oil wash studies

[jmax]

oilwash1 by jmax2013, on Flickr

I prepared a couple of canvii [ spelling ?? ] for acrylics but wound up ruining the dang
things. I had some house paint undercoat left and I put that on the ... well its Hessian
not canvas or Hessian canvas, not sure ... anyway it all cracked so decided to try a
couple of oil washes. They are a little too weak for me at this stage but anyway
no sense in throwing out the canvas when practise is afoot.




oil wash2 by jmax2013, on Flickr

Same deal ... some more Hessian ... same house paint cracking away. And its
acrylic no less.

[Jayde]

Well it's nice to know that you ruin canvases on occasion John and it is not just us mere mortals doing it! When I was at TAFE we used to 'gesso' our canvases with ceiling white rather than using an actual undercoat and I never had any problem with cracking (10 years later the paintings are holding up well).
I can see a couple of nice landscapes emerging from these practice pieces.

[jmax]

Indeed, it amazed me ... I didn't think house undercoat would ever crack. I'm making my
own oil paint ... using powdered pigment from Bunnings. The pigment is meant to be used
to colour cement but can't see why it wouldn't work. The washes have dried ok. For the
next few layers the paint will have to get progressively thicker.

I'm just using linseed oil mixed with the paint, seems to stick ok. I will have to mix up
another batch tomorrow. I also rather like Picasso's use of newspaper for the oil
palette ... nicely soaks up any excess oil. I won't tell what I use for a binder ... just
glue mixed in with the paint. No doubt I shall find out how silly all of this is using
cement powdered pigment and all. I wonder if its lightfast mind.

Tho I wouldn't try it without a muller and ground glass sheet to get the paint all buttery
and dryish ... surprising how little oil one needs to make a good paste.

[ScottCooper]

Colour me confused, John - you're using both linseed oil and a binder to make your paint? Surely in oil paints the oil acts as both vehicle and binder.

[Jayde]

I don't have the patience to make my own paints but then again, if I were a prolific artist like you John it would definitely make sense to give it a go. You'd think that pigment used to colour cement would be reasonably lightfast as more often than not the cement is outside exposed to all elements.