Contemporary, portrait, landscape, painting, best, top ten, paintings, oil, artist, artists, gallery, life, figure, graphite, sketch, Snowdonia, drawings, pencil, Art, geometry, composition, Master, Masterpiece, Welsh, Wales.
Contemporary, portrait, landscape, painting, best, top ten, paintings, oil, artist, artists, gallery, life, figure, graphite, sketch, Snowdonia, drawings, pencil, Art, geometry, composition, Master, Masterpiece, Welsh, Wales.
Quite a while ago I thought I would try oil pastels. They seemed to me to have an instantaneous quality, which made images lively and strong. However I was disappointed when I bought several 'how to' books and didn't learn an awful lot from them. Plus, the illustrations were, in general, somewhat crude.
Nevertheless I dived in and have been using them for a while, trying in particular to keep the 'natural' energy inherent in the medium, whilst also trying for some subtlety.
In this post I'm going to cover how to prepare the paper, and in the next one I'll get into using the pastels themselves.
N.B., Click on images to zoom.
Seated Figure
Oil Pastel on paper, A2 size, 60 minutes.
So...., this is how I stretch my paper. I'm sure there are a million other ways of doing it - but this works for me.....
Firstly,
pic 1: What you'll need: board, paper, water, flatbrush, masking tape, rag, kitchen roll, pen?
pic 2: get your little masking tape tabs ready.
I think that the best way to stretch paper is to wet the 'back' side evenly with a wet rag;
pic 3: put water onto the back-side of the paper, (I use a plastic sqeezee-type thing), and quickly spread the water out evenly with a dry rag.
pic 4: turn paper over, (now the dry side is up) and quickly stick the corners down with your masking tape tabs.
pic 5: on what is now the top side (the side to be drawn on) secure the edges with long strips of artist's masking tape
pic 6: smooth it down with your thumbnails, then make sure the tape is well-adhered by pressing down with something handy (like a pen, or the handle of a screwdriver?).
Make sure you apply the masking tape evenly around the edge of the paper.
That is, if (for e.g,) it's one-inch masking tape, have half an inch covering the paper, and the other half attaching to the board. (This means that when your picture is eventually completed, you can carefully strip off the tape, exposing a half-inch white 'border' around the picture!)
pic 7: smooth it down with the edge of a pen or a screwdriver. If it isn't pressed down well, you'll have problems with buckling paper.
pic 8: Get your wash ready - Any colour you like, (brownish-greenish is good for landscapes, and mid-greenish is good for figure work). Mix your acrylic paint with water - keeping it fairly liquid - experience will guide you.
Colour-wash your paper (using a mid-toned acrylic paint, watered down).
pic 9: I usually apply the wash with a large flat brush.
pic 10: Make sure you take it over and onto the masking tape, and that there are no white gaps along the edge.
Texture it?
pic 11: Then, while still wet, I sometimes texture it by dabbing it randomly with a dry piece of cloth, or kitchen towel, to give it some 'life'.
pic:12 and finally, I wipe off surplus moisture, around the edges.
Put your board to one side to dry naturally.
pic:13 When it's dry, after a couple of hours, it should be drum tight. I usually do all the above at least a day before I do the life drawing. You're now ready to work on it. (Time to get your oil pastels at the ready!)
One incidental benefit of this method; when your drawing is complete, you can carefully pull off the masking tape, and you will automatically have a very nice half-inch white border around your image!
Quite a while ago I thought I would try oil pastels. They seemed to me to have an instantaneous quality, which made images lively and strong. However I was disappointed when I bought several 'how to' books and didn't learn an awful lot from them. Plus, the illustrations were, in general, somewhat crude.
Nevertheless I dived in and have been using them for a while, trying in particular to keep the 'natural' energy inherent in the medium, whilst also trying for some subtlety.
In this post I'm going to cover how to prepare the paper, and in the next one I'll get into using the pastels themselves.
In this post I'm going to cover how to prepare the paper, and in the next one I'll get into using the pastels themselves.
N.B., Click on images to zoom.
Seated Figure
Oil Pastel on paper, A2 size, 60 minutes.
So...., this is how I stretch my paper. I'm sure there are a million other ways of doing it - but this works for me.....
