This is my latest painting, probably not my finest piece, but I had fun! Tons of fun! I used more deliberately loose impressionistic brushwork in this one and enjoyed the process immensely. I post it here because I just finished it last night. However, I have another thing I want to talk about…
QUICK AND CHEAP INTRO TO OIL PAINTING
In my last post, I touched upon AI, and also the scandal surrounding a person entering the Art Renewal Center’s contest and winning a purchase award. Problems emerged when it was discovered the artist didn’t paint the image at all, but used AI. The award was rescinded, it was very embarrassing for Art Renewal Center, but in the end, it turned out okay. Welcome to the New Normal. Every artist now has to work extra hard to prove that they did their own work!
Watching all of this drama unfold reminded me that artists who paint with physical paints (in oils, watercolors, acrylics) have an advantage, because AI is a digital-only platform. AI doesn’t encroach into our realm, unless someone is trying to pull a fast one (the way the person in the Art Renewal Center scandal did).
My blog reaches artists who already work in traditional media, but if you happen to be a digital artist who is interested in doing more oil (or acrylic) painting, I’ve got you. It’s not that hard, not that expensive, and you can get started right away.
Choose Limited Palettes to Start (No Need to Buy Lots of Paint Colors Right Away!)
“Minus” 6×6″ oil on canvas board. Limited palette of White, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, and a little bit of Yellow Ochre.
“Mercy,” 4×4″ oil on Gessobord. A limited palette of White, Alizarin Crimson Permanent, and Sap Green.
These are two examples of limited palettes, using white and maybe two or three other tubes of color. Pigments like Ivory black and iron-based colors (Burnt Sienna, Terra Rosa) are particularly affordable and are quite flexible and work well in limited palettes.
The classic starter palette (and very popular!) is the Zorn Palette. I love this palette and use it all the time.
For a digital-only artist who is not used to color mixing, a limited palette is ideal. You learn to adapt to your palette limitations because you don’t have every tube of pre-mixed color available to you. Often you aren’t going to get an exact match of the color you want with a limited palette, and there’s nothing wrong with that! It’s about color harmony, temperature, and values. If you get those right with a limited palette, you’re well on your way. Many ateliers and painting classes start their students out with a limited palette, and for good reason.
Don’t go too cheap, but don’t go too fancy when buying materials.
I have some long posts about paint brands (which I intend to update, since it’s been ten years since I wrote them), but here’s the gist of it. PLEASE don’t get super cheap colors from Amazon, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, etc., in the form of a set or a kit. These colors often fade too quickly, have the lowest-quality materials, and are hard to work with.
For “cheap” (but respectable) student oil paints, I recommend Gamblin 1980 and Maimeri Classico brand paints. (House brands like Utrecht Studio and Blick Studio are fine, as well as Lukas.) Also, Plaza Art has a house brand that is quite nice. Please get a higher-end white. I like Maimeri Classico’s Titanium White, but also Winsor & Newton Artists Titanium White (NOT Winton) will do well.
If you’re painting in acrylics, Liquitex Basics is good, but please get a better quality white, either Liquitex Artist Titanium White, Golden Titanium White, Utrecht Artist or Winsor & Newton Artist Titanium White. Student grade whites for acrylics are misery. Misery. I have tried and tried and I just cannot. (I intend to write at length about acrylics some day!)
For painting surfaces, you can buy watercolor paper, coat it with a layer or two of Golden GAC 100 Acrylic Medium, then a coat or two of acrylic Gesso, wait a day or two for everything to dry, and you’re good to go. This will work for both oils and acrylics.
There’s a lot more I’d like to say about getting into traditional painting! But this is enough for now. Happy painting!
I haven’t been “gone,” I just haven’t been posting on this blog. But I have been painting! At least for the past several months with regularity. Before that, life got in the way, and also procrastination got in the way. Hopefully, that’s changing.
There’s a lot more to talk about, and I’m eager to share. But for now, I’ll just post three recent paintings and leave the rest for a future post.
“Alain in Limited Palette,” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel. This painting was not quite done when I took this photo. I have since tweaked a few things to hopefully improve the likeness. The limited palette consisted only of White, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Sienna.
“Sepia Tabby,” 5×7″ oil on panel. A limited palette of Burnt Umber, White, and a minimal amount of Yellow Ochre and Ultramarine Blue for the eyes.
“Yellow Crochet Flower,” 8×10″ oil on canvas panel. Part of the Raw Umber Studios challenge. This website offers royalty-free reference photos, virtual classes, and other goodies. I have an image subscription and am going to be using some of their reference photos for studies. This painting used only the Zorn Palette: White, Black, Cadmium Red, and Yellow Ochre.
