Easy Lightweight Painting Supports for Travel and Workshops

"In this video, I'm going to demonstrate the way I set up my linen or canvas for painting. Not only is it easy and economical, but it's also a perfect lightweight solution for traveling and attending workshops or classes. And, the super nice thing about this approach is that you get a whole lot less paint on your hands and clothes. . ." and so starts the third video in a series about supports for oil and acrylic painting. The series includes how to seal panels, how to gesso, how to easily set up lightweight supports, how to make a wet painting carrier, how to glue linen or canvas to panels, and, finally, how to frame your paintings. These videos will be especially useful to painters starting out. Feel free to share them with your painting friends and students!

Video: Sealing Panels for Oil and Acrylic Painting

Before gessoing and painting on hardboard or wood panels, they need to be sealed. Sealing, also called 'sizing', prevents the gessoed surface from discoloring caused by naturally-occurring acids in the wood. Sealing panels is really easy to do. This video (3:48 minutes) shows exactly how to seal panels successfully.

In the video, I mentioned two sealing solutions:
Golden Multi-Purpose Acrylic Polymer GAC-100 - 16 oz Cylinder and Gamblin's PVA: Poly Vinyl Acetate Size: 32 oz

Click here to watch the video!

Once your panels are sealed, the next step is to apply gesso.  Stay tuned! Next in my bi-weekly oil painting technique videos, I'll be uploading a video about how to gesso panels and canvas. Let me know if you have any questions about the process.

Evaluating Local Color With an Objective Eye

Funny I should be talking about eyes and accurate seeing having just spent the last day dealing with an eye emergency. On a regular basis, I appreciate the miracle of sight; but, oh how much dearer the miracle of the visual world becomes when facing the possibility of it being compromised! All is fine, so accurately painting color and doing so with lovely expressive brushwork can still be a lifelong challenge!

In my latest video, Monet's painting The Magpie, and Zurburan's Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and Roses (shown here) are used to compare the local color we associate with an object and the actual colors these masters used to paint these objects realistically. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXo2UnG2K8Q 

New Video - The Painter's Palette & How to Set-up a Glass Palette

The palettes of several famous artists including a range from Degas to Van Gogh are shown in the video I just uploaded. I've always found painter's palettes to be fascinating. For me, the highlight of an afternoon I spent in Delacroix's studio in Paris was seeing his palette (and the secret garden his studio opened out on!)

When visiting N.C. Wyeth's studio (read blog post), you can walk right up to his easel and see his palette as he left it. To think of the masterpieces that emerged from this very palette!

Click here if you would like to watch the video. In it I also show how to set up and use a glass palette. I hope you enjoy it!

Painting Color Spots Helps Me Mix Colors!

A couple of years ago, after a spate of moving, selling, renting, and buying houses, I ended up with a fistful of decorator's paint color samples from the hardware store. I starting using them to help me figure out the elusive colors needed in portraits and for unlit atmospheric passages in still lifes. Once I found what looked like a match, I would paint color spots directly on the paint chips to see which pigments I would need to get the colors in the subjects. Since then I have painted many such color spot sequences as I enjoy the challenge and pick chips that look hard to mix. Although it's a self-explanatory process, you might enjoy watching this video I made about painting color spots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AqvgPoPm2w.

 

Color Sketches: A Handy Tool for Designing a Painting

In this example I first experimented with different value patterns.
Each sketch built on the previous one culminating in a full color sketch.

When painting short-lived flowers or fleeting landscapes, I am tempted to forego planning the composition of a painting. Yet the time spent designing a painting often saves me time overall and improves the odds of the painting being a success.  I find color sketches to be a handy way to test out and capture the concept of the painting. During the process, opportunities to play up edges become clear. I can also spot needed changes in the setup or view.  A color sketch guides me throughout the development of the painting, resulting in fewer missteps and purer color.

Color sketches are the first topic featured in my new Old Garden Arts free painting video series--short YouTube videos demonstrating painting techniques and tips--published every other Wednesday. Click here to view the Color Sketches video.

 I look forward to painting with you!