Remember that practice oil painting I was working on? I finished it. I enjoyed creating it so much I decided to try another one. Though I did a few things different this time. And learned something interesting, and important.
I really enjoyed creating that practice oil painting. Even as small as it is I managed to get the detail I wanted and needed in order to portray what I wanted to and that is awesome. I was working with brushes that I felt were not quite ideal for it and that doesn’t seem to have mattered with regards the outcome. When I finished I was really happy with it. It felt like I’d finally found the medium that will allow me to create the art I want to create with relative ease.
It is interesting that it has taken me so long to try oil painting. I wasn’t really avoiding, or fighting the idea of painting in oils though, I also wasn’t really embracing it. Mostly, I have painted with what I had. I had watercolors so I did that, and got a few more so I could do more. I had some soft pastels so I worked with those and then got more so I could do more. I had acrylics so I tried to work with those, and got some more to try to make those work. And yes, I had some oil paints from trying them few years ago. I didn’t use them because I had already invested so much into learning to use the other mediums. Or into figuring out that I didn’t like the medium.
That meant, that even if I thought something might look better in oils, I didn’t try it. Instead I chose whichever was going to give me close enough to what I wanted.
I had planned that, after I finished the practice painting, I was going to do another one on larger paper. To practice. Instead I decided to try one on canvas board that is a little larger. I also decided to try a more dynamic composition of two figures, not just one. I wasn’t sure how the composition was going to fit on the canvas. So I did something I don’t generally do. I sketched it out first, like a planning sketch. The way it turned out is cool, and even though I used a smaller sketch pad than the size of the canvas board it was enough for me to see how to put it on the board. So I sketched it in. Then I did something else very different from what I usually do. Instead of opting for a super simple background, or an abstract background, I sketched in enough information about the room so that you can tell the sort of environment the action is taking place in. So now I have one of the most complex paintings I’ve attempted to date and it is only my third oil painting. Yeah, I do think this might be my medium. Well, along with regular pencil.
Painting in oils felt, and feels, so much better, and freeing. Much more than I expected. Truly. I don’t find myself fighting with them to force them to do something. It’s just figuring out what color is going to go there and how to mix it or how to blend, or not, with the paint already laid down. It’s even more relaxing. Who knew.
I have learned that if I am going to sketch the outline in using pencil on canvas board that has been pre-primed, then I’m going to need something between the pencil and the paint. On the practice painting, my surface was treated with a white acrylic gesso before I started. I drew right on that and then did something of a wash like thin coat of paint over it. I thinned the paint with turpenoid. I’ve seen people do similar and said it helped with seeing the sketch when they used an orange color especially. I didn’t use orange when I did it, and it didn’t really help me see my sketch better. What it did do was to sort of fix the pencil in place and create a barrier between in and the more oiliness of the oil paints. I know. It doesn’t make a lot of sense yet.
When I started the second painting, I drew my sketch on the canvas board and didn’t do any sort of wash or anything. I just started painting with the oil paints. And what happened was that the graphite sort of melted into the oil paint and then did a little of a smear. It was frustrating at first but I was able to work past it. At one point, after I had got started on it, I went back in with a kneaded erasure and lifted some of the heavier, ‘excess’ pencil off the surface and that helped some. Next time, I’ll just use the clear gesso I was able to find at the art supplies store. That should solve things.
Another thing I’m learning is that as much as I like the quicker drying of working the turpeniod into the paint for thinning it, as needed, it does mean that I lose that ability to blend back into it later. And sometimes even during the same painting session. That ability to work back into something already put down is part of what I like about oil paints so I need to adjust my habits and expectations so I can take advantage of it. The other bit that I need to keep in mind is that oil paints thinned with turpenoid (a synthetic turpentine I believe) tend to have a flatter finish versus paints thinned with linseed oil. The advantage of the turpenoid is it drying faster and then being able to paint over it or up do an edge without mixing or smudging. But the cost is some luster in the finish. I expect I’ll be finding the balance I want as I go.
I have a good portion of the new painting done, I think. I’ve got a lot of the main detail filled in and I may even finish it in the next few days. Which is very different from the paintings I’ve been working on where I let them sit for a while before I decide if they are finished. I mean, I’ll probably do that with this one to an extent as well. But, if it’s like the practice one, it will sit more for drying than for choosing to do more work on it. I think. This is considerably more complex than my practice painting was. Of course, with completion of this painting feeling imminent I am starting to think about what I’ll work on next.
I still have the ‘Say Cheese!’, watercolor painting that I think I want to add a bit more shading to, so I’ll get that done. Then I can get it ready to go to the photographer. And then I’ve got that large piece of paper laid out that I think I’m going to start a pencil drawing on it, but it could turn into an oil painting depending on how I feel as I get to working on it. And then I’m going to look through the old photos I have and see what I want to paint from those. And yes, I will probably do the next one of those in oil as well. Because I liked that first one so much I had to try another, and I think I want to do yet another one.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ve got to go to my taekwondo class and then back home to paint some more.
Cheers!