So I guess the theme with these paintings is “limited palette.” I love limited palettes! They pose a challenge, but at the same time, they make it easier for the artist to have color harmony in their painting.
I feel right now like I want to go back to basics and focus on what I don’t know. Also, to find out about new things I never knew I didn’t know! It’s an endless process!
“Zorn Cat,” 8×10″ oil on canvas panel. Thanks to furlined of dA for the stock photo used as reference!
Another cat head! As you know, I love painting the cat heads.
This painting was used as an exercise for some oil painting classes. (Yes, I now am teaching!) I wanted to start my student out with a simple, limited palette, and the Zorn Palette is well suited for that. Continue reading “Zorn Cat”→
“Jason in Acrylics,” 4×5″ acrylic on canvas panel. Thanks to Jason Aaron Baca (model) and Portia Shao (photographer) for the stock photo used as reference!
Another experiment with student paint (sort of) as well as an attempt to get better at acrylics! I dabbled with some acrylics recently, and was so abysmal at it, that I have now decided to try to improve my skills. I don’t recall having such dire issues with acrylics when I was much younger, but I paint differently now, I guess. Continue reading “An experiment in acrylics & limited palette”→
“Jorge – Zorn Palette” approx. 4×6″ oil on unstretched canvas. (From a canvas pad.) If loving Jorge Salinas is wrong, I don’t want to be right!
So… I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to do a review, or perhaps a treatise, on the subject of student-quality paints.
Lately I’ve had reason to shop at the North-American-based chain craft/art supply stores, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. I realized that for many people, these types of stores are their only access to art materials, at least hands-on. So, I thought I’d explore what it would be like for a new artist to try to select paints (oils or acrylics) from one of these stores, while also being budget-minded.
So I purchased some oil and acrylic sets from both stores (haven’t finished collecting my samples yet) with the intent of trying them out and reporting back what I experienced.
“Black Hat” 8×10″ oil on panel. Thanks to Cathleen Tarawhiti on dA for the beautiful photo I used as reference!
The latest effort, only I’ve been picking at it and picking at it for a while now . . . I don’t know why some paintings are like that. There are the paintings that come together in a few hours, and then others that I have to revisit and fix this and fix that. Why why why? 😉
I liked the simple color scheme in this one (lots of black and grey) and the drama of the pose.
A very limited palette was used on this one. I maybe used some magenta or perm. alizarin crimson somewhere, but for the most part I tried to limit it to Zorn: White, Black, Vermillion (Cadmium Red Light), and Yellow Ochre. There wasn’t much need for many more colors than that.
I used an 8×10″ acrylic-primed panel from Dick Blick, it’s got a canvas-like texture which I kind of like!
I have “Tutorials” listed as a menu item in this blog, but I barely have any tutorials! So I thought I’d do a quick one on one of my favorite subjects: Art materials. I’ll cover some of my favorite products and give a few recommendations as well.
PAINT: Oil and Acrylics, which are better?
Some people who haven’t done a lot of painting get a little confused about which is “better,” oils or acrylics? The answer is, there really isn’t any “better,” these are different types of paints and will fulfill different needs.
Oils are my favorite, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like acrylics as well. I like oils because they’re so forgiving—mess up and you have time to fix it, wipe it off and blend it away . . . not as easy to do with acrylics.
Acrylics are great too, no fuss, just thin with water, easy to clean, don’t have to wait to dry! What’s not to love?
Each will appeal in their own way.
OIL PAINTS
Oil paint myths, or things you may have heard about oils that are not actually true.
They really don’t cost that much more. Oils are more dense (you can tell this when you pick up a tube, they are often heavier!). Less goes farther. That’s why tubes of acrylics are larger, to compensate for the relative ‘fluffiness’ they have compared to oils.
They are not so deadly toxic, so don’t be afraid of them! In some cases they are no more toxic than acrylics (depending on which pigments you choose). Cadmium is cadmium (toxic pigment that you don’t want to breathe in or ingest). It doesn’t matter if it’s cadmium in oils or acrylics, it’s still cadmium, right? Don’t assume that all acrylic colors are non-toxic and won’t hurt you. Check the health warning labels on both acrylic or oil colors to see what the risks are. (And remember, just because some of these pigments are classified as toxic, it doesn’t mean anyone who paints with them is immediately going to drop dead. Don’t bring food to your painting area, don’t breathe dried paint dust, wash your hands and change dirty clothes after painting: all these things reduce your risks significantly.)
