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| Looking Uptown - in Progress 40x30" |
I like working this way, two big paintings at once. I'll be going back and forth between the two and I'll be sure to share my progress. I've started each one in a similar way, but using different techniques.
The first one from last weeks post was started with the Color Wash Method, using different colors while blocking in large shapes. (This is one of the methods I will be teaching this year in my workshops.)
The pink one, above, was started with a wash of transparent color, but I didn't use my special varnish for this one and I used only the one color as a "tone". Often when I start a painting this way I will use my paper towel to wipe out some of the wash before it dries. This time I chose to go right into the dark shapes.
When I go back into this piece tomorrow I will work in the "lights". This painting will be a "high key" painting. In other words, I will be painting from the light side of the value scale. Most of these dark shapes are not so dark, maybe mid-dark being the darkest shape. My hope is that some of the warm pink value and color from the original wash will be there showing through in some areas when the painting is done. This will depend on how many times I will be going into each area to repaint. When a painting goes really well, I usually have some underpainting coming through.
While I would like to be, I am not an Alla Prima painter. Especially with these big pieces, I will be working on it for a while and it is bound to dry in some areas.
Alla Prima painters finish the piece while the painting is still wet. This is an advantage because you can work into the other shapes as you go along. It gives your painting a fresher look. When it is dry, that is more difficult to do.
There are some tricks to doing this though, and some painters will scrape their first layer of paint so they don't have to worry about ridges of dry paint. But if you do this, you still don't always get the same results at you would be it "wet into wet".
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to explore the idea of wet into wet as much as I could anyway. I was certainly inspired when I went to a demonstration last week given by Elio Camacho. He uses safflower oil to keep his paint wet. Ovanes Berberian uses Linseed Oil. (Some say the the Linseed Oil will turn yellow over the years, and the Safflower Oil will not.)
Elio has studied with Ovanes and paints in some similar ways. And his paintings are beautiful and colorful as well.
When Elio is not doing a demonstration he uses the Safflower Oil mixed with Stand Oil. I will have to try that too. I used the Safflower Oil today in my piece and I'm hoping to get the rest of the painting surface covered tomorrow so I can take advantage of the wet paint.
I'd love some feedback on these ideas so send me a note with your thoughts. Feel free to open up the discussion on any of the above topics. In fact go ahead and ask a question about anything related to painting. I love to talk about this stuff!
4 comments:
Lookin' good Randy~ My favorite subject matter, too.
Thanks for sharing your start. I'm very interested in seeing some of your progress photos to understand how you approach your painting process.
Thanks for sharing about Elio. I just watched a youtube video of his and must say his works are inspiring. You can very much see the training and inspiration from Ovanes in his works.
You know, I consider myself an Alla prima painter. I have always felt that a painting should be done in one sitting and be done. I sometimes will touch up a painting the next day with a stroke or two...usually for finer lines like rigging of sails and such because fine lines can disappear easily when trying to do them wet into wet.
I recently followed some recommendations by Jim McVicker and have been using Walnut oil. It helps keep the paint open a little longer and adds a nice shine. It's not a varnish and I don't think of it that way. It's not a medium either. It spreads nice and leaves just a hint of shine without varnish when dry.
I got my first tube of M. Graham oil which mixes dry pigment into walnut oil. It's nice and works for me. I've been doing the walnut oil thing for about six months now and enjoy the results for alla prima painting. I add a couple drops to my piles of paint and it increases fluidity just to the right point for me.
Alkyds are too sticky and dry too fast. And VTO gives my wife headaches even if I keep the area ventilated. So when I heard about McVicker's use of just WO, I thought I'd give it a try and I'm glad I did.
I just tried my first direct painting, non-alla prima. I'm doing a 16" x 20" painting for my daughter. it's a scene from Tuscany. I'm painting section by section using Liquin to help expedite drying. It does make it harder on the blending and edges side after the film has dried. But on the other hand, you do get the ability to lay paint on top so much easier. I'm doing it this way because I am trying to explore new methods. I like Alla Prima very much. but sometimes, finishing larger works in one sitting is quite an aggressive goal.
Can't wait to see your next photos. Keep them coming!
Terry, been thinking about you and I am enjoying your paintings, happenings and posts. I'm looking forward to coming back to the SLC in March for my workshop. I'll do my favorite thing and check out your paintings first thing. I appreciate that you enjoy these scenes. I'm so done with florals and still lives right now. So this year, maybe I'll enter some shows, who knows? Wish I could take one of your workshops. Melanie from Australia will be there I think. Maybe I can join that one.
Robert, See tonights post, coming up soon. R
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