Potted Garden –Demo
“Potted Garden” 8x10”Continuing to work in the style I did yesterday on the Georgia Screenhouse.
This was painted in the morning. I had to keep moving my pochade box with my painting on it to keep the sun off the painting. Since I didn’t start painting until about 10:30am, the sun and shadows were moving rapidly. I decided this painting was done when I’d back all the way up to the house and had no where else to move!
What follows are a few of the steps that went into making this painting.
First I sketched a simple outline with a light blue oil pencil (made by Walnut Hollow).
Then I squinted to figure out where the major lights and darks were. And scribbled them in with oil pastels.
Then I put some Res-N-Gel on a paper towel and spread the color out evenly.
After that I built up the colors I saw, trying to remember where the shadows were when I started. On things outside of my focal area, I kept blending with my finger or a paper towel to keep things soft and out of focus.
By the time my back was to the wall, this is what I had. I particularly like the way the pink and light green Coleus plant came out.
I like the way you show your progress on the painting
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Does the gel do anything to shorten or extend the life of the painting? Do you ever use stand oil or the like to spread the colors?
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I know someone who has used the gel for several years with no problems.
But I cannot say any longer term than that.
A lot of what is being done in the oil pastels today by many artist is experimenting and seeing what can be done, so most of the effects that I know about are only a few years old.
Since the ResNGel is an oil paint medium, I am not expecting a shortened life. But I don't know for sure.
I haven't tried stand oil. I have used turp but don't care for it. Evaporates too fast and prone to being spilled.
Have you tried spreading OPs with any medium?
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Well, a few years ago, I was playing around with some inexpensive OPs and a pad of cheap canvasette paper and used some quick drying linseed oil. I wasn't doing "serious art" - they were just little fantasy drawings but they were fun. It was a way to sit in front of the TV and paint - ha ha. All I needed was the oil, a brush and the little box of pastels. The paintings seemed a little dark to me, but I think that's because I didn't plan the pictures out and I smeared the black into the lighter colors. I spread the OP out pretty thin in them, because they dried with a skin like an oil painting.
I'm allergic to turps, so I switched to water soluable oil paints a while ago. I have the oil I use with those, and I have the big set of Sennelier OPs, but I haven't used them together yet.
So far, I've just been using the pastels on gesso or clayboard, which is ok, but I don't feel I have a lot of control. I've picked up a lot of new techniques to try from reading your site and the pdf. files on the OP Society site.
I found you because I was looking for information on how to use the OPs with a new pad of Sennelier paper that has a very rough tooth. It's thick paper, but I wasn't happy with the inability to get good coverage. Now I know that I can push the color around - ha ha. I'll be trying the oil on that this week and I'll let you know how it works out.
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Another liquid you may want to try is called Zest-it.
http://zest-it.com/zest-it.htm
This is supposed to be a non-flammable, non-toxic alternative to turp. It has a very strong citris smell.
It seems to spread the OPs very well but I've only used it on a few paintings. And any OP artist I know that has tried it only has at most a few months experience with it. We've only recently discovered using this porduct with OPs.
I'm curious how your second attempt with the oil will work out for you.
If you'd like to share your painting with fellow artists, WetCanvas.com has a great Oil Pastel sub-forum
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=148
Ann
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