It’s the solvent (thinner) you use, not the paint itself, that has more potential to be harmful. If you paint in oils but remain “solvent-free” (don’t use paint thinner, turpentine, mineral spirits) then basically all you’re breathing in is the oils (which for most people is not a problem) and whatever additives are in the paint, most which are not going to cause problems. You can get around painting with solvents by either thinning everything with an oil like linseed, safflower oil, etc., or using a non-toxic thinner like Weber Turpenoid Natural. (I use a lot of this stuff myself, but don’t mix it too heavily into my paints—mostly use it to clean my brushes between mixing colors.)
They don’t have to take forever to dry: I use an alkyd-based medium like Winsor & Newton Liquin which speeds up the drying time by a lot. Often my painting is dry to the touch after about 12-24 hours. If you paint thicker, the drying time will be longer, but not weeks and weeks!
You don’t always save money by buying student paint. It depends on which pigments you use, and where you go to shop. If you shop at your local Michael’s or other chain craft store, you might be paying almost as much for student grade paint as you could pay for artist grade through mail order. For example, wait until there’s a coupon or code and you can get some very nice cadmium colors for very affordable prices from Utrecht. Utrecht Oil colors, 37ml tube. I get a lot of my paints from Utrecht (always during a sale, always!). Many other brands of artist grade are on the “lower end range” (but still artist grade) and will do better for you (and be as cheap or cheaper) than student grade. Such brands include Lefranc & Bourgeois Artists’ Oils and Richeson Oils The Shiva Series. Wait for the sale, the discount coupon, something, and get a higher quality paint for a student grade price! (By the way, some friends have reported that some of the Utrecht colors “gum up” [start to dry] faster than other brands, so if you are concerned about that, either use some sort of covered palette [like this one, I love this one], or only place down enough paint for one or two days, so you don’t waste paint.)
Recommended oil colors (some of my favorites):
WHITE is the most important of all. If you can’t afford any other artist grade paint, at least get an artist grade white. Some nice quality whites are:
You can also choose the “Titanium White” variation on any of these brands (except Permalba, only get “Permalba White”). I just like the Titanium-Zinc mixtures best. Utrecht’s “Utrecht White” (Titanium-Zinc) is also good, but I was too lazy to put it on the list! Either Titanium-Zinc or Titanium will do you fine!
If you want to go up a little higher on the paint food chain, here are some pricier (but fabulous) whites:
What about other whites, like ones that contain lead?
I like lead white (aka Flemish White, Flake White, Cremnitz White). You don’t have to use them, but they are nice for portraits. Just take care, because you know, the lead thing. For an affordable (and in plentiful supply) lead white, I recommend Utrecht Flemish or Flake White (when on sale, the 150 mL tubes are very affordable!). You’ll have to do a quick search on Utrecht’s site for their Flemish or Flake whites.
OTHER OIL COLORS:
I spend so much time obsessing about white, I neglect the other colors! Here’s my current short list of favorite oil colors that are must-haves for my palette:
Permanent Alizarin Crimson: (Currently I’m using Blick’s Permanent Alizarin Crimson, but Winsor & Newton and Gamblin’s Alizarin Permanent are excellent too. By the way, the great Richard Schmid recommends the Winsor & Newton and Gamblin! So there you go!) BE SURE TO GET THE “PERMANENT” variant of Alizarin Crimson. The regular Alizarin Crimson will fade over time and is considered “fugitive.”
Cadmium Red Light: Right now my favorite is Holbein but many other brands are fine. Utrecht is also good. (Watch out for it gumming up early, but for the lower price, it’s worth the risk!) I’m also very partial to Blue Ridge Artist colors—very high quality, and surprisingly affordable prices for Cadmiums!
Yellow Ochre: Many brands are fine. I don’t have a strong preference in brand right now.
Cadmium Yellow Lemon (or Light): It’s got to be a cool, cool yellow. Lemon is best if you can get it. Right now I’m using Richeson Oils The Shiva Series brand, but again Utrecht’s version is good too.
Ultramarine Blue: There are so many good Ultramarines! Lefranc & Bourgeois is a good but affordable blue (anything that says “Ultramarine Blue” in it will work) but I admit that I find Blockx’s Ultramarines to be soooo fine!
“Bright Blue”, Prussian Blue or Phthalo Blue: Another richer, stronger blue. Both Prussian Blue and Phthalo are super-strong blues, a little goes a long way. They can easily overpower a mixture, but they are great for mixing blacks and other strong, dark colors. Most brands will do, because both Prussian and Phthalo are so strong that even the cheaper brands still pack a punch. Another variation that I like a lot is Utrecht’s Bright Blue. It’s a mix of Phthalo and Ultramarine and is a nice, nice blue. (You’ll have to do a bit of hunting on the Utrecht page to find Bright Blue, as I can’t seem to link to it directly.)
