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How do you start an oil painting? The following oil painting demonstration and tutorials will address a few basics. There are three main methods of working with oil paint; alla prima or direct painting, the layered method, and monochrome under painting or a combination of these. My most often used approach to painting is the classic layered method.
If you would like to receive personal assistance on improving your own art work, and as an alternative to weekly art classes or workshops, Hagerman Art is now pleased to offer an online art critique.
Please click on the following to learn more about this new feature offered by William Hagerman.
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Step 1: Initial block in of darkest mass (tree) followed by painting in of adjacent areas. (background/foreground)
Step 2: Adding middle tones and detail. (white areas in tree represent under painting showing through in step one)
Step 3: Combined effect of step one and two.
Step 4: Addition of highlights and further details including negative shape painting of the sky behind the tree.
Step 5: Combined effect of step three and four. See the Oil Painting Demo for application of these steps to an actual painting.
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| ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR |
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| FIVE | SIX | SEVEN | EIGHT |
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Mixing color is a process of analysis. It starts with classifying it's hue, which is the basic description of a color. (red, green, etc.) Hues are represented using the standard color wheel. Click to view COLOR WHEEL.
Once you have the Hue described, the next step is analyze the intensity or chroma which is the relative brightness of a color. In other words is the color vivid or dull compared to the spectrum Hue on the color wheel? For example: If the Hue is Yellow Green and you determine that it isn't as vivid as the yellow green on the color wheel, then your color is of a lower intensity or brightness. To lower a color's intensity or chroma you add it's complimentary color. If you return to the color wheel, the complimentary colors lie directly across from one another. Example: Red, is across from Green and vice-versa, Blue is across from Orange and Red Violet is across from Yellow Green. Adding the compliment to your mixture will dull the intensity. Another way to remember what color compliment to add is that all primary colors will be present to some degree in your mixture. Example: Green is made with the two primary colors of Yellow and Blue. The primary color left over is red. That's the compliment. One more example: You want to dull or lower the intensity of Blue. The two left over primary colors are Red and Yellow. What do you get when you mix Red and Yellow?.....Orange. That's the compliment to Blue. So adding a small amount of orange will lower the intensity or brightness of blue. An additional way to lower a colors intensity is to mix a neutral gray (white + black) that is of the same value as the color you wish to gray down.
Color mixing isn't complete without analyzing the third property of Value, which is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. Value is represented by a gray scale with successive gradients ranging from White to Black. Click to view GRAY SCALE and additional charts.
Take Blue as an example. A pale blue ranging towards white is of a light value, whereas a dark blue ranging towards black is of a dark value. Color between is classified as middle values. To lighten a Hue you add white. To darken you can add black, but sometimes just adding more tube oil paint is enough, as many colors are dark (value of black) right out of the tube.
The following oil colors are examples of relating tube oil paint to the differing Hues on the color wheel. Words in ( ) refer to paint manufacturer or brand of paint.
YELLOW = Cadmium Lemon or Cadmium Yellow Pale
YELLOW ORANGE = Cad.Yellow (Winsor Newton) or Cadmium Yellow Med.
ORANGE = Cadmium Orange
RED ORANGE = Cadmium Red Light
RED = Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Red or Bright Red (Holbein)
RED VIOLET = Magenta/ Quinacridone
VIOLET = Cobalt Violet, Manganese Violet
BLUE VIOLET = Ultramarine Blue, French Ultramarine
BLUE = Phthalocyanine Blue, Thalo Blue
BLUE GREEN = Phthalocyanine Green, Thalo Green or Viridian
GREEN = Permanent Green Lt. or Permanent Green Middle
YELLOW GREEN = Thalo Yellow Green, Permanent Yellowish Green (Rembrandt)
These colors are cited only as examples. They do not necessarily represent the palette I use as it's apt to change depending upon the subject, but a general rule of thumb for mixing all the spectrum Hues, (except for the primary colors), your basic palette should include a warm and cool version of each primary color. A warm blue towards red (Ultramarine) and one towards green (Thalo Blue) for example.
Reds might include Alizarin as your cool red and Cadmium Red Light for the warm. Suggested Yellows include Cadmium Yellow Lemon which shifts ever so slightly to the green side thus making it a cold yellow and Cadmium Yellow Light or Medium (depending on brand) which shifts to the orange side. The rest of your palette should include Titanium White, Ivory or Mars Black and a few earth colors if you desire. No two artists seem to agree on which colors to use and in time you too will decide what works best for you. I realize this brief overview of analyzing color is not necessarily the only way to mix color. There are other methods and you should endeavor to learn more about this lengthy subject, but it's a place to start.
Every artist seems to have their own opinions and preferences for materials and I will offer my two cents worth as it applies to fine art painting.
Art materials can be grouped into two categories. Professional grade and student grade with variances in quality even in these categories. The first noticeable difference is usually price with the artist or professional grade being higher in price. The second noticeable difference is the quality. The student grade brands are obviously designed for economy and lack some of the working properties of the professional grade. My opinion is that a few high quality materials are better than a large quantity of low grade materials. So buy the best you can afford. Working with poor art supplies only frustrates the painting process. However, I will say that price doesn't necessarily equal value. For example, I use a few brushes that are on the low end price wise and the quality isn't always consistent. (brush hairs fall out) Despite this occasional drawback, they are priceless to me in the effects I can achieve with them.
I do not use just one brand of paint as I like certain qualities of pigment in differing brands. Some of the brand names of artist grade paint I use include: Schminke Mussini Oils, Winsor Newton, and Rembrandt, with a sprinkling of other colors in differing brands. If you don't have a local outlet for purchasing fine art supplies, a quick search online for art materials and supplies will give numerous results. Here are three references for you.
New York Central Art Supply Artisan of Santa Fe Jerry's Artarama
As far as painting supports, I use oil primed linen which I stretch myself. I generally prefer a medium to heavy weight landscape linen in both single and double primed. Many outlets will offer swatches if you ask for them, so you can familiarize yourself and choose a style that suits your needs.
An artist whose work I greatly admire is Richard Schmid. He has a FAQ Page with several sections of valuable information. Plus he has two instruction videos currently out and a book "Alla Prima: Every Thing I Know About Painting" which I recommend. All are available at his website: www.richardschmid.com
Weekly art classes for children and adults are held at my business WHISTLE STOP ART STUDIO in Midland, Texas,
located at 700 B Andrews Hwy. Instructors include myself and Judy Griffin. Ms. Griffin has 30 plus years experience and has an all level art education. She has taught in the public school system as an art teacher as well as conducting classes on the college level.
Monthly fees are $60.00 for 2 hour sessions per week and $65.00 per month for 2 ½ hour sessions per week. Children's classes are 1 ½ hours per week. A variety of times are available. Classes are limited in size for personalized instruction.
To learn more please call (432) 682-2469
