Book Review: Oil Painting Techniques and Materials

A few peppers sitting on my couch
(getting going on my sketching goals for 2009)

This post is a review of Harold Speed's Oil Painting Techniques and Materials.

What This Book is Not
This is not an easy read. This is not a "5 simple steps to a masterpiece" type of book. The chapters are long and at points rambling. The book was originally published in 1944 - it's not a book written for the modern "scanning" reader. However...

What This Book Offers
This is a marvelous book! There aren't many books that I read that I feel like I would benefit by reading again. But, this one is an exception. I learned there are several historical approaches to painting. I learned how certain effects have been achieved. I have a blueprint to try for approaching a painting.

In all of those areas and in others, I feel like there is more for me to understand in this book. Some of it went over my head, so I would benefit from returning to this book - and plan to do so in the future.

I do see a great improvement in my painting since I started reading this book. I have a better idea of how to handle painting wet-into-wet...what happens to the color, what can be achieved, etc. (Actually, I have been painting with open acrylics, not oils, but many of the same principles apply.)

Rosebuds and Tripods

Two Rosebuds Three Ways

6 in x 6 in, oil on gessobord;
4in x 6 in, acrylic ink on bristol board;
2in x 3in, graphite in sketchbook

Recently I've been exploring two painting mediums after spending years in only dry media. The last few days, I tried a new process. I began with a sketch, progressed to an ink drawing, and finished off with an oil painting.

I did the sketch because I wanted to get a grip on the rosebuds before I grabbed a brush - I also needed to make some adjustments from my photo reference, and for me, it's best to work those out with a pencil.

Next I did the ink drawing, I really love this stage. The inks are such an immediate medium, there is always the element of putting down a stroke you can't change, but also the chance that the stroke you put down is better than you thought it would be.

Finally, I did the oil painting. I struggled with this one. I wiped the roses a few times, changed their colors, nearly gave up, and in the end just decided to stop. Looking at it this morning, I think it's better than I feared, but I definitely have some issues to resolve with the oil paints. (At this point in the process, I don't consult the reference, I use the sketch to guide me and make all color decisions from the canvas.)

To end, I have a question for all you talented, experienced people out there. What kind of tripod do you have? I bought a $15 one at Walmart a couple of years ago, I've used it almost every day. It has served me well, and I've gotten my money from it. However, the legs stick, don't come out evenly any more, and generally there is far more struggle than help from it anymore. Do you have a tripod that you love? Can you tell me the brand? (I can't afford one of those $200 jobs...I'm not a professional photographer...but I am an artist who needs a tripod to photograph her work. :-)

Wiping Oils and Supporting Artists

This is my fifteenth oil painting. It originally began as something else, I decided to wipe it and do this. Oils are very nice like that, just wipe and begin again. I've since done another painting, and decided in the end to wipe it too, but I was out of time and haven't begun again. I don't plan on making this a regular practice, but it is a nice backup when things go awry.

Have you heard about International Artists Day? Thanks to Alyson Stanfield for the heads up. Essentially, it is a day to celebrate art and those who create it. Think about how you might take part. I, for one, have big plans for the day...details coming soon!

We Three Pumpkins Are

We Three Pumpkins Are oil on gessoed board, 8 in x 10 in

This is my entry for this week's Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge.

I've been very intimidated by the quality of entries the last few weeks...so, I figured I better enter once before I lose the nerve!

It's my 14th oil painting.

Virtual Sketch Date - September

oil on gessoed board, 8 in x 10 in

Above is my entry for this month's Virtual Sketch Date.

Thanks to Sharon for the reference. It's a beautiful reference, but honestly, in the end I had to abandon it.

I sketched this four times in the sketchbook. Then I started to do a CP work on vellum. As that progressed I remembered why I decided that I needed to find a new main medium. After my five false starts, I decided to put the reference away. I came up with another sketch (in CPs :D) from my memory - a simplified version. I decided to paint from the simplified sketch in oils.

At a few points during painting I consulted the reference, but each time it just made things worse. In the end, I just went from the simplified sketch and gut instinct.

I thoroughly enjoyed the painting, even if the false starts were frustrating. Can't wait to see the other entries!

And as for the oil painting...well, this was my first piece on gessoed board and I love it! Canvas will just never feel right again! :D

Pure Oily Fun

Lean On Me
8 in x 8 in, oils on canvas panel

This is tonight's effort, from a photo of two of my sons.

This was pure fun! I just really enjoyed the oils tonight. As this was just about values rather than color, I was able to focus. This built up bit by bit...I kept stopping and sitting back - trying to see what brushstroke was needed next...the image just emerged from the canvas.

I used white and my limited "masters" palette...yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and paynes gray.

Values and Sticking With It

Last night I picked up my brush again after an unintended break of over a week. Let's put a positive spin on it and say that I learned a ton...you always learn more from mistakes! :D The quick sketch above is portrayed here in black and white because it was the second effort and I just wanted to use up the paint I had put on the palette paper. The colors, in real life, are awful, but I wanted to see if I could get the values right, irregardless of the colors.

