04-23-2019, 01:50 AM
You still have the drawing in place so there's not much harm done if you're not 100% happy with it, it's thin and easy to paint over.
Generally, the point of using umber in the beginning is because it dries super fast. It lets you paint over it the next day without trouble, if you're not into that you should avoid that pigment and use one with a longer drying time.
If you want to extend the drying time of your paints, I find poppy oil to be a good alternative. When I used it I used a mixture of 4 parts poppy and 1 part stand oil and it worked just fine. You don't want to use linseed oil to extend drying because that's the fastest drying oil. Walnut and poppy are the best alternatives. Clove oil is an antioxidant and it's debated if it's a good idea to use, I'd be careful with it. It's wasn't commonly used historically can may turn black with age.
My general recommendation is to learn how to work with the drying time rather than against it.
There are several reasons your paint may be moving around more. One big factor is your ground. It's really worth getting a bit of an absorbent acrylic ground and a nonabsorbent oil ground and comparing how the same paints move on them. There's also just the surface quality that can be different. Yours looks very shiny and if someone is working on a surface that feels like sandpaper, they're going to pick up the paint differently. Also, different umbers are different. Some of the cheaper ones mix in black pigment, other's mix in blue and a bunch of stuff. Most of them have too much oil in the tube but some have less than others, changing how opaque your marks will be so that can be a reason it's different.
You generally don't want to mix in linseed oil in this stage. This is supposed to be the leanest stage with the last amount of oil in it so if you wanted more fluid paint, solvents are your friend at the start but they speed up drying. Think of this stage as just setting up some context for what comes later, rendering, halftones and detail don't really matter much at this stage, big light and dark relationships do.
I don't know what type of painting you're into but because you're doing the watts stuff I'm guessing you're going for a more modern style. if so, you should probably experiment with meyer's medium. It's almost synonymous with modern alla prima painting and everyone from Schmid to Lipking uses it, Lipking literally drowns his paint in the stuff. It's a mix of 1 part damar, 1 part stand oil (sometimes linseed oil but it's best to use stand if you use a lot of the stuff) and 5 parts turpentine.
Think of it as a medium that can feel fluid, even wet on the brush but becomes tacky, feeling half dried in just a few minutes, allowing you to layer your alla prima painting quickly without having to worry about the paint mixing too much with what's bellow. It doesn't technically dry fast, just becomes so tacky it feels half dried (depending on how much you use). It also prevents your painting from sinking in and keeps the colors very vivid.
I don't use the stuff but it's very popular and if you wanted to experiment with interesting mediums, that's a fun one to start with. It has come to replace a lot of driers because of their harmful effects on some 19th century paintings. Bouguereau sometimes used a lot of driers that helped him quickly make very refined paintings but it caused some damaged to a few of his works. Mediums with damar seek to provide a similar effect although it's still brittle and that's why you mix it with stand oil and should still be careful with it.
50/50 linseed oil and turpentine is very common and was used a lot historically. I haven't used gamsol but I think it's like a refined mineral spirit, no? It's similar, just evaporates slower (and kills less brain cells) so you can use that instead of turps.
Also, synthetic brushes generally suck. Hog bristle brushes have a benefit over all other brushes in that the surface gets a mild texture. The hairs are so stiff that they often cut into the paint leaving a mildly rough surface. This can of course be worked over and smoothed but a benefit it has is that the next layer of paint, after it has all dried, has some texture to grip on to, picking up the paint better and providing much better adhesion. It's a good tool for multi-layered paintings.
You mentioned before that you wanted to learn more about materials. I usually recommend is Tad Spurgeon's book when it comes to fairly in-depth material talk. It's well researched and collects a lot of information from various sources, although some of his own ideas should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of people recommend Meyer's book but I find it over-hyped and lacking in information you can actually use. You can learn a lot just by looking into certain artists you like and figure out how they do something, as well as a lot of experimentation is good. There are a lot of manuals out there from Solomon to Collier that somewhat cover materials and to be honest, you don't have to go much more complicated than what they outline. There are fun books like Schmid's Companion book that goes over his personal materials and techniques but they're not a "must have" unless you're interested in the artist specifically.
Learning about color mostly involves just looking at stuff and painting it. Most modern books on color are like 95% "yeah duh" information so there's not a lot of interesting stuff there. I think Harold Speed's book on painting does a fine job, also I think John Collier's manual has some good info in the second part. It's cliche but the interesting stuff just is learning about values, then just applying the same ideas to color.
