All I Know About Painting

by
John Warren Oakes
A.B., M.A., M.F.A., C.A.A.

INTRODUCTION
I have been painting for 60 years. I taught art at a university for 46
years. This book is a compilation of what I learned from others and
my practice of making art, what I think is important and what I
taught thousands of students. I hope you are helped by a study of
this information.

JOHN WARREN OAKES

928-821-0515
john.oakes@wku.edu
http://www.oakesart.blogspot.com
Education:
1975 Harvard University, Certificate in Arts Administration.
1973 University of Iowa, Master of Fine Arts/terminal degree
Major Area: Painting; Minor Area: Creative Photography.
1966 University of Iowa, Master of Arts degree
Major Area: Painting; Minor Area: Creative Photography.
1964 Western Kentucky University, Ogden Scholarship,
Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude
Major: Art: Minors: English, Economics and Sociology.
1962 Art Students League of New York, Albert Dorne Scholar
Employment:
Western Kentucky University, Professor of Art 1966-2011
Director of WKU University Gallery 1966-1985
Curator Kentucky Museum
Art Director, Ethereal Publications 2010 President of Sedona Art Museum, Inc. 2012-2014
Exhibitions:
461 exhibitions, 50 one-man shows
Collections:
Works in public or private collections in:
Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,
Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey,
New York, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
Argentina, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, Czechoslovakia,
England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania,
Spain, and the West Indies.

Encaustic Art Institute Permanent Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Kentucky Museum Bowling Green, Kentucky
Cravens Graduate Center Bowling Green, Kentucky
Helm Library Bowling Green, Kentucky
Kentucky Railpark and Museum Bowling Green, Kentucky
TransfinancialBank Bowling Green, Kentucky
Florean Museum Romania
University of Iowa
Pennsylvania State University
Riverside Museum California
Oficina Cultural Mazzaropi at Sao Paulo City in Brazil.
Lillian Holt Center for the Arts, Loyola College Art Department,
Baltimore, Maryland.
Accademia d'Arte di Pisa, Italy.
Galeria de Arte Vera Ferro, Capinas, Brazil.
International Union, Chorzow, Poland.
Gallery Slaphanger, Netherlands.
University of California at Berkeley
Le Lieu Centre en Art Actuel, Quebec, Canada
Casino, Cultural Centre of Houthalen, Belgium
De Borre, Cultural Centre of Bierbeek, Belgium
The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Colorado.
Het Loo, Cultural Centre of Tessenderlo, Belgium
Casino, Cultural Centre of Koksijde, Belgium
De Bosuil, Cultural Centre of Overijse, Belgium
De Ploter, Cultural Centre of Ternat, Belgium
Ter Dilft, Cultural Centre of Bornem, Belgium
Biographical Listings:
Dictionary of International Biography
2000 Artists and Designers for the Year 2000
Who's Who in America
Who's Who in American Art
American Art Directory
Directory of Distinguished Americans
Personalities of America
Who's Who in the South and Southwest
Contemporary Personalities
Memberships:
Sedona Area Guild of Artists, Master Signature Artist
Sedona Visual Artists Coalition
ArtWorks Visual Arts Coalition
International Encaustic Artists
Encaustic Art Institute
Encaustic Artists International

CONTENTS
1. WHAT IS PAINTING
2. PHYSICAL MATERIALS
3. METHODS
4. FORM
5. MEANING
6. REALITY
7. REPRESENTATION
8. COGNITIVE MEANING OR CONTENT
9. UNDERDRAWING
10. UNDERPAINTING
11. PERCEPTION
12. PERSPECTIVE and SCALE
13. CREATIVITY AND ORIGINALITY
14. SUPPORTS
15. PRIMING SUPPORTS
16. MEDIUMS
17. BRUSHES
18. KNIVES
19. PALETTE AND STORAGE
20. PAINT
21. CLEANUP
22. HEALTH AND SAFETY
23. TECHNIQUES
24. SEEING AND ANALYZING
25. COMPOSITION
26. POINT
27. LINE
28. SHAPE
29. PLANES
30. VOLUME
31. VALUE
32. SPACE

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40
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50
52
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94
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107
109
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127
128
130
131
133
134
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33. COLOR
34. TEXTURE
35. VARNISH AND CARE
36. STUDIO
37. SUBJECTS AND MODELS
38. EVALUATION

