Oil Painting Info (Homework 2)

 Mayat Smolnik

Oil Painting Techniques (from Gamblin website)

Indirect Painting- Create painting in 3 layers

                1^st layer-transparent darker layer, with few colors. Block in painting

                2^nd layer-opaque layer with lightest shades in painting

                3^rd layer- add highlights and glaze

Direct Painting-Creating the painting in a single layer. Block in lights then darks, primarily mix paint on    canvas. You can use slow drying medium to add fluidity.

Impasto- using thick layers of paint to create very textured paintings. Often achieved by using gel and wax medium.

Oil Painting Supports (http://www.art-handbook.com/surfaces.html)

Canvas- Tightly woven fabric. Can have fine texture for smooth detail or rough surface to add texture. Usually is stretched out onto wooden supports.  Currently the most popular surface

Wood Panel- One of the earliest used oil painting supports. Poplar, oak, linden, pine, cedar, mahogany and walnut are some woods that have been used. The best wood surfaces to paint on are quarter sawn, seasoned, air dried and reinforced with wood strips. These qualities allow the panel to resist warping and shrinking and allow it to hold paint better 

Copper-  support used in the past, particularly in Holland. The fact that it expands signifigantly with heat and is easily bent made peeling and blistering of the paint commonplace but the surface allows for great dimensionality. The copper must be prepared by sanding off colored oxides which gives the paint nooks to cling to.

Oil Painting Grounds (http://homepages.ius.edu/DCLEM/ptgguide/ptggd3b.htm)

Gesso- Today refers to acrylic gesso (chalk, titanium white pigment, and acrylic polymer emulsion).Versatile, flexible dries rapidly. The most popular ground for oil paints used today. 

Imprimatura- Mix of a usually earthy tone with turpentine (or mineral spirits). Painted on primed surface. Leaves a transparent stain which allows light to pass through.

Textured grounds - Textured surfaces can be made from acrylic mediums giving the painting a three dimensional ground to work on.

Oil Painting Tools

Pallete Knife- Used to remove paint, create edges, or apply paint

Rag, cloth or fingers- Used to remove paint diluted with mineral spirits, or smudge to create more realistic gradients. 

Mineral Spirits- Used to thin the oil paint and clean brushes and palette.