My Favorite Artist of The Past

Although Van Gogh's paintings are in a style that is different than my way of working, I find a great deal of inspiration in them. There is also a great deal of freedom in them. Although he studied with others, he wasn't bound to the rules established by others, and made his own way. In the present world, his work receives much criticism, sometimes even from artists. However, when I go to the museum, I find that I study his works more than others.

As for his eating paint, well, I wouldn't do it, but hey, it does smell aweful good! At least if made with linseed oil, and I don't think he ate much.

The painting above is an attempt on my part to copy one of his self portraits. Probably a poor attempt, but I just respect his beliefs, and work so.

Making Paint: Sedona Earth

Oil paint is mainly pigment, and drying oil, and at times a stabilizer. I think that an oil paint with some form of stabilizer makes a better paint. The oils are poppy, safflower, walnut, and linseed. Many artists use different oils, for different reasons. I generally prefer linseed oil. It is very durable, and has been used successfully for centuries. Safflower is very good at mitigating the yellowing effects seen with linseed oil. For lack of a better explanation, I love the smell of linseed oil, and when it comes to making paint, the cold pressed version is excellent. Cold pressed linseed oil wets pigments better than alkali-refined linseed oil. When made in factories, this is no concern, but I have found it much more effective when making my own paint.

Several years ago I was on vacation in Arizona, and visited Sedona. It was red! A beautiful iron oxide red, everywhere. Immediately I thought that the sand would make a very nice color in paint, so I collected some in a plastic bag.

I took this material, and cleaned it several times to remove organic material. I then baked it to dry, and although it was already very fine in particle size, I ground it down much further, to the texture of my other dry pigments. When sufficiently ground, I added cold pressed linseed oil, and ground the pigments into the oil. Somewhat gritty at first, they did break down into even smaller particles, with a great deal of effort, and time. The thing that was most interesting is that as the particles became smaller, the color of the paint darkened. In the end, it was very dark, and didn't appear red at all. More of a burnt umber color, but with much different working properties. When mixed with white, it does have a red hue, but there is a notable shift to yellow. In mixing this color with venetian red, and titanium white, it produced a flesh tint that was so right on, with relative ease, that when I wiped the paint laden brush on my hand, the color was indistinguishable from the local skin color. When mixed with ultramarine blue deep, a wonderful black results, and I have found this black to be very close in hue, and working properties to the actual ivory black, made from actual ivory.

Considering the amount of effort and time that went into this, I don't think I will make a huge amount, but it was a good experience, in keeping with the craft. The amount that I produced after about 8 hours of work, was approximately 35ml. A similar amount to a single tube of paint, bought in the store.

The remarkable thing about this paint, is that although enmasse, it resembles burnt umber, or any number of mixes, the working properties create a much more subtle effect. It is not overwhelming in the least, nor is it gritty. I would add that as a stabilizer, I used a very small amount of amber varnish that I made earlier this year (about the size of a lima bean). It immediately congealed the paint, and made a wonderful texture. This truly is an earth color. Please excuse the pile depicted, as it does resemble another less than desireable substance.

Don't Die For Your Art

This painting is 18x24 inches. It is on a support of burlap laid down on hard wood panel. One of my favorite subjects, this group of bison except for baby has been familiar to me for years. I got relatively close to them to complete sketches. Baby appeared quite interested, and studied me. She came quite close on several occasions, and the adults appeared to be getting more nervous as time went on. This is a large male bison, and a female baby, recently born. He appeared very gentle with this baby, and never took his eyes off of me. They finally had enough of me, and the entire group started moving toward me, and I decided to head back for the fence. They moved quicker and I felt the heels of my shoes hitting the back of my shoulders. I dove through the electric fence, and rolled. Dirty, but happy to not have a bison horn stuck in my ribs.

The colors for this painting were cadmium yellow light, yellow ocher, burnt sienna, burnt umber, red iron oxide, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, titanium white. The medium was amber varnish, added in small amount to the paint nuts, to stiffen them, and create a more impasto effect. Since the support was burlap, with large interstices, it took a great deal of paint. There is still more work that needs to be done; mainly with the backgound tree line, and in the fur.

