oil paint tips
wat up guys.
i scrounged up enough money for oil paint supplies and now... well i dont know how to do this. im scared that i might mess up the canvas.
my supplies are:
i scrounged up enough money for oil paint supplies and now... well i dont know how to do this. im scared that i might mess up the canvas.
my supplies are:
- palette knife
- a palette with 6 holder spots
- 7 colors: lemon yellow, cerulean blue, cadmium yellow light, french ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, ivory black, burnt umber.dammit, i forgot to get white:(
- 4 brushes:6 fan, 4 filbert, 2 flat,2 round
- damar varnish
- linseed oil
- and this mona lisa paint thinner
- 9inch x 12inch canvas
Replies
mix damar varnish / linseed oil / turpentine in the following ratio 2:3:1
use this to dilute the paint and as a general medium, cuts drying time by about two thirds.
what I like doing is ageing my linseed, get a big jar fill it with normal linseed and leave it to evaporate off for about 6=8 months, goes all thick like honey and dark.. paint with that.. very rich and warm also dries quicker. Can be combined with normal linseed to thin out or for some tasty drippy effects.
main thing with a new medium just play with it, and not care too much about results.
There ya go.:)
Brushes are key for good results, i only buy a specific brush because of the way it handles. Vincent for acryl and oil, is what i use atm, very soft and hold the paint well.
i actualy never use any linseed like oils or thinners, for one
the fuems of that thinner is unhealthy, and oils tend to not dry at all.
Instead i use this medium
It works well in so many ways,
It thins out the paint, it shows no strokes, and it is dry to set a new layer in a day, and a few days later it is so dry that you can sand your painting again.
Yeah i use sandpaper a lot to thin out the layers and to get rid of any inperfectiosn. for one, the canvas is not cool for fine details, it has a structure that just destroys your strokes, so what i do is create a thick few layers as a base and sand that so it is a flat surface. A better way is to use MDF hardboard to paint on, wich is less fragile and cannot be damaged with sanding (press too hard on the canvas and it will loose its firmness)
When sanding, i only go in one direction, even with the finest paper you can get visable circles. i also use the same piece over and over because it leaves less scratches and is finer then the new piece.
I work in layers mostly, i never mix my paint.
I apply a layer of this fine detail stuff, or mix that with my paint, and apply strokes with almost no paint on the brush, or very little. It works great for making gradients and details.
I dont use a traditional pallet, i use CD covers.
These are clear and so i can see my paint better, plus after useing it a while and it gets nasty, ill grab a new one and leave it for the bigger uses, like base layers.
I end up smudging quite a bit when i do something i dont like, (this fine detail medium is great to almost dissolve any lines or bits that are set incorrect, you just smudge it away) or, i actualy use it to create some effects with it, or smoothout/ use your finger to get rid of some paint when it is too concentrated in one spot.
if you work thin, it does not really matter if you do something wrong, you can sand it or just paint over it the day after.
Another way this fine detail stuff can be used in, is to set a clear coat layer,
For when you sand it and it becomes matt, or the paint itself is quite matt.
It gives a nice glossy look, but is not too reflective like some can be, and leaves a warm tint if used thicker.
When using all kinds of stuff, some parts of the paint reflect under a different angles and you get to see details only if you keep rotating the painting, this evens that out and you get to see it all from one angle.
Don't use MDF, fibre or any other type of hard board unless you want your paint to prematurely yellow and age, the high acid content in those kinds of substrates attacks oil paint, particularly when exposed to air and sunlight. So if you need to use 'boards' use acid free illustration or artists boards. Same again with the above, some of the worst restoration jobs I saw were as a result of using cheap DIY compressed sawdust.
Make sure you get proper artist turps and not the stuff from your local DIY shop, they're not the same thing (well, they are, it just refinement process is different for each).
You don't need 'black' if you've got alizarin and ultramarine, those combine to make a much better 'chromatic' black that has much more depth.
No comment on 'style' as that's subjective. Just make sure you don't cheat and skimp on your materials, you'll pay for it in the long run if you do. As per piors request, I haven't 'painted' in a long long time, but some of my old stuff is here.
that's part of the process
Just fuck around. Put on some cool music, have a drink nearby, and play for at least 4 hours.
Interesting point you make, but I dont think I will change my methods, just to make my paintings easier to restore in the minute possibility that one would end up being restored.
What is interesting is the type of board, and the yellowing that you mentioned, I was looking at plywood, and was going to prime it with white acrylic before painting. Ive used plasterboard before and like the firmness that that offers.
For the boards i used, i always had them primed from the store or base coated with some primer specificly for that type of use. So i dont know if that yellowing only comes from not using any coating what so ever. Great point indeed though, had not thought about that one.
// The man in the store i spoke with, about all kinds of stuff to use, also mentioned that a final layer of some sort of medium to seal it off could resold into destroying the painting if it was not perfectly dried for like a year, and it would disolve/create cracks in the paint. I will use the fine detail medium instead.
and yeah having a drink while painting is awesome.
Pior, 23 days babe,
Trick, get a safe place to put it away that people dont visit too much, is less air movement. And when you lay it flat, place 4 spacers on each side, that just come above your painting, and place a clean board/glassplate above it so there is no room for dust to fall on it while drying.
// Thumbs up for painting Rolfness
All 'DIY' boards of that nature are untreated (relative to painting) sawdust, wood-chip and a particularly nasty glue that holds it all together. Oil primers don't necessarily 'seal' those types of board as they're permeable. Even using acrylic primers (which I use myself) is risky because the acid can also 'attack' the acrylic polymers and make those go brittle.
This all extends to how you frame you artwork as well by the way, if you use cheap wood frames - the kind you find in cheap trinket print shops that sell mass produced 'art' prints, decorative mirrors and so on - it has the same high acid content problem that can over just a few years 'stain' and damage your work.
Acrylics are a bit more forgiving but certainly where oil is concerned everything has to be acid-free and/or pH-neutral otherwise it can adversely affect the material you're actually using.
kat thanks for the tips on DIY boards will remember that for the future. butif painting on wood whats the best kind to get?
@marlfox8: depending on how thin/thick your medium is, pour it onto the mixing palette (or whatever you're using) so as not to 'pollute' it with debris and/or other colours from the brush. If you use a limited palette what you can do is mix up a quantity of paint/medium and store it in little air tight jars per colour.
dead moth = 'impasto'!
dont worry about suckage.. first paintings always do