Collioure painting

This painting was done all the way back in May but had to stay hush hush as it was a present for my sister's first wedding anniversary commissioned by her husband. Somehow, despite not telling my mum about the painting I was doing, she still managed to let slip to my sister a couple of days before.. oops!

It's something very different from my usual wildlife and pet pictures, a landscape of Collioure - a seaside town in the south of France where they spent their honeymoon. The first anniversary is paper which gave my brother-in-law the idea for a painting gift. It was done in a looser style than I usually work, focussing on the light and colour to give more of an impressionist piece.

Here are the stages of the painting:

Great Northern Diver Painting

The great northern diver is a bird I've seen just the once whilst on holiday in Iceland. They do visit the UK but only really in the northern parts of the country in the winter when they aren't in their handsome looking breeding plumage.
 

A pair of courting divers

It's a bird I've been wanting to paint since I've started oil painting but have put off until now as it's patterns and colouration are complex mix of spots, checkering, stripes, and with a 'metallic sheen' on the neck and head of the bird. So I wanted to make sure I'd be able to do it well enough for my liking.

First I sketched out the position of the bird in sepia and then did a couple of layers of background colour using a fan brush for softness and opacity.

Then I worked further on the background bringing in the colours of the ripples up to the bird. This was followed by washing in the base colours of the bird and building up the opacity of that. The great northern diver naturally has dark red eyes and at this early stage with the lighter washes it was looking pretty demonic!

After that I started to build up the opacity and shades into the bird. 

Then I began detailing the bill and the eyes (so it looked less possessed). The neck and head was given a greyscale toning to it so I could glaze in colour which I thought may help give a metallic look to it

I moved onto working on the markings of the feathers and started adding the dark and bluer ripples in the foreground water and the water droplets on the bird's head.

The glazing of colour into the neck and head then took place and I worked on the more abstract looking ripples of the bird's reflection. The foreground water was also gradually build up with various shades.

The colour glazing continued on the neck and head and the final lighter tones added into the ripples to complete the painting.

'Dragonfly' painting

.. well a banded demoiselle really but that's close!

Apologies for the long break between the last blog post until now. I have been very busy of late and also found myself a bit burnt out so needed a break from wildlife painting. but now I'm back and have been working on two of them. One of which is now finished.

I hadn't painted an insect in a while and was going through my college work where I had done quite a few and I decided to make use of a photo I took when I was at Hothfield Heaths nature reserve of a female banded demoiselle. Females are greenish with copper tinted wings where as the males are blue bodied with clear wings with black 'bands' near the ends; hence the name.

I planned out my painting with an initial sketch of the damselfly and thistle in burnt sienna before then working on the background, trying to retain the sketch for when I paint them later. The background was done in two layers using a fan brush to produce a softer look.

I then moved on to work on the thistle, working with a base colour wash and adding increasing highlights and shadows as I go.

I use this same method on the damselfly, here you can see the initial dark wash on the body.

Once the dragonfly was blocked in I then added some details in the eye and thorax and highlights to the legs. The thorax is mainly done in greyscale so I can glaze in colour as there is a metallic sheen to the insect which my standard colours would struggle to bring out.

Colours are glazed along the body and I tint the wings copper before then adding the veining on them and start working on all the colours in the wing highlights of which there are gold, green, blue, pink, and copper.

I add white and again glaze colour into the insect to help bring out the colours and add the final details to the wings.

I hope you like my portrait.

First still life: Part 1 The underpainting

I can't be exactly sure but I think it was seven or eight years ago back in college when I last attempted a still life and never in oils. However after seeing some fantastic still lifes recently I've been wanting to give it a try, plus it gives me an opportunity to try out a different oil painting method.

The painting technique I'm trying out is called Grisaille, from the French 'gris' for grey, it involves creating a tonal black and white painting and then glazing in the colour afterwards. This does two things, first, it allows the painter to focus on tone and detail when working on the greyscale underpainting.  This makes the painting process easier as you don't need to worry about mixing various colours in tonal shades. Secondly, by building up the colour in thin layers brush strokes are softened to blend them together creating a smoother effect and a luminescent quality is added to the painting as the colours show through each glazed layer.

