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Hi. I have the book How To Paint Like The Old Masters by Joseph Sheppard. It is NEAT!! Haven’t started on one of the lessons yet though, could be I am scared to try
Do have a question though. I need to extend the ‘working time’ on my paints. What brand of ‘slow drying time’ media do you use?
Checked on products through Dick Blick dot com and am wondering which one to try first. Golden has a few types but according to their labels they make the paint glossy or satin when dry and I don’t want that to effect the final varnish or final look of the painting.
The reason I want to slow the drying time is because the lessons require you to do a lot of blending. I’ve studied the pictures of the finished paintings and they look very much like I want to be able to paint. I see a lot of Boris and other fantasy artists in the brushwork and the skin is just beautiful!!
Plus I LOVE Ivory Black and use black in my artwork though I have read several posts that oppose that color. Well, I like it and if the old masters used it it is good enough for me. Even if they didn’t I’d still love it. Mars Black is cool too but Ivory is my favorite. It is alive like the darkest blackness of space and when I look at it it just makes me feel good and peaceful. A few paintings in this book, the ones I want to learn from, use Ivory Black. All the other colors just come to life and are much richer because of that. Or that might just be my preference and the way the photography made the pictures look.
Well, now my rambling is over. Would like to know if you have any thoughts on what medium to use.
Thanks muchly
Thank you for this question about medium, because I also have the same question. I haven’t found one that I like. I did want to comment on your use of Ivory black.
I also have spent years trying to avoid black in my paintings, all my formal training has frowned upon it. It certainly is useful to learn how NOT to use black, to get your darks using other colors, but the best lesson I have learned in painting is NOT to put any rules or limits on what you want to do.
Don’t get caught up in too many rules and just have fun..- MicheleO
"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."
Pablo Picasso
Well, I am still hopeful because there is no way I can use oils. And if nothing else I’ll learn something from it I am sure.
And about your attempt with oils, let me know how it goes. You should have started with acrylic underpainting then put the oils on.
I got an email reply from Liquitex that said their drying time extender mediums don’t change the color of the paint so I guess I’ll try them first. I will try several just to get a product that I can make work best for me.
I did try Clear Blend by Grumbacher, or however you spell it, and it was nice for blending but only as much as using water. It really didn’t make the paint stay any wetter any longer than what I thought was normal work time. I might try their Slow Blend though. Jo Sonja makes a neat gloss varnish that I love, might have to check if they make slow drying mediums. They are more craft paint oriented though.
Well, I have made the choice of what painting from the book to try! Now alls I gots to do is get a canvas ready! We should have a nervous, sweating smiley to go here.
Hi. Yes, I am excited about trying this new technique. But the problem isn’t the paints staying wet on the pallet it is the paints drying too fast on the canvas. According to the book I have to paint everything in black and white and then put on such and such a color and then reinstate features and then put on a lighter color and then blend the two with a stiff bristle brush that is dry. Well, that might work great in oils but my acrylics dry almost as soon as they are painted on the canvas. Bummer. I can’t paint too thick of a layer because then you have the problem of paint blending out of bounds and you have to restate the edges.
I use ‘tuuperware’ type of ‘tubs’ as palletes. This keeps the paints useable for as long as needed.
Acrylics should come off the sink with a brillo pad. Get the area nice and wet, let sit, then scrub-a-dub.
Guess what? I got an email from the author himself Joseph Sheppard and he said acrylics wouldn’t work. Wellllll, I am still going to try it anyway
I know I will get some knowledge out of it and I might could get a similar result or be able to make up a technique to get the same kind of result. I am looking for more roundness and more realism in my persons. It doesn’t matter much to me what techniques I use to get there. If nothing else I will have to make drybrushing work better than it does now. But I know that acrylics can give me the effects I am looking for. I am not certain I can explain or others are understanding what it is about the Old Masters paintings that I like and want to do in my own paintings.
There is just no way I am using oils and smelly solvents that will make me sick for days. I already know I am allergic so oils are a complete NO unless water soluables, or whatever the proper term is, are like acrylics in their clean up, ease of use, and are as non toxic and safe as acrylics.
Now on to my new adventure!!
Thanks. I might give H2O oils a try later on. I won’t be able to use any of the mediums talked about in the Old Masters books though for health reasons.
What I need is more blending time and then I can discover what more I need from there in regards to my acrylics which I am loath to retire.
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