gaylemadeira
04-06-2012, 02:11 PM
Hi all,
This is my first oil painting! The name of the painting is "Pasha" and it was done for my friend Lexa whose cat Pasha died last year.
I've been painting with watercolors for 37 years, and I took an oil painting course at the New York Academy of Art before launching into this portrait. My whole life I kept trying to make watercolors look like oil paints. I was always intimidated by and scared of trying oils. Finally using oils has been an incredible joy. They are so creamy and enjoyable to work with, and I find the process takes almost half as long as my watercolors (this painting took 25 hours, one of the same size in watercolor would take at least 40).
Thanks to meeting Robert Doak and being told about his Goop, which I used for thinning and glazing, I didn't need to use any turpentine at all in this painting. One thing that always stopped me from using oils is that I live in a small apartment and knew the fumes would be too much, but with just the paint and no turpentine, it was totally fine. I have a big mixture of companies in my list of paints because I didn't really know what I was doing! But I have to say, I most adored the Robert Doak paints. They are incredibly buttery and easy to work with. I am so inspired by oil painting, I can't wait to get back to the canvas again, next time to do a people portrait.
Critique for this painting is very welcome. I know that some people will prefer it to be not so detailed, other people might prefer it to be more detailed (!) and some people might not like the subject matter, but what I'm really interested in is your opinion on the composition and color. Color has always been a struggle for me.
Paints I used:
Shirt: Trans blue oxide + flemish white and ivory black
Background: yellow ochre + ivory black (at #4 value) then added black for the darker areas
Pants: Trans blue oxide + flemish white and ivory black
Cat: Doak's adobe, trans sepia, burnt umber, raw umber, quinacridone red
Highlights in titanium white
There is a tiny bit of naples yellow in the eyes
Paints were from:
Robert Doak: Trans sepia, adobe, trans blue oxide, flemish white
Williamsburg: Ivory black, quinacridone red
Blockx: Yellow ochre, burnt umber, naples yellow, titanium white
Old Holland: raw umber
This is my first oil painting! The name of the painting is "Pasha" and it was done for my friend Lexa whose cat Pasha died last year.
I've been painting with watercolors for 37 years, and I took an oil painting course at the New York Academy of Art before launching into this portrait. My whole life I kept trying to make watercolors look like oil paints. I was always intimidated by and scared of trying oils. Finally using oils has been an incredible joy. They are so creamy and enjoyable to work with, and I find the process takes almost half as long as my watercolors (this painting took 25 hours, one of the same size in watercolor would take at least 40).
Thanks to meeting Robert Doak and being told about his Goop, which I used for thinning and glazing, I didn't need to use any turpentine at all in this painting. One thing that always stopped me from using oils is that I live in a small apartment and knew the fumes would be too much, but with just the paint and no turpentine, it was totally fine. I have a big mixture of companies in my list of paints because I didn't really know what I was doing! But I have to say, I most adored the Robert Doak paints. They are incredibly buttery and easy to work with. I am so inspired by oil painting, I can't wait to get back to the canvas again, next time to do a people portrait.
Critique for this painting is very welcome. I know that some people will prefer it to be not so detailed, other people might prefer it to be more detailed (!) and some people might not like the subject matter, but what I'm really interested in is your opinion on the composition and color. Color has always been a struggle for me.
Paints I used:
Shirt: Trans blue oxide + flemish white and ivory black
Background: yellow ochre + ivory black (at #4 value) then added black for the darker areas
Pants: Trans blue oxide + flemish white and ivory black
Cat: Doak's adobe, trans sepia, burnt umber, raw umber, quinacridone red
Highlights in titanium white
There is a tiny bit of naples yellow in the eyes
Paints were from:
Robert Doak: Trans sepia, adobe, trans blue oxide, flemish white
Williamsburg: Ivory black, quinacridone red
Blockx: Yellow ochre, burnt umber, naples yellow, titanium white
Old Holland: raw umber