I usually work from start to finish in colour and deepen the tonal qualities and add detail as I go and I wanted to see whether working in this way would benefit my artwork in future.

So both inspired by some of the work I've seen (and slightly influenced by my time working at a vineyard) I raided the fridge for some grapes and grabbed a wine glass for my still life. Lighting is very important for a still life as well as the composition of elements within it so I tried a few setups to photograph before selecting one as my reference.

Here's the photo I'm using

I chose to eliminate the background entirely so the focus was solely on the subject matter especially as I didn't think the actual background of the photo would add anything to the image. Instead I would leave it dark, something like the dramatic paintings I like from Caravaggio. 

So here are the stages of me building up my greyscale underpainting.

Sketching the composition out

Adding in the first layer of background

Second background layer is added. Starting to work on the grapes and glass from rearmost to foreground

Building up the details and working on the grapes. You can start to see the textures and light now.

The finished underpainting

So far I'm pretty happy with how the painting has gone. Next step will be the colour glazing, something I'm very new to so it'll be interesting to see how it goes!

The Osprey

For my latest painting I decided to paint a bird of prey - the osprey. And, to make it more challenging, I wanted to portray it in a more active and dramatic scene where it was fishing. I hope you like it!

With wildlife I try and make sure the animal I am painting is identifiable as a species. For this, as well as using what I can see, I also utilise ID guides in this case my trusty Collin's Bird Guide.

The osprey is one of the most widely distributed birds on Earth; spanning every continent except for Antarctica. In the UK it occured widely in the past but was persecuted as it competed with people for fish. The increasing pressure from firearms usage in the 19th century saw the osprey as well as the sea eagle pushed in extinction in the UK by 1916. In its final years, as it became rarer, the osprey became the target of trophy hunters and egg thieves. In England the last breeding pair was likely in Somerset in 1847. In wilder Scotland the population clung on longer, retreating into the Highlands where the last known pair nested at Loch Loyne in 1916. 

It was in 1954 at Loch Garten, Speyside, when a Scandinavian pair of ospreys was found to have recolonised Scotland and were breeding and the population has slowly climbed from there. As the population was slow to colonise opsreys were reintroduced to England at Rutland water in 1996. Later a pair bred in Kielder Forest in 2009 - the first to do so for over 200 years. Today the osprey population has reached a modest 200-250 breeding pairs. Sadly most breeding sites have to be kept secret as well as guarded to protect from would-be egg thieves and hunting - egg collectors have stolen over 100 clutches of eggs since the 1950s.

The painting in progress:

For those curious as to my photo reference.

Oil Painting for Beginners

So this week I thought I'd tell you the basics of what you need to know to start oil painting. From what tools and materials you will need to how to go about creating your painting. I've probably missed a couple of things out but I've certainly picked up some useful information through art college, art books, and experience that I can share with you.

I'm not going to be telling you HOW exactly you should paint. People want to paint different subjects in different ways and developing your own style is something that comes from practise and experience. This is intended to be a handy guide for anyone looking to take up oils.

So let's begin!

What you'll need:

• A paint surface

Typically this is cotton or linen canvas but you can also work on wooden boards including MDF and hardboard. You can even paint on paper to a degree.

Canvas comes in various levels of coarseness. Some artists like roughly woven canvases to feed into the texture of their work whilst others prefer finer canvasses to allow small details to show through. You can buy canvasses already set on a frame or loose canvas which you can frame yourself. Framed canvasses come in both primed and unprimed states. Priming a canvas is important as the oils will absorb into the canvas which over time may lead to rotting. If you buy an unprimed canvas you will want to coat it in a few layers of acrylic gesso to create a good surface to paint on. Sand it down to create a finer surface.