Generally, the point of using umber in the beginning is because it dries super fast. It lets you paint over it the next day without trouble, if you're not into that you should avoid that pigment and use one with a longer drying time.
If you want to extend the drying time of your paints, I find poppy oil to be a good alternative. When I used it I used a mixture of 4 parts poppy and 1 part stand oil and it worked just fine. You don't want to use linseed oil to extend drying because that's the fastest drying oil. Walnut and poppy are the best alternatives. Clove oil is an antioxidant and it's debated if it's a good idea to use, I'd be careful with it. It's wasn't commonly used historically can may turn black with age.
My general recommendation is to learn how to work with the drying time rather than against it.
There are several reasons your paint may be moving around more. One big factor is your ground. It's really worth getting a bit of an absorbent acrylic ground and a nonabsorbent oil ground and comparing how the same paints move on them. There's also just the surface quality that can be different. Yours looks very shiny and if someone is working on a surface that feels like sandpaper, they're going to pick up the paint differently. Also, different umbers are different. Some of the cheaper ones mix in black pigment, other's mix in blue and a bunch of stuff. Most of them have too much oil in the tube but some have less than others, changing how opaque your marks will be so that can be a reason it's different.
You generally don't want to mix in linseed oil in this stage. This is supposed to be the leanest stage with the last amount of oil in it so if you wanted more fluid paint, solvents are your friend at the start but they speed up drying. Think of this stage as just setting up some context for what comes later, rendering, halftones and detail don't really matter much at this stage, big light and dark relationships do.
I don't know what type of painting you're into but because you're doing the watts stuff I'm guessing you're going for a more modern style. if so, you should probably experiment with meyer's medium. It's almost synonymous with modern alla prima painting and everyone from Schmid to Lipking uses it, Lipking literally drowns his paint in the stuff. It's a mix of 1 part damar, 1 part stand oil (sometimes linseed oil but it's best to use stand if you use a lot of the stuff) and 5 parts turpentine.
Think of it as a medium that can feel fluid, even wet on the brush but becomes tacky, feeling half dried in just a few minutes, allowing you to layer your alla prima painting quickly without having to worry about the paint mixing too much with what's bellow. It doesn't technically dry fast, just becomes so tacky it feels half dried (depending on how much you use). It also prevents your painting from sinking in and keeps the colors very vivid.
I don't use the stuff but it's very popular and if you wanted to experiment with interesting mediums, that's a fun one to start with. It has come to replace a lot of driers because of their harmful effects on some 19th century paintings. Bouguereau sometimes used a lot of driers that helped him quickly make very refined paintings but it caused some damaged to a few of his works. Mediums with damar seek to provide a similar effect although it's still brittle and that's why you mix it with stand oil and should still be careful with it.
50/50 linseed oil and turpentine is very common and was used a lot historically. I haven't used gamsol but I think it's like a refined mineral spirit, no? It's similar, just evaporates slower (and kills less brain cells) so you can use that instead of turps.
Also, synthetic brushes generally suck. Hog bristle brushes have a benefit over all other brushes in that the surface gets a mild texture. The hairs are so stiff that they often cut into the paint leaving a mildly rough surface. This can of course be worked over and smoothed but a benefit it has is that the next layer of paint, after it has all dried, has some texture to grip on to, picking up the paint better and providing much better adhesion. It's a good tool for multi-layered paintings.
You mentioned before that you wanted to learn more about materials. I usually recommend is Tad Spurgeon's book when it comes to fairly in-depth material talk. It's well researched and collects a lot of information from various sources, although some of his own ideas should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of people recommend Meyer's book but I find it over-hyped and lacking in information you can actually use. You can learn a lot just by looking into certain artists you like and figure out how they do something, as well as a lot of experimentation is good. There are a lot of manuals out there from Solomon to Collier that somewhat cover materials and to be honest, you don't have to go much more complicated than what they outline. There are fun books like Schmid's Companion book that goes over his personal materials and techniques but they're not a "must have" unless you're interested in the artist specifically.
Learning about color mostly involves just looking at stuff and painting it. Most modern books on color are like 95% "yeah duh" information so there's not a lot of interesting stuff there. I think Harold Speed's book on painting does a fine job, also I think John Collier's manual has some good info in the second part. It's cliche but the interesting stuff just is learning about values, then just applying the same ideas to color.
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