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153
154
158
158
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1. WHAT IS PAINTING
Technical aspects:
A painting is composed of physical materials that an artist has
shaped into a specific form through the use of one or more
techniques.
Painting is the use of pigment on a surface.
Painting condenses experience to a 2D surface image.
Painting acquires the illusion of form and volume from sculpture.
Tactile realism imitates sculpture: Modeling, balance, weight and
movement of mass, proportion, scale, perspective.
New techniques are invented in each time period. Oil replaced egg
tempera. Acrylics have replaced oil. Old forms are forgotten and
some are revived. New and old are placed in new combinations.
The means develop from sense perceptions: Visual, tactile, auditory,
vocal, body movements, rhythms, pulsations, balance, smell, taste.
Fine art can communicate as well as decorate.
Simple ingredients of painting:
Line shared with calligraphy. It has been described as the dance of
the hands.
Color: local and for its own sake.
Storytelling has an association with painting.
Major acts of life:
Love, birth, hunting, farming, war, death.
People vs. forces outside themselves:
9

Natural forces
Deities
Society
Culture
People vs. People
Conflict within the self:
What are your passions?
We relate to our environment.
What makes art important to a society?
Why should you paint?
Why do you paint?
The conflict of modern times is not the physical conflict between
people and the nature but between psychological forces within
people and the forces of environment both physical and
psychological.
Painting is a rendering of physical sensations. Thin darks and
loaded lights allow us to build a painting with fluidity, flexibility,
and generosity of paint, to paint slow or fast and to create the
picture at a speed which corresponds to the development of our
thoughts, so that the form, color, movement and quality of paint are
one.
Painting and drawing are one.
Actual texture makes painting unique.
Painting is a language of signs.
Painting is not about the subject but about how paint looks on the
subject.

10

2. PHYSICAL MATERIALS
First paint probably was blood. Water mixed with minerals, plants
and insects would not have had a binder, so they did not last. Cave
paintings, hidden from elements and vandals, were done with
charcoal, chalk, iron oxide and yellow oxide mixed with animal fat.
Later watercolors added gum Arabic as a binder or glue size for
distemper paint. Minerals were mined and insects chosen for
various pigments. Egg tempera used yokes of eggs and water to
form egg tempera which required a rigid small wood panel
substrate. Buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment
mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar or
plaster. Because of the chemical makeup of the plaster, a binder is
not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink
into the plaster, which itself becomes the medium holding the
pigment. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster; after a
number of hours, the plaster dries and reacts with the air: it is this
chemical reaction which fixes the pigment particles in the plaster.
Beeswax was mixed with pigments to create early paintings.
Various oils like linseed, poppy seed, walnut and safflower made
blending possible with a more flexible paint which could be used on
canvas allowing paintings to be larger and lighter in weight.
Chemical colors added to the color arsenal. Synthetic plastics
contributed to new techniques with a totally flexible and quick
drying medium for painters. Recent innovations include water
soluble oils, alkyds and slower drying acrylics and heat setting oils
offering more choices for today's painters. Synthetic brushes offer
new tools as well.