When buying canvas check to make sure it has a smooth surface for you to paint on. Look out for any rips, dents or bubbles.

It's best to prime boards too to create a better surface to put paint on. You can paint on paper but as this is such a thin material it is even less durable and is best for sketches and studies rather than larger projects (ideally prime too). Be careful of the paper warping due to moisture. Oils can seep through paper relatively quickly.

The surface you paint on will affect drying time along with the thickness of paint and the mediums you use. I personally find that hardboard takes longer to dry than canvas.

Oils coming through the paper

• Brushes

Technically you don't have to apply paint with a brush you can try out anything you want - plastic cards, fingers, sticks, but most artists use brushes to create accurate mark-making.

I recommend buying a wide selection in brush sizes. Use broad brushes to paint large areas and to apply gesso, and finer pointed brushes to work on small details. You don't want to be covering a massive canvas using a tiny brush - it will wear it out plus take forever! Brushes come in natural hair as well as synthetic. You can also use a palette knife to mix colours and apply paint thickly onto the paint surface. 

Make sure to thoroughly clean your brushes when you have finished a painting session with lots of soap, particularly for synethic brushes to prevent damage. The lifetime of brushes varies between artists and depend on their size. Some artists will get through small brushes in one painting, others can make them last a few months. You'll know when they need changing as the hairs will splay making mark-making difficult.

• Paints 

:

There are broadly two ranges of paints to choose from:

Student paints: such as Winton, are cheaper paints as they contain more filler and less pigment. They are generally for those new to the medium or on a budget.

Artist's paints: contain more pigment and are smoother to paint with but can be very expensive. Prices also seem to vary more depending on the colour. 

Water-mixable oil paints are also now available as an option. These eliminate the need to have a solvent which saves on costs as well as odour. I do have a couple of tubes of these paints but I've yet to try them out so I don't know how different their paint is or how well they dry.

A good starting palette of colours would be warm and cool versions of the three primaries: red, yellow, and blue, white, and black (see previous blog post here). When painting wildlife the earth pigments (siennas, ochres, and umbers) can also be very useful. You'll find a few whites and blacks on sale which can be confusing, titanium white is the brightest white and lamp black the darkest black.

A little word of warning: I find it's harder to notice when you get oil paints on your skin than with water-based paints so it can be easy to unknowingly get it on your clothes and everywhere else in the room. So always make sure to check!

• Mediums

With oils you will most likely need to use a solvent to dilute and mix the paint as well as to rinse of paintbrushes. The exception to this would be if you are using water-mixable oils. This also helps you paint fat-over-lean which becomes important as your painting dries (more on that later). 

Solvents can be damaging to the environment so make sure you absorb with rags or tissue and dispose of in general waste and NEVER tip down the sink.

Turpentine is traditionally used but you need to make sure you paint in a well-ventilated area as it is strongly odoured. An alternative is to use a low odour solvent such as Sansodor but this is more expensive.

White spirit can be used to rinse brushes as it is cheap but shouldn't be used as a painting medium as it is much more corrosive. It also produces fumes and binds less well with the paint.

While painting I find it best to pour some of the solvent into a glass jar to use. This prevents paint from brushes contaminating the rest of the solvent. Make sure to keep a lid on when you are not currently painting to prevent fumes and evaporation. Avoid storing in plastic containers as the solvent will eat the plastic away.

Linseed oil or Liquin, is used to add extra oil to paint. This allows for the build up of glazes in later layers and painting fat-over-lean. Liquin also speeds up drying times.

• Palette

You will want a surface to squeeze out fresh paint onto so you can mix your colours. Avoid plastic as this will be corroded by the mediums and use wooden or glass palettes. Large palettes will give you more room to mix your paint on which is arguably more needed in oil painting than other mediums as the paint takes a longer time to dry on the palette. I find it best to put your colours around the edge of your palette and mix inside to prevent the paint from spreading out so much in all directions and so you know where the base colours are. Try not to put more paint than you need on your palette as will waste your paint.

