If you find that commercial pre-stretched canvas is too expensive or if you are just interested, you can make your own canvases. You can buy rolls of primed or raw canvas in various sizes and qualities. Once bought, the first thing to do is to stretch a canvas of a desired size using stretcher bars. The stretching process is fairly straightforward. You will need to buy stretcher bars. You can find them in any serious art supply store or on the Internet. Stretcher bars have tongue-and-groove ...Read more...
Today, oil painting brushes are made from many different types of materials. Each material has of course advantages and disadvantages. Beginning as well as advanced painters should have some familiarity with the properties of these hair-making materials. Here I present the most used and widely available of these brush hair materials together with some of their properties: * Badger Hair - Badger hair brushes are used for blending and have a long tradition. The hair can be found in many parts of ...Read more...
Oil painting brushes come in all different sizes. In fact, there really is not a consistent standard throughout the industry. Sizes are usually given as numbers. For certain brands and certain sets of brushes these numbers can run from 1 to 24, 10 to 100, or 0 to 30, etc. You will also find size markings such as 00 (or 2/0). A 00 brush is one size smaller than a 0 brush. Similarly, a 000 (or 3/0) brush is one size smaller than a 00 brush or two sizes smaller than a 0 brush. Note that not all ...Read more...
A mixing surface is often called a palette. This same term also refers to the collection of colors a particular artist uses to create his or her paintings. In this article we will be talking about the actual mixing surfaces. A palette is the mixing surface onto which you squeeze your paints. It's easy to make your own, or you can buy one. The standard palette is made of hardwood and is oval in form, typically with a hole carved out to accommodate the thumb.Oval palettes are favored by artists ...Read more...
Let us begin with the standard type of brushes used when painting with oils. Here they are: * The Flat - The flat brush has a flat ferrule, is square-ended, and has medium to long hairs. The ferrule of a bush is the metal sleeve used to join the bristles and handle of the brush. The flat brush able to carry a lot of paint and can be handled fairly easily. It can be used to produce bold sweeping strokes or when used on its edge it can also draw fine lines. * The Filbert - The filbert brush ...Read more...
A ground or support is any kind of surface you can paint on. The choice of ground is in quite important because it determines in part how your painting will be perceived by the viewer. Your support must satisfy a minimum of conditions. It must accept the paint well (i.e., the paint must stick in one stroke) without absorbing too much of the pigment. The least expensive oil painting ground is treated paper. It is very useful for practice and even for doing certain commercial work. You can also ...Read more...
In this article I will give you an overview of my personal approach to the creation of an oil painting. There are of course many valid approaches to painting and with experience you will develop your own specific approach. But if you are a beginning painter you may want to try and practice the following approach: * The Drawing Phase - Usually I first execute a regular drawing on the canvas. This drawing can be anything from a few lines to a completely detailed map of all the forms. This may ...Read more...
There are several reasons why the use of edges in an oil painting is important: * Degree of Hardness - Edges can be used to express the degree of hardness or softness of objects and subjects. * Degree of Roundness - Edges can also be used to reflect the degree of roundness and sharpness of objects and subjects. * Directional Indicator - Edges are an excellent help in mapping your painting. That is, they can be used to lead the viewer's eye around the painting and ultimately to the focal point ...Read more...
It may come as a surprise to most people when I say that the colors in a painting are not the first thing the viewer's brain takes in. In fact, the viewer's brain will subconsciously go for the values (i.e., the darks and the lights) first. The eye is very sensitive to variations in darks and lights. The colors themselves have each their own value. It is therefore just as important to reproduce the values in a painting as it is in a drawing. We must understand that if the value of the color is ...Read more...
Color is the central component of painting. It is what makes it a unique art form. Therefore, it is essential that we develop the skill of seeing colors as they really are. Here are some tips to help you with this: * Prejudice - The first step in learning to see color correctly is to get rid of all built-in preconceived notions about color. The brain (luckily) has the ability to filter the myriad of visual impulses and often fills gaps with stylized memories of reality. Unfortunately, stylized ...Read more...