I paint with both Oils and Pastel … For a while there I was better known for my pastel. I was part of the pastel rebirth which started in the late 1960s. A lot of artists work with me in my Pastel and Oil workshops, and I start my oil workshops by pointing out “The nice thing about Oils is that they are wet, the problem with Oils is that they are wet”.
I like my Oils to be wet but at the right time… not at the very beginning. I have developed a technique using GAMSOL…sparingly and scrubbing the colors onto my canvas literally spreading them out so they are both transparent and quick drying. Then I go to the center of interest…or the most striking value contrasting area…establish it and…and paint from that area out.
Working with minimal Gamsol, I establish some large shapes.
Using different colors, I scrub the paint on so that those areas dry quickly and transparently instead of opaque.
Then I focus in on the most important area which are the waterfalls
Painting out and close to completion with a slight suggestion of the background area above the waterfalls…please note how beautifully green suggestion of leaves stands out from the transparent background. The leaves were painted with my favorite palette knife.
FINISH…. All the parts are established…certain areas are transparent and were not touched from the initial block in. And other areas ARE strong CONTRASTING OPAQUE AREAS PAINTED WITH a loaded brush…AND PALETTE KNIFE.
Then comes some softening of areas that could be very subtle. Lost and Found edges are all very important for giving a sense of space…making sure you have not lost any of the carrying power.
I turn the painting to the wall…leave the studio have a cup of coffee. Then when I go back to the studio, I take a few steps away from the painting…turn it around and see how strong the carrying power is.
Additional Paintings
I have enjoyed painting the mist floating around in many of my paintings especially with my oils and here is a wonderful example
The Adobe colors with the blue doors and trim, (the blue keeps the devil out).
The blues and the Adobe colors couldn’t be more compatible.
The Adobe colors during the purples of winter and the dark summer greens… under all sorts of lighting conditions and seasons. For many years I couldn’t get enough of them and I painted them in both mediums. When I was in Woodstock NY…1970 to 19831 got involved with trees, rockfaces, streams etc. Then, I wouldn’t paint them in the summer for there was just too much green. SO I started in November and painted many trees during the winters.
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