This was the first effort of the evening. Clearly, I lost all the edges of the rose and it came out rather boxy. Originally I intended some other smaller flowers on the right, but it was better to just paint over those with a dark green ;D.

I carry on in the battle to learn to paint...today, I picked up a few books at the library and an interesting one secondhand. Let's hope all the reading begins to inform the painting! :D.

In The Trenches

Thank you to those who encouraged me yesterday, by phone and comment. I'm still battling it out with the oils. I do really enjoy working with them, even if I find the skill at the end of the handle a little lacking ;-). This is last night's effort...not a great photo, but we're in the midst of several gray rainy days here.

Painting Is Hard

Yes, painting is hard. This is tonight's effort. You'll have to take my word that I thought about composition, negative shapes, values, form, color (dominant hues, complements, discords, etc), brushstrokes, lost edges, hard edges...none of that really shows.

Hopefully the frustration wears off tonight and the excitement of learning returns in the morning!

First Painted Roses

Roses
9 in x 12in, oil on canvas

Irregardless of my name, I do love roses. Amazingly, they do grow for me. They aren't my favorite flower, but they are close. I have always wanted to paint some. After enjoying them in the garden this afternoon, I decided to make my first attempt at painting them.

One thing I noticed tonight while painting, I had trouble seeing with the glare from the lights. I think I may need to move beyond holding the canvas in my hand to having an easel...does anyone have any ideas on how to make a cheap easel? Just something to hold up a stretched canvas?

I'm going to go read about oil painting and learn something...

Six Reasons to Make Color Charts

Color Charts based on two limited palettes:
Basic palette: cad red, cad yellow, ultramarine blue
Masters palette: burnt sienna, yellow ochre, paynes grey

Color is one those great battles that artists spend their lifetimes waging...I have a short artistic history so far, but I know this battle is a fierce one.

Yesterday I read a great quote on lines and colors:
"This is the process of painting your own color charts, in which you mix a value scale of each color, and then value scales of each color in combination with each of the other colors in your basic palette. It is a process that gives you more color mixing knowledge than a truckload of color mixing books and preprinted charts could ever begin to provide."

Charley (and Richard Schmid) are completely right on this one. I did the above charts a few weeks ago at the start of my oil painting career, they have been invaluable since then. People never believe that when you say it, I think because the benefits are difficult to describe. But, I'll try for you...

Benefits of Making Color Charts:

1. Simplification - you aren't trying to achieve anything, you are just mixing and staring at colors, this helps brings the color into focus.
2. Color context - when I first tried my "limited masters palette" I was rather aghast at the colors. But, actually, seeing them in the charts, there is great potential there.
3. Color creativity - having done these charts I am now having ideas based on them...e.g. driving home today I suddenly had a flash of an idea for something that I am currently doing in graphite - an idea of how to translate a drawing I love to a painting in oils.
4. Confidence - it takes a lot of mixing to make these charts, so you gain familiarity with mixing, changing the values, what direction you are going in when you mix two particular colors, using a palette knife, etc.
5. Planning - when I am deciding how to get a color onto the canvas, I look at my charts and decide what is closest and then decide if it is going to work or if I am going to have to rethink it.
6. Company - Charley Parker and Richard Schmid recommend them. Both of these men know alot about art: how to make it, what makes it good - why not take a page from their playbooks?
   

After Degas' Cassatt

After Degas' Mary Cassatt at the Louvre,
oil on canvas, 12 in x 9 in

Tonight I was desperate to get lost in a painting. Sometimes my over analytic brain just needs to stop spinning in it's downward spiral...getting lost in a piece of artwork is perfect for that.

So, I decided to try a copy of one of my favorite Degas pastel sketches - Mary Cassatt at the Louvre. I love the composition, how the splashes of color give her stance the power and forcefulness of her character. It's as if you can see her personality right there - as if this is a portrait.

I had great fun with this!

Oh, by the way, the Virtual Sketch Date reference for August goes up tonight at midnight Central Time.

Two Week Progress Report

Pitcher, Pepper, and Vase
oil on 12in x9in stretched canvas

Here's the next installment in my oil painting adventure. (Sorry for the poor photo - weather...kids...they just leave no room for photography sessions.)

Here's a progress report:

• good - I'm meeting my original goal of three paintings a week. I've had my oil paints exactly two weeks-I have done six paintings (on 9in x 12in canvas). I have also done a set of color/value charts for my two limited palettes.
• good - I've tried a few ways of underpainting.
• good - I'm making (slow) progress in driving the color horse and the value horse at the same time. I was very pleased to look at my charts, decide what colors I wanted to use, and then produce them!
  