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3. METHODS
When painting an arrangement of objects observed in real life, a
beginning artist may be tempted to concentrate on fully capturing
the likeness of one object before turning her attention to painting
the next object. The painter who follows this procedure assumes
that if each object (and each part of each object) is accurately
portrayed, then the whole painting will turn out well.
In actual practice, by paying attention to only one object (or part of
an object) at a time, in all likelihood the complete painting will
suffer. Without the construction of compelling relationships among
all the parts, the finished painting will lack the emphasis on the
whole, which is what visually matters most in the final analysis.
Rather than focusing your primary attention on making the various
parts and details "correct," you should aim to have the whole
painting be more than the sum of its parts. (This same advise
applies to all paintings regardless of type of subject matter,
including paintings of figures and landscape scenes as well as
abstract arrangements of painted shapes, lines, and textures.
In every painting we start there is one thing that made you want to
do the painting, a shape, color or trick of light. Leave that detail till
last and the painting will keep your interest when you achieve what
you have imagined.
Every idea should be explored with variations, color size, emphasis,
and composition. These should produce at least several variations.
See if you can pick out the best of the series.
Use the 'wrong' hand:
If you're left-handed, put your brush in your right hand, and if
you're right-handed, put it in your left. It'll feel awkward and you
won't be able to paint as precisely as you can with your dominant
hand. This lack of co-ordination also means that you can't get into
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that automatic paint mode where your brain says "I know what a
cat [for example] looks like" and you paint an idealistic cat rather
than the one in front of you.
Let the paint drip:
Load your brush with lots of dripping color and let it run down the
surface of your painting as you apply it to the 'right' place. Don't tidy
up the drips. They add a fluidity.
Paint with water:
First paint your subject with clean water only (okay, not if you're
using oils!). This familiarizes you with your subject. Then introduce
color, which will flow into the wet areas. Don't try to stop the paint
from spreading or worry about the colors becoming 'wrong'. Wait
until you've finished, then see if you like the result.
Use three jars of water for your brushes: one, preferably with a few
drops of acrylic flow improver added, to thin your paints and make
them move on the canvas more easily; one of warm water and
washing-up liquid to clean your brushes; and one jar of plain water
to rinse them. Clean your brush every few minutes ... let the acrylic
paint dry in the bristles and you may as well throw it away.
FAT OVER LEAN OIL PAINTING
The principle of painting 'fat over lean' is one of the fundamental
concepts of oil painting and one to follow to reduce the risk an oil
painting cracking. 'Fat over lean' has got to do with the varying
drying times of oil pigments (which can vary from a couple of days
to a month) and ensuring that upper layers of paint don't dry faster
than lower ones.
'Fat' oil paint is oil paint straight from the tube. Mixing it with an
oil makes it even 'fatter' and increases the length of time it takes to
dry completely (even though it may feel dry to the touch, it will still
be drying under the surface). 'Lean' oil paint is oil paint mixed with
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more turpentine (white spirit) than oil, or oil paint mixed with a
fast-drying oil. 'Lean' oil paint dries faster than 'fat' oil paint.
If 'lean' is painted over 'fat', it will dry first, making the 'lean' layer
of paint vulnerable to contraction (shrinking) and cracking when
the 'fat' layer dries underneath it. Lower layers also tend to absorb
oil from the layers above them. Therefore every layer in an oil
painting should be a little 'fatter' than the previous one, or have a
greater proportion of oil in it.
The drying times of artist's quality oil paints will vary because they
are usually made only from pigment and oil; cheaper paints may
have drying agents added to make the drying times more consistent.
Paints which tend to have a low oil content, and thus dry quickly,
include Prussian blue, ultramarine, flake white, and titanium white.
Oil paints with a medium oil content, and which dry within about
five days, include cadmium reds and cadmium yellow.
'Fat on Lean' Oil Painting Tips:
If your oil paint has lots of wrinkles in it, you've probably added too
much oil.
If your oil paint yellows or darkens soon after it dries, try using a
better quality oil.
When you've got a painting you like, create a series by taking one
element from it and creating another painting. This could be the
subject, the dominant color, whatever. Each painting should have
something that ties it into the others in the series. They should
work together as a group, but also be strong individually.
ALLA PRIMA PAINTING
Alla prima is Italian for "At the first try" or a painting that is
completed in a single session. Work directly using rapid
brushstrokes. Try to work without an under-drawing making first
impressions count.
The term, alla prima, simply means to complete a painting "at once
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or at one sitting. It is the technique of painting wet in wet - painting

into the wet under-layers until the picture is finished. When much
of the technical knowledge
of the old masters disappeared, in the early l8OO's, painters were
forced to paint alla prima in order to eliminate the dangers of
working over partly dried places in their pictures. The technique
was looked upon as a real feat.
This technique produces pictures full of freshness and spontaneity.
It teaches a discipline of great importance - you must know at all
times just what you are going to do with the painting tools. It will
show up aimless or irresolute painting faster than any other method
. To paint alla prima the beginner should not start with anything
more ambitious than a simple still life. The technique requires.
much faster action and greater determination than the normally
slower painting over dry under-layers.
A hard, non-absorbent canvas and fairly thick colors are used in alla
prima painting.
Form and shadow are rapidly indicated by drawing with the brush
in dark, neutral, warm black in broad lines. The shadows are left
slightly narrower than their final size, and more transparent than
the rest of the drawing.
Each successive development of the picture, however sketchy,
should have the appearance of something complete in itself.
Local colors are painted flat and not too close in value and tone to
the final color. The painting continues, developing more and more
toward its final appearance, leaving the deepest depths and the
highlights until the very last.
The type of medium used determines to what extent the painter can
continue wet in wet before the surface becomes tacky, or half dry.
This is not necessarily disastrous, as the painting can be left to dry
and then developed further in another technique.
When the surface becomes tacky, it is not advisable to continue
painting alla prima. Persisting will end up in losing the freshness of
tone, and will increase the ever-present possibility of darkening and
15

