TECHNICAL PIECES




Drapery Study. Oil on Canvas.

At the Academy, after many hundreds of hours of tedious pencil drawings and monochrome paint studies, one is ready to start full colour renderings in oil. Above is just such a study, this particular one being a drapery study contrasting a cool, pure white linen with a warm, off-white silk. Of importance is noting and capturing the contrasting ways the materials "hang", and the way the light "plays" off them.

The paint used is composed of hand ground pigments, mixed in a siccative, or drying oil. The oil itself is hand made (to a degree) by adding litharge, or red lead as it is more commonly known, to an unrefined linseed oil, then heating the mixture on the kitchen stove to the staggeringly dangerous temperature of 580 degrees F.. Yes, I did this, and more than once - but never again. All very technical, but a part of my experience.


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