On Painting & Art: Another Look at an Old Problem

Kitchen Corner and also Painting Studio.

My studio is spread over 3 floors. A corner of the kitchen has a north facing skylight and access to the water. This is where I paint watercolors and, now, the Golden Open acrylics as well. Downstairs is for oil painting, a showcase for work, and a place to entertain. The third floor is dedicated to storage and framing.

My paint-box is here setup for the Golden Open acrylics. Since I work with a small number of pigments I choose them out of a small assortment as I need them. There is less waste of paint and you are always working with paint reasonably fresh. The trick is to, accurately estimate how much paint you need as you need it. Learning to do this efficiently takes a bit of practice but I think it is well worth the effort.

Published in french as Mon espace de peinture

«Snow on the Doubs» Golden Open acrylic on canvas, 30cm x 24cm, 2009

The cold weather must be getting to me. I generally do not paint so many snow scenes. This painting, done from a sketch, was begun as we were receiving a light dusting of snow: another Siberian storm front has now moved into France. It is too cold for me to be outside painting. Soon I will head south to Provence.

Published in french as Une peinture pour une journée froide

“Walk through the Park”, oil on linen, 35cm x 27cm, 2009

Where is the source for this image? I do not know. I have done countless paintings and sketches along the Doubs, close to home.

Paints used were a mix of Sennelier and Blocks. I used a mixture of safflower oil and Zest-it. Zest-it seems to be a good non-toxic substitute for turpentine. Colza oil was used to keep the brushes clean. Marseille soap was used on them for the final cleaning. Colza oil in France is cheap and for me it does a good job. The Zest-it is manufactured in Great Britain. Mr. Sennelier assures me that it is non toxic. In any case, I use very little to start the painting and then add no additives, or mediums to the paint. We now know that most of the old masters painted without adding additional mediums to the linseed and/or poppy oil already in the paint.

Published in french as Promenade dans le parc

“Morning on the San Juan” Golden Open acrylic on stretched canvas, 46cm x 38cm, 2009

“Jura Heights” Golden Open acrylic on stretched canvas, 30cm x 24cm, 2009

For the first part of this article, click here.

After a few days of this I felt confident enough to try a painting on canvas. Above is my first painting : “Morning on the San Juan”.

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