cracking.
For successful painting in this valuable technique, you need a
modest-sized canvas, a relatively simple subject, medium , and most
important, a thorough preparation for the fast, sure-handed work
ahead.
Two approaches only may be considered:
(1) painting onto a white or colored ground, intending from the
beginning to achieve the final effect while painting wet-in-wet - this
technique is called alla prima and (2) painting on one or several dry
under-paintings - the usual technique of painting on canvas. The
words alla prima may also apply to the watercolor technique in as
much as it, too, is normally a one-phase operation. In fact, this
processes employing oil paint in alla prima and watercolor are akin,
for both rely on transparencies and the exploitation of the color of
the support. However, in the first instance this background color is
rarely white, whereas in watercolor this white ground is the general
rule. In fact, those familiar with watercolor technique could acquire
facility in alla prima, wet-in-wet oil painting, without any difficulty.
In wet-in-wet painting, no essential over-painting (except for
occasional retouching") should be done after the painting is dry
usually in twelve to twenty-four hours). This apparent "orthodoxy"
is necessary because alla-prima painting should preserve an
impression or sketchiness, and moreover (this is of great
importance), the original color of the ground should remain in
evidence here and there throughout the picture, thus unifying the
surface tonality.
Alla prima is the quickest method of registering one's intention in
paint with greatest effectiveness.
The Painting Ground
The cardinal pre-condition for the ground is smoothness. In alla
16

prima technique complete registry of the brush marks is essential

and grain protuberances which are part of a fabric impede the
movement of a brush since paint clinging to them will, to some
extent, be taken up by the interstices of the weave, When I speak of
"smoothness," I do not mean "slickness" for a smooth ground can
have "tooth," whereas a slick ground will always be slippery. Only
extra-fine fabrics have a proper tooth. If a ready-made canvas is not
available, a fine raw linen can be prepared by first sizinq the
stretched canvas with one ounce of glue {or gelatin) water, and then
priming it with flake white by means of a palette knife. This
priming must, of course, be extra thin.
The ideal support of alla prima, however, is a panel, and
untempered Masonite is the best type. This panel, which can be 1/8or inch thick, should be primed by brushing its smooth side with
a gesso available either in solution or powder form. The gesso
solution should be sufficiently thin so as not to leave any brush
marks, - hence several applications will be needed. After drying, the
conventional gesso must be isolated with our glue size to make it
largely non-absorbent and suitable for oil painting. However, a
newly perfected gesso, a special polymer emulsion (acrylic gesso)
which does not require sizing, is now available.
Alla-prima painting is most successful when done on a small scale,
simply because it is largely transparent and does not carry
quantities of paint. Therefore, a reasonably sized panel should not
exceed 16 X 20 inches. The scale a painter may wish to use all
depends on his particular approach. One may paint on a large
surface in a piecemeal fashion, as can be realized when considering
the large panels of the old masters.
Imprimatura
In order to be suitable for alla-prima painting, the white gesso must
be treated with a transparent color, referred to as imprimatura ,
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which is like a watercolor and hence does not contain white paint.
Which colors can be used for imprimatura? Theoretically, every
color on our palette, but in practice, only a few. These are, in
sequence of their utility: burnt sienna, viridian green, umber, ochre,
cadmium yellow, black, Prussian blue, u1tramarine,pthalo green used either singly or in mixtures. What should guide us in the
choice of a particular color? Subject matter is our only
consideration; here our choice is wide and will become a matter of
personal predilection. As a general rule the following suggestions
are helpful: For painting flesh {heads, figures} burnt sienna or
umber are best, but viridian green, ochre, and black (the latter will
appear, of course, as gray) can also be used. I repeat, the choice of
specific color is quite important, for in alla prima technique this
underlying color will assert itself- or rather should assert itself throughout the paint surface.
The same consideration will guide us when chasing the color for a
different subject matter. When painting any verdant material, for
example, yellow ground is most suitable since it will intensify the
chromatic effect of the superimposed transparent green color. As a
matter of fact, the underlying yellow, when left uncovered or wiped
off in places may serve as the "highlights" of the green objects. This
all suggests that flowers, for instance, will appear more glowing
when painted over a high-keyed color, such as yellow.
The density of the imprimatura color should not be too thin, that is,
too pale. A "middle" tone, which is neither too dark nor too light, is
best. Too pale a color is of no value in imprimatura, and a very dark
color, though it can be well utilized, requires exceptional skill in
handling.
Use a soda straw and thin acrylic paint by blowing on some paint
poured on the support. Direct the paint by changing the position of
the straw.
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Broken color occurs when small, individual brushstrokes or palette

