"Broad Street" by Richard Estes oil over acrylic on board Subject and handling chosen to make the best use of oil over acrylic paint. Estes is known for sophisticated photorealistic imagery the quintessential photo-realist.

"Salzburg Cathedral"by Richard Estes a screenprint from the painting in oil over acrylic. This was painted on board with large dark areas in acrylic fist and the dubtle color and light blue in oil. The cathedral is reflected in the glass.

"Broad Street" by Richard Estes oil over acrylic on board

"Salzburg Cathedral"by Richard Estes a screenprint from the painting in oil over acrylic.

We have been racing through the different media, without taking time to talk much about technique. I have changed the schedule to do just that.

Oil paint is a marvelous media, because it is so adaptive, and there are so many varied techniques available.From thin delicate brush drawing to heavy palette knife impasto,the range is almost infinite. Thinning with oil, turpentine ,and other solvents makes for an almost infinite variation from ultra thin almost watercolor washes to thick expressionisticimpastos 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. It is the solution to most painting problems. Mixed media combinations often top off the painting with a final coat of oil paint.Many artists use acrylic as underpainting large passages and use oil for the subtle graded tones and colors.

Acrylic is the young upstart offering characteristics that make oil look complex by comparison. Almost every waterbased medium may be incorporated into an acrylic umbrella title, because the plactic nature of the base can en capsulate almost every other medium rendering them into acrylic mixed media at the very least.

"An Exterior view" using either media discussed [oil or acrylic], paint an exterior from life or from your preliminary sketches.

Any painting usually begins with an insightful recognition of an image, the artist believes will translate well into paint and convey the sensation felt by the artist. Sometimes it is an external observation sometimes an internal vision. The potential result and its perception in the mind's eye is the impetus, which makes us paint. What inspires you? What do you see that is yours alone and can you make it real by painting that vision? This is the shared process and common denominator all art makers share. Listen to the inner voice. Paint because it is the best way to bring the image to life.

The old sayings are"Paint because you will it. Paint because you must." Paint because you are driven. But most important paint as a best long lasting expression of joy that can be expressed and shared in this inspiring long lived medium.

Materials
tales
"View Outside" by JRJ 30" x 40" acrylic on canvas

"Foot of Columbia" by JRJ acrylic on canvas 54" x 48"

"View Outside" by JRJ 30" x 40" acrylic on canvas

"Foot of Columbia" by JRJ acrylic on canvas 54" x 48"

As I have explained, I begin with watercolor crayon to incorporate line that may be easily modified or removed with water. I freeze the linework that I like, by coating with matte gel or medium, then overpaint in acrylic paint thinly or with impastos as the painting demands. Later I can add additional crayon passages as needed, finishing with a final mat gloss or satin varnish.

As stated before: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 August. As a friend and I exited a disappointing gallery exhibition in north Seattle, he said"you should paint that". I took digital photos at the same time to save the light patterns and placement. Later(shortly after) I was moved to develop these images into a painting. I selected a canvas size stretching the canvas on stretchers to provide a flexing surface for more painterly brush strokes.. Some images work better with a non-flexing or hard canvas surface, but this one seemed not 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 blue dry pigment to the chalk to provide a color distinct from my painting palette colors, but to disappear in the sky blue passages. By adding a small amount of cobalt violet watercolor paint to a little acrylic gel, I produced a color not available in acrylic paint. Those are the beginning steps. The final version captured the ambience and appeal of that instant stepping outside the gallery into the light.

Technique Oil Paint

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

* An additional page link on stretching canvas .

watercolor sampler offer: http://www.stampzia.com/catalog/accessories/experimentalwatercolorpack.htm

watercolor canvas techniques: http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayArticle?articleNum=ae0282

Links:
Brush manufacture,http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/brush1.html
Paper making: http://gort.ucsd.edu/preseduc/papermak.htm
http://42explore.com/papermaking.htm
http://www.infostuff.com/kids/paper.htm
http://laceimports.com/michelle/projects/paper_instr.html

Art Material suppliers:
Dakota Art Store,http://www.dakotaartstore.com/
Daniel Smith Inc.,http://www.danielsmith.com/
Utrecht Art Materials, http://www.utrechtart.com/cat_request/dsp_request_catalog.cfm
Cheap Joe's http://www.cheapjoes.com/store/navigation.asp
Dick Blick http://www.dickblick.com/

Techniques preview
egg tempera society techniques: http://www.eggtempera.com/paint.html :

Books:

"The Artist's Handbook" by Ralph Mayer
"Formulas for Painters" by Robert Massey
The Craftsman's Handbook: "Il Libro dell' Arte" by Cennino d'Andrea Cennini
"Creative Discoveries in Watermedia" by Pat Dews
"Splash" series
"Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting" by Edward Betts