Riverside - oil on box canvas - 16" x 12"
When creating the Riverside painting (shown left) I set up a camera, on a tripod, and recorded the entire painting process from start to finish.
Unfortunately, YouTube only allows ten minute videos, so I’ve sped up the video so you can watch the full 70mins in only 7mins.
If you’d like to see how I did a particular section of the painting, drop me an email, and I can put up chunks of the movie, in real time, on YouTube.
Anyway… enjoy the video!
Feb 21
Yes, I finally got off my lazy ass and did a new oil painting.
Riverside - oil on box canvas - 16" x 12"
I also recorded the entire painting process which I’ll hopefully be uploading to YouTube shortly, as a ten minute video, although it’s a biiiig file as I’ve kept it at 640 pixels wide rather than the usual teeny tiny 320 pixels wide. I’ll post again when the video is up and running.
New oil landscape, a big ‘un too – 19″ x 14″!
Hiding From The Storm. Oil on paper, 19" x 14"
It’ll take several days to dry, but once it’s dry it’ll go up for sale on eBay, miniGallery etc…
TIP: you can click the image above to see a larger version.
If you’re anything like me, then you love how you can noodle with your oil painting hours, sometimes days, later, and you’ll also hate how acrylics dry so unbelievably fast. Well, Atelier may well be on to something here with their ‘Interactive‘ acrylic range.
Atelier Interactive is a relatively new acrylic paint from Atelier, the main difference between plain Atelier and this new Interactive paint is that Atelier claim that you can keep the paint active by misting it with plain water.
I bought a set of these paints several weeks ago and gave them a quick try, and I have to say: I am impressed with them. The only problem is that, even when I’m using oils, I tend to use very little paint… so little in fact that my oil paintings are usually dry within just several days, but having forced myself to blob Atelier around, it really does stay active as long as you keep an eye, well… a finger, on how it is drying.
The idea is this: you gesso your painting surface and, once it’s dry, begin painting. The trick, is to gently dab your paint with your finger and if it is becoming tacky, it’s time to mist. Not very scientific, but it works. Even after I’d left my test painting for an hour, I could still slightly reactivate the paint.
The only problem with this unscientific method is how much to mist, how often to mist, and from what distance to mist. That takes time and perseverance, but if you’re willing to tinker with them for a little while the Atelier Interactive’s are definitely a step in the right direction for acrylics, and I’ll definitely be using them again in the future.
Winsor & Newton Water Mixable Oils
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by, nor affiliated with, Winsor & Newton, so this article is what I genuinely think of their water mixable oil paints – having used them exclusively in oil painting now for several years.
Oil paints have been used in art for many many years and the formula for them has remained largely unchanged for just as many years.
The one down-side with traditional oils is that, in my opinion, you need to use some sort of turpentine or white spirit with them and, as you can imagine, using such hazardous materials is not only dangerous but can leave an awful adour in your home/studio. Yes, you can get odour-less equivalents but it is only really odourless to humans, the same can’t be said if you have pets in your house/studio.
One of the great things about the Artisan oils is that you can wash your brushes (and your hands!) using nothing more than just soap and water.
The old adage that oil and water do not mix does not apply here!
The paints themselves can be thinned down using water. In fact, in a recent issue of an art magazine, one artist used them to create a painting which looked as though it had been created using watercolour but was in fact done used watered down Artisan oils! You can also use special W&N linseed oil to thin your paint with too.
The paint itself looks and feels just like any other (non-water mixable) oil paint that I’ve used in the past, so there’s really no need to change your techniques or other equipment and the paints come in a rainbow of colours, all be it that I only use about seven or eight colours at most.
If you’ve always wanted to try oils but are maybe allergic to turps/spirits then give Artisan a try, you can buy them in starter kits with just a couple of tubes, through to larger sets with about ten tubes per box.
Good luck!
The traditional pre-stretched, box, canvas
Most oil (and acrylic) painters use the now familiar pre-stretched (or box) canvas. This is a wooden frame with a sheet of canvas stretched across the frame and staped on the back of the frame, keeping the canvas evenly stretched around the frame, almost like a skin over a drum. This is them primed and painted on. Personally, I’ve grown to love and prefer canvas paper blocks…
The canvas blocks are pages of 230gsm (or more) paper which has a canvas texture to it and is specially made for oil/acrylic painting. Why do I prefer it? Here’s why:
Fabriano canvas paper block.
Clairefontaine canvas paper block.
The two brands that I use are: Clairefontaine (right), and Fabriano (above right). I find that they are excellent value for money, bright white, and easily available in most art stores online.
Give them a try, you’ve nothing much to lose… apart from a few pounds/dollars.
I first came across the wet-in-wet technique (sometimes called wet-on-wet) while watching reruns of Bob Ross’s Joy of Painting show.
Wet-in-wet is where you cover the canvas with a thin spread of ‘liquid white‘ making the canvas slippery and allowing the oil paint to easily slide across the canvas, mix with the liquid white, and be much easier to blend.
Unfortunately, liquid white is a secret recipe and quite expensive to buy, since it’s Bob Ross branded, but… you can make your own liquid white substitute. Here’s how I do it:
Haven’t done a still life in yeeeears. Last one I did was probably my fruits in a glass series, with coloured pencil, when I was still learning. This one is an apple inside an upturned glass with a mandarin beside them. Turned out quite well I thought:
An apple in a glass with a mandarin - oil on box canvas
Created just yesterday:
We Are Sailing - oil on canvas paper - 19" x 14"
It will be up for sale, shortly, on miniGallery.
This is the largest oil painting I’ve done thus far, a touch wider than A3 this is oil on canvas paper.
Enjoying The Scenery - A3 - Oil on Canvas Paper
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