knife strokes are put down without blending.
From a distance, the strokes will fuse in your vision and will seem
brighter than blended color.
Use a ruler to paint straight lines by holding it up on an edge and
resting the metal ferrule of the brush on the raised edge as you slide
the brush along the ruler.
The edge of a ruler or a piece of matt or cardboard may be coated
with paint and imprinted onto the canvas to make a straight line.
Tissue wrapping paper may be glued with acrylic medium onto a
support to make a textured base.
If oil paint is too thick to make changes apply a sheet of absorbent
paper over the area and rub lightly before peeling it off. This is
called tonking.
Craquelure is tiny hairline cracks that occur in some oil paintings as
they age. Oil based varnish and water based gums sets up a
resistance between oil and water as the gum cannot adhere
completely to the oily varnish base. Another method is to adds few
drops of carbon tetrachloride with the oil paint in final layers to
crack the paint.
Seal the dry gum layer with a final coat of varnish. Van Dyck brown
oil paint may be rubbed into the cracks with a soft brush to
heighten the cracks. Finish with a final coat of varnish.
Frottage is simply rubbing on paper or canvas over a textured
surface so the texture is transferred to the support. Non-absorbent
paper may be pressed onto a wet surface of a painting and removed
creating a textured surface. The paper may be flat or crumpled.
Try pressing a plastic fork into wet paint to make grooves and
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ridges.
Cut an old credit card with pinking shears to make a zig-zag edge
and drag it through wet paint to twist and turn to make patterns.
You might avoid stealing small pockets of time: allow yourself ample
time to work, otherwise you may lose your initial inspiration.
You might avoid listening to admirers: paint alone as much as
possible and avoid seeking others opinions until you find your own.
You might avoid scrubbing the paint on: instead, lay it on and leave
it.
You might avoid fixing every mistake: good paintings are full of
wonderful accidents that the artist refused to fix.
You might avoid thinking too much: painting is a doing, feeling
thing and not a thinking, intellectual thing.
You might avoid trying to paint like somebody else or another
painting you saw: be yourself and be honest. You cant hide
anything in a painting.
You might avoid worrying about the results: trust your instinct and
trust yourself.
Cherish Mistakes
Mistakes are fascinating gifts, and what we do with them makes all
the difference. I find it hard to plan creative work, but when a
mistake happens, I am given a gift. When I respond to the mistake
and make a new thing from it, I do not have to borrow other artist's
ideas to be creative. It has emerged as my solution. On the other
hand, when the mistake is an obvious failure, it means that I have
to get to work, do research, experiment, or simply PRACTICE
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MORE. These are all positive outcomes.

