MATERIALS
• Canvases and Boards
I use good quality Belgian linen, prepared on stretcher bars for larger works or sometimes I mount the linen onto a timber backing using acid free EVA glue, making the canvas surface firm, enabling me to paint the detail with more accuracy. For small to medium works, I tend to use triple coated Gesso boards. The smooth surface is great for painting technical subjects or finely detailed works.
• Brushes
My favourite brush is the versatile
Filbert. Sizes range from #2 through to #12 with most work being done with sizes #6 and #8. Good quality flat brushes, sizes #4 /#12 with medium to long bristles are used mainly for blocking in and applying good “meaty’ textural strokes. I keep cheaper flats and old scrubbers for “scrubbing in” colour and “scumbling” techniques.
I use a range of “sable mix” liner brushes for small, detailed work (sizes 0 to 4) and a selection of “well worn” and springy painting knives. A few old varnish brushes and fan brushes round out my selection.
Paints – Australian made Art
Spectrum Artists Oil Colours
-Ultramarine Blue
-Cerulean Blue
-Spectrum Violet
-Permanent Magenta
-Spectrum Crimson
-Cadmium Red
-Cadmium Orange
-Cadmium Yellow,
-Deep Cadmium Yellow
-Light Red
-Yellow Ochre
-Titanium White
-Viridian
Mediums and Solvents
-Refined linseed oil.
-Art Spectrum Odourless Solvent,
-Gum turpentine (when painting outdoors).
-#4 A.S. Medium Liquol
STEP ONE
Using a #6 Filbert brush and very wet “slurry” of light red, ultra blue and yellow ochre, I draw in the design on the board. Note the most distant parts of the scene are considerably paler and “bluer’ to avoid “bleed through” when colour is applied. If corrections are required at this stage, a quick wipe with a cloth dipped in brush wash will remove the unwanted lines.
STEP TWO
Using only refined linseed oil as a medium, I establish the most distant values and begin to bring the painting forward. At this stage, tonal values are more important than colour, particularly as this scene has a lot of distance.
STEP THREE
Intermediate and foreground values are starting to be blocked in at this stage and the centre of interest (sunlit rock faces) receives some preliminary attention.
STEP FOUR
The foreground under painting gives me a feel for the overall tonal structure of the painting by removing a lot of bare white board and putting the middle distance into perspective. It is at this stage I would correct any glaring colour or tonal anomalies.
STEP FIVE
The board is finally covered and I bring detail into the centre of interest and add foliage “under colour” to the foreground trees. This latter step tends to push the background elements further back, enhancing the illusion of distance.
FINAL STEP
In this the final step, foliage highlights are applied. The elements in the foreground are given texture and form by using a palette knife, which seems to bring the foreground even further forward. Small branches and other finishing details are added to the rock faces.
At this stage I would set the painting aside to dry and not look at it for a week or so. When I look at the painting with a “fresh” perspective, any areas that need further attention are readily evident.
ARTIST’S HINTS AND TIPS
Having taught oil painting for many years, three basic problems seemed to constantly arise with new and inexperienced students.
Not mixing sufficient colour
Using ultra cheap hobby paints
Not replenishing depleted colours on their palettes
• I realise that financial constraints are a real concern for many students and amateur painters who may not be recovering their costs through painting sales yet. In my experience poor quality paints are a false economy, as the quantity of pigment in them is less than the better quality paints, so more paint is needed. I have also found that the permanence is often inferior and that the “extenders” used in the poorer quality paints, can reduce the chroma (intensity).
• A premixed palette will help avoid “muddiness” in the colours and encourage good painting “brush work’. If linseed oil is used as a medium the palette can be put in the freezer overnight, and providing the paints are not allowed to skin over, a palette can last up to two weeks or more.
• Very often, colour can disguise tonal deficiencies in our paintings. There is a simple way to determine if your tonal values are okay or not. Take a digital photograph of your painting, without flash, in good light. Download it onto your computer, and use any inexpensive photo processing programme to reduce the colour saturation enough to produce a black and white image. Enlarge this to full screen size and you will easily pick up any tonal problem areas.
• Avoid painting late at night – our colour perception changes significantly Try to paint under lights that don’t distort your colours. Colour rendering is a term used to describe how closely a light source approaches natural daylight in keeping the correct balance of colours in the spectrum.
• Colour temperature defines the warmth or coolness of a light source in degrees Kelvin. i.e. an old incandescent light globe operates around 3,300 Kelvin, a sunny day 6,000 Kelvin. Ideally your light source should have a colour rendering index of better than 90% and a colour temperature between 5,000 and 6,000 Kelvin.
