I kept notes from the workshop and I wanted to post them. It's just not the same as being there! But what Ovanes instructed us to do is something I didn't want to forget. Most importantly though, I came home started painting - with difficulty - to get more comfortable with using more paint.
Ovanes uses tons of paint on his paintings. When he demonstrated on my canvas, I began to understand just how much paint he loads onto his brush. But before he begins painting, he uses linseed oil to loosen the paint to make sure it is all the same consistency. He calls it "juicy paint".
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| Shipwrecked by Ovanes Berberian |
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| Peonies by Ovanes Berberian |
Ovanes Berberian notes….
Being an Artist~
Lose your sleep over this!
Have a mentor.
If you find your mentor you will know it.
Go to Museums and sketch what you love, then go home and paint a piece of it.
You’ve got to be a sensitive person.
You’ve got to have results.
Classic painting never dies.
Theodore Lucas was one of Ovanes's mentors.
The hungrier your get the better it tastes.
So be hungry – don’t get satisfied by other things.
On painting ~
Steps to a better painting,
Draw
Wash
Redraw
Paint
Clean Everything
Flat Large Shapes
Simplify
One Value when washing, not so dark to start.
When you use dark, scrape to keep dark = no texture.
Use a wash with beautiful color using pure pigment or tone your canvas with a wash of pthalo blue and paynes gray (1/4 to ¾)
You can also use a warmer wash.
For your wash use turpentine and Damar varnish, about ½ and ½.
Look for the “key” when you do your wash.
When you do your wash every square inch should be clean….even your grays.
Do not mix your family colors in your wash, only pure pigment in the same “family”
Design~
Design is number one- If you don’t have a beautiful design don’t bother to paint it.
Value is most important.
RGH paint is very good.
Begin with flat shapes and two values for each object.
Middle key paintings- Overcast days make you paint in middle key.
Sunny days- You paint light and shadow.
Remember the light source, the sky color.
You must feel it.
Lilac flower – use burnt umber with a touch of Alizarin in your wash for the warm shadow of the flower.
If you learn to see it then you can paint it.
Use temperature to turn the vase.
Better to stop before you ruin it.
Do quick studies, small- 6x8 and 8x10.
Tone your boards and staple them on a board, go out and paint.
The shadow is effected by the blue in the sky.
No Fear- Be brave and make mistakes.
The name of the business is frustration.
Correct Temperature = Good Harmony
IMAGINE
Paint beautiful shapes with beautiful outlines.
Paint flat and blend.
Don’t be timid.
What matters is what is happening on the canvas, don’t copy everything you see but make the painting work.
Design your light pattern.
Build on your darks.
Paint the flat large shapes. Use your palette knife to lay in Large Flat Shapes – it helps you get the dark rich value – then Scrape Lightly.
Blend to soften your edges.
Use brush control.
Simplify
When you start with the washes, not so dark to start.
Medium key to start.
When you start with a palette knife start with dark then scrape it, no texture yet.
In the finish use only two values, and finish with a highlight, that is all.
No detail for the first year.
Stay flat then get warm and cool.
In the daylight don’t forget your cool colors.
The best areas are simplified.
Get the contrast and color in the colors.
It takes a lifetime to get color.
Start with composition.
Balance light with shadow on the table top.
Painting Inside~
Put your lights in the foreground when you set up your still life.
Also some lights at the top to make the middle (table) come forward.
Have tones to 8 at most for flowers and lilacs.
Hold back on your lights.
Be very selective with your final brush strokes.
Blend up and down.
Try going two values lighter on your palette using whites.
(or) Start with raw colors for your wash.
Make white your thinnest paint, very lose.
Black makes true nature colors, try starting with black and white, then add color
After you design your painting go away and come back, look again.
Don’t forget to push the background back.
