Pond. Now, it proudly hangs in their living room for all to enjoy.
Suzannne’s Show – Part 2
Today I stopped by the frame shop where Suzanne’s paintings are on display. She has one large painting, several middle-sized paintings, and a few small paintings which were nicely arranged in a small display area. It is always good strategy to have a variety of sizes for persons with a variety of budgets.
Suzanne does plein air painting (outdoors) and represents the landscape very beautifully in a traditional manner. I can only wish her well and hope she has many successful years in the art world!
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.