Paint with your body; not with your fingers.
An area of paint will be more interesting if there are variations of
hue, value or texture.
On rounded forms, brush around the form, not up and down.
If you dry out the brush on a paper towel you can scumble or drybrush a lighter value over a dark or a different hue on top of
another to break up the colors. Dark over light may also be done in
this manner.
If an area is not working, wash it out or scrape it off. Stop messing
with a mess. It probably wont get better so stop looking at it and
start over fresh.
With oil paint, start with thin washes and to each layer add more
oil. This is called painting fat over lean and is necessary so that the
paint film stays flexible. However, acrylics may be painted thin over
thick.
Be sure to get back often and look at your work from a distance to
see major shape, value and color relationships.
Practice a brushstroke several times in the air before you touch the
canvas.
Paint as fast as you can so your mind goes blank.
Do not try to hide your brushstrokes.
The first contact of the brush is as important as the moment you
pull the brush off.
Be sure you have enough paint on your brush to paint the complete
stroke.
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Cover all the canvas with paint as fast as you can. Once covered, you
can adjust hue, value,
placement, etc.
Imagine that your brush is resting on the planes of the subject and
brush in that direction.
An area of a painting will be more interesting if there are variations
of hue, value or texture.
Paint with your body; not with your fingers.
With oil paint, start with thin washes and to each layer add more
oil. This is called painting fat over lean and is necessary so that the
paint film stays flexible.
However, acrylics may be painted thin over thick.
Put down two areas that you want to blend and use a clean brush
preferably a fan brush to blend from dark to light.
See how few brushstrokes you can use to do a painting.
Things you can do with a brush:
push, drag, punch, slide, wiggle, slap, tap, twist, sling, snap, flip,
spread, blend, wash, wipe, swipe, scumble, stipple, scrub, bounce.
Paint color with a brush wiped on a paper towel to remove most of
the paint and dry-brush over complimentary base colors to make
broken color.
If you do a lot of studies before you do the final painting, you can
work out value and shape relationships, try out compositions and
color harmonies, while building up a visual library of memories of
what worked and what did not , so that the final painting can be
done with more authority.
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There is a time for fast brushstrokes and a time for slow

brushstrokes. Know when to change speeds.
To steady your brush hand, rest your hand on the other arm or use
a brush handle or a maul stick to steady your hand. By moving the
support, steady lines may be painted.
If you tape off an area to make a straight edge, add matte medium
along the edge of the tape and let it dry. This seals the tiny caves
under the tape so paint can not seep under the tape.
Pick one of your favorite artists and pretend to paint one of his or
her paintings.
Is the painting technically sound? Does it have a good design? Is the
drawing of the forms strong? Is there contrast of light and dark? Is
there contrast of color? Is the painting evocative? Does it provoke a
strong response? Does it draw you in in some unexplainable
fashion? Does it elicit a spiritual response? Does it hold your
interest? Do you feel compelled to come back and look at it again
and again?
Technique is not the message.
Become technically proficient so that you dont have to think about
it a lot while painting concentrating on what you have to say.
Make a painting look effortless even if it was a struggle.
Try to immerse yourself in the process of painting so that the state
of mind that occurs is more important than painting a picture. Good
results will follow.

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SEVEN STEP METHOD

The method can be used for oils and acrylics, but the thick over
thin principle must be adhered to and you may have to wait for the
under painting and value study to dry before proceeding. I often
work up to the value study in acrylic and then change to oil.
Look at the subject. Study it. Forget names of things (e.g. sky, tree,
cloud) and look for shape, color, design, and value.
Squint, squint and squint again. Squinting helps eliminate detail
and reduce color so you can see the big shapes and movement in the
image.
See it already painted in your mind. See the forms of your subject in
two dimensions.
Do not rush this step. Three-quarters of the painting is done at this
stage.
Under-painting (or toning) eliminates the harsh, intimidating white
canvas and allows you to paint freely without worry about filling in
the white. Use a big brush to paint a wash of burnt umber.
Why burnt umber? In my experience it works well with most other
colors and is a warm color.
Enjoy the feel of the paint and let the brush strokes show. Dont
worry about making it even and blended, keep it loose and free. Do
not start shaping your image, youre simply creating a colored
background. Have fun, get warmed up and in the mood for painting.
Dont make your paint so thick that it looks dark, or so thin that it
runs down the canvas. Simply cover all the canvas in a way that
pleases you, then stop.
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Look at the subject and identify the big shapes then, using burnt
umber, rough in lines denoting these. Identify five to six shapes, but
avoid detail.
This step is about organizing the composition of the painting over
the surface of the canvas. In the photo you can see that six or seven
big shapes have been identified. The whole canvas should look like
puzzle pieces.
If, once youve done this, the paint is still wet, use a rag to pull off
the paint from the lighter areas of the paint. To identify the lightest
areas, squint your eyes at the subject. If the paint has already dried,
dont worry, you will have a chance later on to deal with the lightest
areas.
Squint at your image so you dont see color (value has nothing to do
with color, its how light or dark something is). Start with darkest
darks and roughly paint them in. Work through about five values,
from the darkest to the lightest.
You can infer some representation at this point but absolutely no
detail.
In this photo you can see how the image is already there even
though I havent added any color.
If you get the values, youve got the painting. It doesnt matter what
the value of something is, as long as it is right in relationship to the
value next to it.
Keep the paint thin. And dont cover all burnt umber, let lots of it
show. Roughly estimate the colors and put them down as you see
them. Use white sparingly.
Start with darkest colors and work to lighter ones. Each color you
put on must be the same value as whats underneath it, otherwise
25

your painting will collapse!