Firstly,
pic 1: What you'll need: board, paper, water, flatbrush, masking tape, rag, kitchen roll, pen?
pic 2: get your little masking tape tabs ready.
I think that the best way to stretch paper is to wet the 'back' side evenly with a wet rag;
pic 3: put water onto the back-side of the paper, (I use a plastic sqeezee-type thing), and quickly spread the water out evenly with a dry rag.
pic 4: turn paper over, (now the dry side is up) and quickly stick the corners down with your masking tape tabs.
pic 1: What you'll need: board, paper, water, flatbrush, masking tape, rag, kitchen roll, pen?pic 2: get your little masking tape tabs ready.
I think that the best way to stretch paper is to wet the 'back' side evenly with a wet rag;
pic 3: put water onto the back-side of the paper, (I use a plastic sqeezee-type thing), and quickly spread the water out evenly with a dry rag.pic 4: turn paper over, (now the dry side is up) and quickly stick the corners down with your masking tape tabs.
pic 5: on what is now the top side (the side to be drawn on) secure the edges with long strips of artist's masking tapepic 6: smooth it down with your thumbnails, then make sure the tape is well-adhered by pressing down with something handy (like a pen, or the handle of a screwdriver?).
Make sure you apply the masking tape evenly around the edge of the paper.
That is, if (for e.g,) it's one-inch masking tape, have half an inch covering the paper, and the other half attaching to the board. (This means that when your picture is eventually completed, you can carefully strip off the tape, exposing a half-inch white 'border' around the picture!)
pic 7: smooth it down with the edge of a pen or a screwdriver. If it isn't pressed down well, you'll have problems with buckling paper.pic 8: Get your wash ready - Any colour you like, (brownish-greenish is good for landscapes, and mid-greenish is good for figure work). Mix your acrylic paint with water - keeping it fairly liquid - experience will guide you.
Colour-wash your paper (using a mid-toned acrylic paint, watered down).
pic 9: I usually apply the wash with a large flat brush.
pic 10: Make sure you take it over and onto the masking tape, and that there are no white gaps along the edge.
Texture it?
pic 11: Then, while still wet, I sometimes texture it by dabbing it randomly with a dry piece of cloth, or kitchen towel, to give it some 'life'.pic:12 and finally, I wipe off surplus moisture, around the edges.
Put your board to one side to dry naturally.
One incidental benefit of this method; when your drawing is complete, you can carefully pull off the masking tape, and you will automatically have a very nice half-inch white border around your image!
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
Whose hand is this, and who painted it?
(The answer will be in the next posting.)
And here's the answer from the last posting -
by Umberto Boccioni, 1912.
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
"The essential function of art is moral. But a passionate, implicit morality, not didactic. A morality which changes the blood, rather than the mind"
D.H.Lawrence
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Music:
I've recently started, just for fun, linking the two preoccupations together, by featuring a few paintings along with one of my songs. If you have a spare minute, you're welcome to take a look.
.......... these are on YouTube, and I'll add more as time goes by.
They will also be found on iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby, etc, - (my intention is to put a new song on monthly from September 2017)
Beyond painting, my other preoccupation is music - particularly songwriting.
I've recently started, just for fun, linking the two preoccupations together, by featuring a few paintings along with one of my songs. If you have a spare minute, you're welcome to take a look.
.......... these are on YouTube, and I'll add more as time goes by.
They will also be found on iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby, etc, - (my intention is to put a new song on monthly from September 2017)
Also in the last period I've been recording some songs with some friends - have a listen here if you have the time.
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. . . . and now, a Recommended Read . . .
The People Speak
Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove
Speeches and writings from history on the subject of democracy, from the chartists, revolutionaries, suffragettes, etc. Many great ones here, but my favourite is still the few words from the Declaration of Independence - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness'.
The People Speak tells the story of Britain through the voices of the visionaries, dissenters, rebels and everyday folk who took on the Establishment and stood up for what they believed in. Here are their stories, letters, speeches and songs, from the Peasants Revolt to the Suffragettes to the anti-war demonstrators of today. They are some of the most powerful words in our history.
Compiled by the Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, influential writer Anthony Arnove and the acclaimed historian David Horspool, The People Speak reminds us that democracy has never been a spectator sport.
Amazon Review.
Published on Canongate Books
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