It feels like and age since the first session of this 3 week workshop, mainly because it is. We've had the end of the previous term, tier 4 lockdown, Christmas and now total lockdown... hence this session being delivered remote.
I had serious reservations as to how this would work, with Fine Art being such a creative and 'making' course it is incredibly difficult to do this when you have limited access to facilities, materials and everything is done online. However... I found the session to be really useful, the demonstrations from our tutor, Craig, were extremely useful, informative and clear as to how we could progress. One of my main issues was having never really painted in oils properly I needed to know who to mix the paint, decide which medium to use and how to work with the medium.
Demonstrations Damar crystal varnish. Using 50gms of Damar Crystals and 150ml turpentine substitute, mix, leave for x3 days and occasional agitate. Then filter through a stocking/tight to filter out the impurities.
Beeswax paste. More for impasto painting and building up depth to the work. You can use bleached although this will fade over time. you can also use paraffin wax pellets. 25gms. of pellets + 50ml. of turpentine (roughly 2:1) mix in a jar, leave to dissolve and leave at room temperature. This can be mixed into oil paint to give it colour. Oil can be added to dilute the mixture. You need to use a drying oil, like 'pure' linseed , poppy or walnut.
Egg Varnish. There are different versions of how you can use egg as a medium or varnish. To use the whole egg, put it in a jar and shake it up. Then strain through a stocking/tight to strain the impurities off and get the protein, which you need to bind and act as a glue. (You can use a vegan alternative agar agar powder). Use half of the egg shell to measure out an a drying oil, ie half the amount of egg, mix with the egg, shake it up and it's ready to use as a paint medium. It can be used with water or turpentine. You can also add honey to it.
Historically this method would be called 'Bistre' and to make a mono version you would have used chimney soot, although you could also use ground down charcoal or chalk (or whiting).
To mix pigment in this you make a well of pigment and then mix in the egg and turps mixture and combine as if making pasta. This will show the brush strokes but this can be a positive. You can mix water to thin and give you grades of the colour. You can add white wine vinegar as a preservative but it will still only last a couple of days.
Casein. Or Cassein. This is a milk medium, use skimmed milk and add vinegar to turn it into curds and whey, discard the whey and keep the bits that look like cottage cheese, wash the curds and use as your medium. again this won't keep and best used as you make it.
This would have been used by the Ancient Egyptians to create the hieroglyphs.
Need to try various mixtures from home to see what could work. I have thought about coffee, tea, soy sauce and potentially other sauces..
Quick paint medium
Take one jar, put in a mixture of turpentine and a drying oil, preferably linseed oil, use an 8:1 mixture and mix with oil paint.
All these recipes and more can be found in 'The Artist's Handbook' This will also contain instructions on how to stretch a canvas and prepare it for painting.
I then decided to start working in oils on top of the piece of underpainting created in the previous workshop before Christmas. I was very anxious about starting and how it would work but the best way to find out was to try. I still wanted to understand the process before I could apply it to something that was more in line with my current thinking.
The image has many challenges, it is abstract but not completely, it was something that caught my eye after a recent cold snap, where an outdoor candle had filled with water and then subsequently frozen. The colours and patterns struck me as really interesting, even if you couldn't make out the subject matter. Another challenge is going to be to depict the ice, never an easy thing but something I will break down into sections and really look at the original to see how best to make the marks that represent the features.
Whilst painting this it made me think of all the times I have made marks to give the impression of a subject, whether it be a life drawing, a sketch or any other colour representation. This was no different, I have to consider the layers and building it up from the underpainting to the next colours and shades before I can add the detail and with oil painting you have to be patient as it needs to dry to apply the finer details. A real learning process.
I am pleased with the progress so far, it is slow and I am having to restrain myself but I believe it will be worth it in the end. Maybe the next piece I try will be freer, looser. We shall see. Want to do more...
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