Fat over lean
So you’ve embraced the two related studio aphorisms I discussed in this recent post: fat over lean, and make the lights thick but keep the darks thin. In practical terms…
Turpentine diaries 12/31/2018
Art is filled with aphorisms. Fat over lean, for instance, is a famous adage. The meaning for this old saw that is the most straightforward is to paint thickly-applied paint…
Homemade-drying walnut oil
I wrote before about the drying linseed oil I prepared. I decided to continue my investigations by preparing some drying walnut oil, the results of which you can see in…
Finished? Not finished? Finished? Not finished?
Many artists have trouble determining when a painting is finished. It can be excruciatingly painful to let a painting go, especially after you worked on it for a long time.…
Homemade drying oil
The crude container that I made with a lead sheet contains 16 oz. of cold-pressed walnut oil. I’ll leave the oil in the container for several months before straining it…
Turpentine diaries 5/27/18
The Woman in Red Pants is not over-large so I finished the underpainting, shown here, in 2 sessions. The Woman in Red Pants is 36″ x 48.” Read moreCleveland Museum…
Preparing a canvas surface for oil painting
This is a companion to my canvas stretching post. After you stretch a perfectly taut and square canvas, you’re ready to prepare the surface. Read moreIn the Studio Oct. 14…
Stretching canvas
While it’s true that I didn’t learn anything about painting at art school, it isn’t true that I didn’t learn anything at all. I learned a lot about printmaking, and…