Practice

This is a little further along that the image below, but still a lot to do. Much detail work, including slight color and value changes throughout. Without the gradations, the form would be off. This is the stage of a painting when it helps to have very good quality paint, that is highly pigmented, and a has a loose texture. The changes will need to be scrubbed on thin, but a medium will also need to be added, to insure proper adhesion, and to protect the integrity of subsequent layers, by the addition of increasing amounts of oil, with each sucessive layer.

This is an 11x14 oil painting, for practice. For this one, I am working in layers. Rather than my usual charcoal drawing, which is then fixed with shellac, I used a toned canvas panel, and drew with paint and brush to establish shapes. Then I painted the image. When this is dry, I will change brushes, and focus on details, including values and color.

The paint for this was titanium white, burnt umber, burnt sienna, raw sienna, Venetian red, yellow ocher, ultramarine blue, and cobalt violet. I made the titanium white and Venetian red by hand. The Venetian red pigment came from Sinopia, and the titanium white was from Kremer Pigments.

The mediums for this were cold pressed linseed oil, and a medium composed of stand oil, Canada Balsam, and oil of Spike.

Repair of an Icon (Finished)

This is an image of the finished repair of the damaged icon, shown below.

Many months later, and after a great deal of work, the repair was completed, and the icon was delivered back to the Cathedral. They were happy with the repair, and I was very relieved.

This painting was quite interesting, as it was originally completed in layers, using glazes and scumbles. In repairing the image, it could not be painted alla prima. In order to match the surrounding undamaged areas, the image had to be painted in layers as well. I used Winsor and newton oil paints, and an alkyd medium, for the glazes. A year after the repair was completed, and the paint sufficiently cured, I varnished it with a synthetic varnish.

Repair of an Icon

I thought that I would post before and after images of a repair that I completed for The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, in Columbus, Ohio.



The first image is of the damaged icon. The icon was painted in oil on canvas, and not the traditional tempera paint on rigid support. Although it is old, it was completed in more of a Western style.



I was told by a church representative, that the icon was damaged by young people playing with a ball, that inadvertently got away from them. This left a significant tear in the image. The church then contacted an artist who reported to them that he could repair the image. I was told that the restorer soaked the painting in water. I was told that this restorer subsequently went to lunch, never to return. Apparently as the painting dried, the paint film surrounding the tear delaminated from the shrinking canvas support. I was asked if I could repair this piece, and although at first I was a bit over whelmed, I took on the task, and set to work.

This task at times seemed almost insurmountable. The damage was extensive, and there were literally hundreds of highly detailed tasks that had to be completed.

Red Cloud

Red Cloud is quite an impressive creature. I had never been up close to a bison before, and had always thought of them as more or less a big cow. Well, they may be in the same family, but they are certainly not a cow. They seem to have a personality, and although he is big, he has kind eyes, and seems somewhat friendly. I wasn't deluded into believing he wasn't dangerous, but he appeared much more friendly than the ranch's other dominant male Crazy Horse.

Funny thing about bison, is they are very watchful, and as I sat sketching them, I found that they were all facing and watching me. Who was studying who? I have never observed any group of animals do this, and it was quite eerie. What impressive creatures they are. The only megafauna to survive the last ice age. Standing near them convinced me that they are tough as any creature on earth. The hump on their backs belays the power they can generate, and the size of the head is what amazed me the most. Unlike cows and farm animals, they have no need for a barn, or shelter, and can survive just fine in the open outdoors. They do stand shoulder to shoulder and face the wind together, as they have very thick hair on their heads, and they conserve their body heat.

Perhaps they are an example for humans to follow. Perhaps if we stood shoulder to shoulder and faced the winds together, the world would be a much different place.

This painting was inspired by Red Cloud. It is 8 by 10 inches, oil on cardboard canvas. I also used amber varnish, in the paint. It is thin in the darks and impasto in the lights.