Usually, if I’m trying to alter the drying time of oils, it’s to speed it up to meet a deadline or to make changes over dry paint. But once in a while, like in portraiture or figure painting, it’s nice to flow down the drying time to achieve subtle changes over a longer period of [...]
Archive for the ‘Supplies’ Category
January 13th, 2010
Traditional Gesso
I’ve been using acrylic gesso on small masonite panels lately, not having enough time to glue canvas to them and too cheap to buy pre-gessoed canvas panels and I’m finding the acrylic gesso is too slick. The oil paint doesn’t absorb into the surface enough. So I bought some
Gamblin Traditional Gesso. It’s a mixture [...]
January 5th, 2010
Using Brushstrokes to Show Form
Since painting is done on a flat surface and the goal is to make your subject look three dimensional, it’s important how your brushstrokes lay on the canvas. Using value changes gives flat objects form and so does temperature change — warm colors come forward and cool colors recede. Hard and soft edges do the [...]
