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"Gene's
Chair" by JRJ acrylic on canvas
Subject
and handling chosen to simulate oil paint in appearance
and handling. Gene Pizzuto bought this chair and a floor
lamp as props for a visiting artist [Elmer Bischoff].he
had invited to teach a quarter at the UW. Together they
were almost blown off the top of the I-5 bridge near Lake
Union, one fine blustery day, hauling the lamp and chair
back from St Vincent de Paul in Seattle with them both strapped
to the roof of Gene's VW beetle. Thereafter, it soon became
a fixture on the 3rd floor of the art building, drawn and
painted by many students over the years. |
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"Blue
Chair"by JRJ acrylic on paper.
This
was painted on stretched paper that had been gessoed to
make the paint behave more like oil than watercolor. The
chair was a long time resident of the empty second floor
of the old Dockton school on Maury island. Light patterns
and reflected light patches made it an interesting subject. |
"Gene's
Chair" by JRJ acrylic on canvas
"Blue
Chair" by JRJ acrylic on paper
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I
lump these two together as they are often presented together in
painting classes. They are of course completely different, even
if the product sometimes is mistaken one for the other.
Oil
paint is one of the oldest media, predating even the Renaissance.
Pigment is ground in linseed oil or flax seed oil to produce a viscous
buttery paste which seems to be perfectly designed for sophisticated
brushing characteristics. Thinning with oil, turpentine ,and other
solvents makes for an almost infinite variation from ultra thin
almost watercolor washes to thick impastos nearly sculptural in
their profile and character. Oil is the tried and true work horse,
the dependable standard accepted as authentic serious painting by
artists and audience alike.
Acrylic
is the young upstart offering very similar characteristics to oil
with few of the drawbacks. Because it is new and untried by the
test of time, it is not as widely accepted.
"An
interior view" using either
media discussed [oil or acrylic], paint an interior from life or
from your preliminary sketches.
Drawing
and painting tools are as complex or simple as you wish:brushes,
painting knives, scrapers,and clay sculpting tools. The common surface
for these primary media types is canvas. A close second is panel
or board as a painting surface, commonly Masonite or hardboard(cradled
or un cradled) and hollow core doors (boards also called door skins)
formerly solid wooden panels, .For most media there are no requirements
for canvas or board preparation other than , perhaps stretching
or cradling and coating with gesso. For the media that will adversely
affect a wood or canvas surface, there are isolation techniques
that are excellent. With oil on canvas or board, we begin with rabbit
skin glue to isolate and protect the canvas & wood from the
oil layer. gesso provides a painting surface that can be rendered
rough and grainy or ultra smooth. To isolate any painting surface
layer, we can coat with oil gesso, or with acrylic, gel medium or
varnish, that will resist any solvent migration. The top gesso layer
is optional depending on surface requirements. Mixing the two (acrylic
& oil) is possible in only one variation. Acrylic may be used
as an under painting layer , and when completely dry over painted
with oil. Acrylic over oil is forbidden because even the slightest
residue of oil will resist any over-painting of acrylic, even preparing
an old oil painting with a sealer coat of gesso is no guarantee.
Acrylic over oil is called "non-archival"and causes conservationists
to tell the story of Jackson Pollack and the fine layer of paint
particles deposited on the museum floor under and in front of every
Jackson Pollack painting. |
Materials
tales
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You
can paint directly on paper with acrylic paint, but oil paint leeches
oil into the paper causing it to darken, harden, and become brittle
age and fall apart. The final appearance will be very much like
a painting until the paper dies. The problem may be improved by
placing the fresh paint on an absorbent surface for a day or two
to lose excess oil, the paint using a solvent medium only to avoid
oil to paper damage as much as possible, but even this has limited
success. It is better to seal and gesso to maximize resistance.
Oil
crayon behaves much the same after the paper is prepared with an
acrylic isolation layer and optional gesso surface preparation.
Build up of crayon is blended with a solvent in the same way that
watercolor crayon behaves. There are many types of oil crayons or
pastels from grainy to very smooth. Play with the types before making
a selection. There are as many types of crayons as there are types
of paint. Begin with a starter set of 8 to 10 crayons before investing
in a larger set. The beginning sets are most cost effective and
most useful. |
"Studio Light" by JRJ
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There
is an unwritten rule about not teaching your students to paint as
you paint, by carefully explaining your process so that you seem
to be saying "do as I do", so I will assume that no one
has inferred that I am proposing such a convoluted process. This
is what I do at present, and I will provide process explanations
as the painting progresses. Please feel free to ask questions and
not necessarily "do-as-I-do".
This
image comes from a bright sunny afternoon in a drawing classroom
in the art building of the University of Washington. I began with
a comprehensive graphite preliminary drawing. I took digital photos
at the same time to save the light patterns and placement. Years
later(recently) I was moved to develop these images into a painting.
I selected a canvas size stretching the canvas on a board to provide
a hard resistant surface under the canvas. Some images work better
with a flexing or giving canvas surface, but this one seemed to
call out for crayon line under-painting. I placed a grid on the
photo to make the image transfer easy and to avoid overdrawing to
correct layout errors. Often my first step is to place a grid on
the canvas. I used a little algebra to scale up the photo, marking
points on the edge with watercolor crayon, I place push pins in
the edges and attach a chalk snap line; I reel it out each time
and snap the line repeatedly until the grid is established. I added
burnt sienna dry pigment to the chalk to provide a color distinct
from my painting palette colors I produced some of the layout drawing
with other watercolor crayons blending and spreading color with
a wet brush. By adding a small amount of permanent magenta watercolor
paint to a little acrylic gel, I produced a color not available
in acrylic paint. Those are the steps to date. Stay tuned for future
painting stages.
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Technique
Oil Paint
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Oil
painting may be approached with these same steps, but substitute
oil crayons for watercolor crayons, and push or blend with solvent(turpentine,
turpenoid, odorless paint thinner or other solvents) Odorless paint
thinners are not recommended, because solvent inhalents are best
gauged by the buildup of unpleasant smells. There are new alternatives,
specifically walnut oil which offers much the same painting characteristics
as solvent based oil without as many harmful side effects, but frowned
upon by oil purists who complain that it is too new and untried.
Oil paint has several unfair advantages. It has been around for
a long time with a good reputation for longevity and art conservation
& restoration techniques. It is great for overpainting. Allow
the first layer to dry thoroughly and delicate light brush strokes
on top keep their identity without soaking in or mixing.
Oil
paint offers one major advantage over acrylic. Because it takes
time to dry, it remains workable mixing with new layers immediately,
and it allows scraping back, to remove excess color or to expose
canvas texture beneath when and if needed.
I am not a fan of oil paint for several reasons. It exists as a
health hazard. I can't tolerate more than an hour of exposure to
solvent vapors in the air without developing a 48 hour migraine.
Some of my former instructors developed skin sensitivities which
preclude any further exposure. I worked on developing a oil paint
handling simulation that has fooled many people. Oil paint yellows
and darkens as it ages,so adding a little yellow to white passages
provides a small illusion. One aspect of oil paint is its tendency
to thicken by attracting moisture from the environment. Very old
oil paintings appear much thicker due to this attribute. Some Rembrandt
paintings are more than 1/2" thick. Heavy body acrylics can
simulate this effect, so can body building additives like marble
dust, but acrylis paint continues to give off water over time thinning
as it does so
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