Dont use colors you dont like, but do make the colors you use sing
by considering the dependency of each on the color next to it. The
relationship is what counts, not the actual colors.
In the photo you can see that most of the colors are roughed in
where I saw them. I started with the darkest and worked to the
lightest color. Look at all the areas where the value study peeks
through why would you want to cover it all up?
You will lose some of the drama and excitement of the value study
as you apply your thin colors. This is a normal occurrence in this
method of painting, do not worry!
Have you lost your darkest darks? Go back and put them in. Then
look at the lights. If theyre not light enough, begin to key them up
using a bit thicker paint.
Adjust colors and make them sing. But don't add detail, infer or
suggest it. Dont get stuck in one place, work holistically all over the
canvas.
Let the paint be paint dont force it to be a tree or a flower. It has
beauty in itself.
In the photo you can see I darkened some of the darks, then added
more reds and orange and light green to areas. Some cooler greens
were added to the river and the foreground.
Do not finish the painting, but find a good place to stop. Resist the
temptation to fix everything. Let it bother people, especially you.
Now is a good time to put on a few highlights with thick paint in the
lightest areas ever so gently lay the paint on top in one stroke
without scrubbing.
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Step back, get out of the way, let the paint be paint! There will
always be more to do and the more you do, the more you snuff the
life out of the thing, trying to fix and finish it all.
(This article is an adaptation from Brian Simons book 7 Steps to a
Successful Painting.)

27

HALL GROATS 12 STEP METHOD

1. BASIC SKETCH & MAJOR VALUE
Establish the composition and major value relationships-including
low key, middle value, high key areas-through an undertone. After a
basic sketch is completed, the major shapes may be painted in a
simplified manner with a large brush, establishing the value
relationships between the motif and the surrounding space. The
undertone used may vary from warm umber (ex. Burnt umber) to
cool gray-blue. If the motif is predominately cool it may be useful to
use a warm undertone, or warm undertone if the subject is cool.
Thee combinations result in opposing color interaction, which
suggests movement on the painted surface.
During this initial stage a paper towel can be used to wipe away
areas back to the white of the canvas, and to model form through
smearing a transparent layer of paint over the surface with the
towel. This is similar to the technique used to rub a broad tone of
charcoal on to a drawing surface. This procedure may be completed
several times before the composition and scale of the forms are the
way you would like them to be.
2. SURROUNDING SPACE: BACKGROUND & FOREGROUND
Paint major areas surrounding the motif. The value, intensity of
color and hue may be varied from one side to the other to add visual
interest and a sense of movement. I typically contrast the subject
both in value and in temperature from the surrounding space,
working predominantly with complimentary colors. And use a larger
size brush at his initial stage to simplify areas, and implement
either a modular or scrubbing stroke.
3. ACCENTS & CAST SHADOWS OPPOSITE LIGHT SOURCE
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This step anchors the subject so that it doesnt appear as if its

floating, and gives the motif a sense of visual weight and volume.
This may be painted with the same undertone color that was used
during step # 1. Its helpful to make the value of the cast shadow
similar to the value of the shadow of the central form, in addition to
softening the edges of the cast shadow as it diffuses outward away
from the subject. Its important to closely observe the relationship
between the hard and soft edges of the cast shadow.
4. FRONT LIGHT OF FORM
The temperature of the front light is dependent on the color of the
subject and type of light source. In the demonstrations included in
this DVD artificial light is used, therefore the front light appears
warm. When natural daylight is used to illuminate the motif the
front light will typically appear cool. Once again, a paper towel can
be use to wipe away areas back to the white of the surface, which
will enable areas of clean color to be applied, and not be muddled by
an existing layer. This is especially important when working with
high key tints that must appear bright! When working with low-key
colors this situation is not as much of an issue.
5. SHADOW OF FORM
The shadow of the form typically will be a low key, cool color. For
example, in a painting of a red apple the shadow side of the form
may be painted with a violet, which when mixed with the warm
umber that is already underneath it will become slightly warmer
within a low key value range.
6. RESTATE CONTOUR OF FORM & PRIMARY PLANES
There exists a relationship between positive and negative space at
this stage. The form now may be restated to reflect the motif more
29