• good - I have a better understanding of what a brush can do.
• good - I'm getting preferences with my brushes and a better sense of when to use what.
• needs work - color, still haven't done one where I liked the colors together.
• needs work - values, still have work there.
• needs work - subjects, still have work here. So far the subjects that have called out to me have been beyond my reach.
  

Value Studies in Oil

Values Sketch

Underpainting for Still Life

This post is about what I learned in doing some value studies.

Above you see my two efforts from this evening.

First is just a "sketch" of a painting. I don't think I'm ready to tackle the complexity of painting figures just yet, but this image is often on my mind. It's from my vacation this year, it recalls a special afternoon we spent taking our boys to the beach for the first time in their lives. I got to sit and enjoy watching them in the water, sketchbook in hand.

The second is intended to be an underpainting. I want to try using thin paint and layering, just to see how it goes. I found this one a real struggle. I had to keep fighting to get the values I wanted and then adjusting the shapes to correct them. As it is, I see problems. But I am again seeing the complexity values, shapes, and edges.

On both of these I had challenges with getting the right amount of paint where I wanted it, figuring out how and when to thin, how to lighten a value...It did feel very much like sculpting, pushing and pulling paint around, trying to get the edges I wanted in the right value contrast. Regardless of the outcomes, I thoroughly enjoyed this!

Number Three

Here's the third installment in my oil painting adventure.

New things I tried:

• Thinned paint and brush sketch to begin with.
• Complements for shadow
• Working from life

Chin up, I carry on!

Adventures in Oil Painting

Pear Blossoms,
oil on canvas, 9 in x 12in

This post is about my second oil painting, the good, the bad, and the ugly. For those interested, this was my second attempt with the pear blossoms, the first was done in colored pencil.

First though, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has written encouraging comments, it really means alot to me that you would care enough to do so. I feel so very clumsy with paints, to know that my readers are rooting for me is a tremendous help.

The Good

• I was excited to start.
• I forced myself to "finish" it. OK, I know that doesn't sound monumental, but it all went so horribly wrong at the beginning that I just wanted to stop. I'm glad now that I carried on, it got slightly better, but more importantly, I did learn a few things.

The Bad

• Values - the entire painting isn't so dark as last time, but there are no real darks in there to make it interesting.
• Brushstrokes - I held the brush differently this time and paid a price with the brushstrokes. As well, I tried several different brushes and didn't use the one that I so much success with last time.

The Ugly

• Edges - last time I did a thick outline drawing first, then swept into that with the color of the petals themselves. In doing so, I had some lovely edges. This second time, I tried that but the values of the outline paint and the petal local color were too different, and it just became a jumbled mess.
• Wet on Wet - Yikes! I just slapped paint all around and got the colors all messed up. I don't know how people paint over things they don't like. I tried that, but it was not very successful.

What I Learned and Where I'm Taking It

• Reading - since this painting I've had my nose in Timeless Techniques for Better Oil Painting. I have another book arriving tomorrow and loads of video I could download and watch.
  
• Values - now that I've hit the two ends of the spectrum exclusively, let's see if I can't manage a more satisfying values arrangement.
• Color Mixing - I think I may try my other limited palette. (I chose to do two different limited palettes when I was buying paint, just to focus my efforts.) I may end up just doing some color mixing to see what different colors I can achieve, without painting a subject.
• From Life - In the book mentioned above I have been reading about color temperature and how it affects color mixing. He strongly encourages painting from life to see the differences that kinds of light make on a subject. This makes me feel like I need to grab some subjects out of the vegetable drawer and have a go!
  

A Beginning

My first oil painting,
9in x 12in

detail of above

This post is about my first session in oil painting.

Last night, I began. I finally chased the boys into bed around 9pm and then started this new adventure in oil painting.

What I Enjoyed

• The texture of oil paint is as wonderful as people say!
• Luscious, thick color is yours at the stroke of a brush, no endless back and forth with a tiny pencil tip.
• The feel of the brush in your hand is a good one, nice and thick.
• The excitement of a new adventure.
• Bells kept going off in my head of things that I had read before that suddenly made sense.
  

What Challenged Me

• Color mixing was a challenge. I used a limited palette - one red, one blue, one yellow and white. At the end I also added a green in, I had tried mixing several and just decided to give in.
• Manipulating paint was both challenging and rewarding. Edges are particularly "exciting" in this regard - sometimes I was thrilled with the result, other times I was disappointed - at this stage I can't really even describe what I did differently to achieve the two results.
• Keeping clean - despite my natural cautiousness, I had paint up my arm, on the desk, my hands, and later sadly I realized on my shirt! This morning, when photographing, I got paint on my hands again and somehow kicked the painting and smudged the paint.
  

Things for Next Time

• Color mixing - this painting is very dark, both the values and colors need work.
• Familiarity - I hope to grow even more comfortable with the medium and its handling.
• Edges - keep learning about what works and what doesn't.
• Composition - I think for my next piece I will do another "macro" like this, just to keep focused on values, edges, and color.