• Extras

An easel can be useful, particularly for larger work. You can get table easels as well as full tripod easels. For smaller works you can get away without using one.

Tissues are also useful to place wet brushes on as well as to wipe them dry.

Now how to start your painting!

How to paint:

• Sketching

It can be a good idea to sketch ideas out in a sketchbook before moving to canvas to come up with your painting's composition.

One method of composition is to use the rule of thirds. The idea behind the rule of thirds is that the canvas is divided into a 3 by 3 grid and the key focuses of the image should be the points where the grid intersects (see the dots in yellow on the painting below).

Grid system & the rule of thirds

Angles and lines of objects in the foreground and background lead the eye around the image. You can use them to focus on the features of your painting or to take them on a tour around it.

If you are working from references you will probably want to accurately transfer your idea onto your painting surface. You can do this by sketching the design using diluted paint, pencil or charcoal. If you use pencil or charcoal you will want to seal the drawing with a thin layer of acrylic paint or gesso to prevent the drawing from muddying your paint.

You can increase your sketch's accuracy by using a grid system to break down your reference and canvas into smaller chunks to transfer. Another option is to project your reference onto the canvas.

If it is likely or possible the painting will be later framed you will want to move the image inwards away from the edge of the painting area a little as the frame will crop the image space.

• Painting Tips

Angle of painting 
Avoid painting on a horizontal surface such as a tabletop as this will likely skew the image's proportions based on your angle of viewing. This is why easels are useful tools to hold paintings.

Fat over lean painting 
It is important to paint fat over lean in oil painting to prevent the paint surface from cracking whilst drying. What this means is that if you are painting using layers to build up paint on the canvas each subseqent layer needs to have a higher fat or oil content than the last. This can be done through diluting early layers with solvent and adding oils such as linseed to later layers.

Good things come to those who wait
Paint layers will vary in how long they take to dry based on added mediums and thickness of application. Expect relatively thin layers of paint with no medium to take a couple of days to dry. This will also vary based on the surface you are painting on. Be careful not to overwork a wet painting as this will likely end up muddying your colours and dilute your highlights and shadows. Wait for the layer to dry before starting the next.

Paint what only what you see..  
..not what you think should be there. Putting details that you think should be visible but aren't actually visible from your references can actually take something away from your painting and make your image seem 'unreal'.

Lighting
Be aware of the temperature of light and complimentary colours. A warm orange sunset casts blueish shadows for example. Also pay attention to the direction of light and shadows, their depth and length and make sure they match.

Define your foreground
By softening your backgrounds you bring foreground objects forwards. Usually distant objects/landscape appear lighter than foreground objects as well as less detailed to the eye

The Mirror Trick
Something I call 'Painting Blindness'' occurs when you've been looking at a painting for a long time. This means problems within the image such as distorted proportions, and contrast can become difficult to notice. An easy way to double-check your image is to get a 'fresh look' at it using a mirror or to upload a photo of the painting and flip it horizontally using an image-editing program. That way you can see if there are mistakes you need to fix. Always carry out when you think your painting is done so you can make final touches as necessary.


Well I hope that helps. I'm not an expert but I've been using oils for about 10 years now so this is what I have managed to pick up. I personally don't believe art information is the privilege of the few to keep secret or dole out at a learner's cost. Indeed i think it's a shame that so much information remains unsaid in art institutions. I hope this provides a useful resource so a beginner can get started and enjoy what oil painters do!

Painting in Progress: Dash & Elmo

Hello everyone,

today I thought I would share with you a commission I am currently working on. This is a portrait of two dogs Dash and Elmo. It's by no means finished yet but here's how the painting is looking right now. 

I have a mix of references I'm using.  Although I'm focusing on two for the faces I have a couple of others to help me with Elmo (the labrador) to balance out the flash and so I can work on his body a bit too.

I chose these two to work from based on the level of detail and the angles. Plus Dash looks really great against the soft-focused grassy background!

Here are the stages up to this point: