New year, new medium

New genre too. I’ve been back in the studio over the last couple of days. I’m working on a couple of acrylic commissions that I can’t share right now – though more about them soon – but I’m also trying to do a painting every couple of days.

 

I took an online Alla Prima art course last year with Irish artist Roisin O’Farrell which made me look at my painting process in a totally different way. I’ve never really been interested in painting Still Life or Interiors before and I hadn’t painted in oils for over thirty years, so I really had a lot to learn.

 

 

 

I shared a couple of my earlier paintings on this blog, and I had great fun painting them, but now I feel I’m really getting to grips with the medium again. It is, quite simply, very different from Acrylics.

 

I stopped painting in oils after art college because my husband is allergic to turps, which meant there was no way I could use them in my home studio. Acrylics are much more convenient, they clean up with water and dry much more quickly, which also means they can be painted over if the artist makes any mistakes.

 

Oil paints and the associated mediums have changed so much in the last few decades. The paints I am using are “Winton” by Winsor and Newton, they don’t need any additional medium so I’m not having to use linseed oil or “Liquin” which seems to be a favourite mixer to use with ‘artist’ quality paint. Winton paints can be used straight from the tube. I’m also using “Zest It” for the clean-up which is much nicer to use than turps.

 

My pallette is quite simple, I’m using Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Sap Green, Veridian Green, Cad Red, Cad Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber and Alizarin Crimson and white.

 

I’ve been painting Alla Prima, which means careful drawing and mixing colours in advance and then painting quite quickly and fairly thickly. My first painting was the oranges on the blue plate, the second was the tomatoes and then I painted the lemons and I’ve learned a lot from each one.

 

I love the buttery texture of the paint and the rich deep colour, thouh they are very hard to photograph as the paint is very shiny when wet, and they are not going to even be touch dry for a long time yet. I may have to find somehwhere to store them while they’re still wet.

 

I’m planning on painting a landscape next, but I’ll need some more paint first. I’ll let you know how I get on.