Transparent Red Oxide:Lefranc & Bourgeois has a good version of this, as well as Blockx’s Transparent Mars Red. Sublime! I consider Transparent Red Oxide as a must-have, even more important than other earths (like Burnt Sienna). They are great in mixtures as well as for tinting the entire canvas in preparation for starting a new painting.
Burnt Sienna, English Red, Mars Red or other “earth”: Most earth pigments are fairly affordable, so even the cheaper brands should be okay. But some are better than others! Blick Artists’ Oil Color have some good colors.
Save money, and learn color control by using limited palettes:
This works for both oils and acrylics.
If you are trying to trim down how many paints you use, or are afraid to invest in a lot of oil paints for fear you won’t like them, try a limited palette. The most obvious first choice is the Zorn Palette:
Painting done with Zorn Palette. (Thanks to Jason Aaron Baca and Portia Shao for the stock photo I used as reference!)
The Zorn Palette consists of only four pigments: White, Black, Vermillion, and Yellow Ochre. (Read more about it in this post.) There’s so many colors you can get from just these four colors. For doing a painting like the one I show above, I recommend a Cadmium Red Light (which is more vibrant and a bit “cooler” than other vermillions). An Ivory Black is “cooler” than other blacks, so that’s a good way to go.
Okay, that’s enough about oil paints for today!
Please note: I’m an “affiliate” with the online stores, whose links I give above. That means that I may get a small commission for any sale that results from visitors visiting these links. I shop at these stores all the time and would link to these stores regardless of whether I would get a commission or not! 🙂
Another painting done, and a couple others that haven’t been blogged about yet.
“Demure” oil on Sourcetek canvas panel, 8×8″.
And yet again, I used one of my favorite photographer’s work for reference. Thank you Cathleen Tarawhiti for the use of this stock photo!
I always feel I’m in the process of learning, and many times there is this feeling of uncertainty—did I get this right? Am I off the track. . . again? I guess all artists go through this to some extent.
It was fun to explore the cools and warms in this subject. I purposely left parts of it unfinished—that’s the fun of it! Let a bit of the canvas texture to show through!
Now onto another recent effort, still not done as I feel I must fuss with it some more.
“Roman Youth” 6×8″ oil on Sourcetek panel.
Many thanks to Jason Aaron Baca and Portia Shao for the stock photo I used as reference! Mr. Baca (the model) is another favorite of mine; I have quite a few of his photos on my iPad, ready to paint!
In this photo I am struggling with a few things, so it’s not quite done yet. I hope to finalize this little oil sketch in the next day or two.
The reference photo shows a fuller-length pose of Mr. Baca in some sort of Roman-style period costume, and him looking up, searchingly . . . I enhanced that expression (plus changed his features just a tiny bit—like to mix it up!) and came up with this. I want to tweak a few things a bit more and then I hope it’s done! And onto the next painting.
And both of these above paintings were painted on Sourcetek panels. I love, love, my Sourcetek! I’ve been doing some spring cleaning and have been finding hidden pockets of Sourcetek. Here, there, everywhere they are stashed! Those 5-packs of boards in various sizes and types (oil primed linen, acrylic-primed canvas, hardboard, birch, all types!). I had no idea that I’d bought so many! Well, it’s time to use them up!
And I forgot, one last painting from a few days ago:
“Piercing Gaze” 6×8″ oil on Sourcetek panel.
Yep, another Sourcetek panel, I believe! This time I used a stock photo by Stockingbird on DeviantArt. The original photo was a nude (crouched pose) but I couldn’t get past the face—the sublime warms and cools, the neutrals, they cried for attention. For this painting I used a Zorn Palette (which I’ve used before) which is an excellent way to get back on track with color. You only have black, white, vermillion (orangey-red) and black to work with. You mix all your colors with that. Adding black to colors can cool them down and you can create some good subdued blue-greys and greens with the addition of black. Another interesting experiment. It won’t be the last time I use the Zorn Palette!
I’ve mentioned the Zorn Palette before. It’s a limited painting palette that consists of four colors: White, Black, Vermillion (Orangey-red) and Yellow Ochre. It’s incredible how many colors can be achieved with just these four paints! The background on this painting “looks” blue, but it’s just black and white mixed together. (Black is often a bit cool, which will create the illusion of a muted blue.) The purple in the shadow side of her face is a mixture of white, black, and vermillion. Mixing colors was so fun for this painting!
Here’s another recent example of the Zorn palette in action. (Scroll down the page to see the second painting.)
Again I used a stock photo for reference. Thanks go to shewarmachine.