accurately. When restating forms the areas already painted in step

#2 will be fused with the edges of the subject through overlapping
brushstrokes. Essentially, the tone that has been established
beforehand in the background id used to re-shape the contour of
primary form. Therefore, the quality of the edge must be
considered. The edge on the same side as the light source will be
sharper, compared to the soft or diffused edge on the shadow side of
the form.
7. SECONDARY PLANES
Begin to model forms by painting secondary planes over top of
primary planes. The area where two large planar strokes meet is the
area where the secondary planes should be suggested. These are
executed with a brush that is typically smaller than the one used to
block in the larger planes, and are what gives the form a convincing
illusion of volume.
8. SUGGESTED DETAILS
The key concept at this stage is suggest. If details are overstated
and not subtly integrated the painting will look unnatural. Often
times details may be suggested and then restated several times
before they appear natural.
9. RESTATE CAST SHADOWS & ACCENTS
Restate cast shadows and accents more specifically through
suggesting both the cool and warm areas that exist within the cast
shadow. When restating these areas closely observe the manner in
which the edges change from hard to a softer edge as the shadow
extends outward from the motif.
10. REFLECTED LIGHT
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Suggest rim light/reflective light(if it is present) along the edge of

the shadow side of the motif.
11. BACKGROUND VARIATION
Vary background value and temperature to suggest light and
movement. This is completed in relation to the value and color of
the motif. A scumble and modular brushstroke can be intermixed to
add visual interest through variation.
12. HIGHLIGHTS
The areas of the motif that are closest to the light source will appear
the highest key. These areas can be painted with a smaller brush
with more of an impasto application of paint, using pure white or
Naples yellow. Highlights are meant to be the finishing touches that
enhance the volumetric illusion of the motif and sense of light.

Hall Groat has instructional DVDs at:

http://www.hallgroat.com

31

Learning To Oil Paint

for the Beginner and Intermediate
How to Truly Learn the Secrets of Painting Techniques
Oil painting involves a process that must be understood to be able to
paint better. The process itself is not complicated.
It's the same secrets used by the greatest painters in history. They
simply adjusted the techniques to fit their own personality and you
will do the same.
Thinking Like An Oil Painter
The first and most important thing is that you need to learn the
language of oil paint. You see, oil paint has it's own laws. It is wet, it
is done with brushes, it is not what you have been used to for your
whole life. In other words, it is not drawing. The materials used to
make oil paintings carry some rules with it that you must know.
Accept the fact that you have to think like an oil painter. An oil
painter must see the world differently than most people. This is the
first thing that you must learn.
One of the biggest problems people have is that they see a subject
like a vase of flowers, or a person, and then they want to take those
flowers or that person and put them onto a canvas.
You only have oil paint and you must represent your subject
(flowers, a person, a landscape, or whatever it is) in paint. The
things you want to paint are real. All you have is paint. Knowing
how to think like this is the process of translating what you see into
paint.
Will it benefit you to use a monochrome under-painting? If it will,
you use one. If it won't, you don't use one.
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How An Underpainting Can Make Things Easier For You

The old masters would paint in a systematic way.
Each layer of the painting had a specific goal.
They painted with an underpainting before finishing with the
overpainting. This made the painting process easier. The problems
of drawing, tones, and color could be worked out separately. The
artist could then concentrate their full attention on one painting
problem at a time.
While under-painting, there was no color to think about. The
painter could devote all of their time to working on the tones of the
painting.
An under-painting really can be classified as any paint that has
dried and is again painted upon.
Your under-painting is where you build your foundation. Your main
areas of light and dark are planned out in your under-painting.
Some people paint an under-painting in one or two colors and some
use a full palette.
Establish the main part of the painting and worry about color later,
when you can devote your full attention to it.
Forget color for now. It's time to think about tones and drawing.
You don't need the added burden of color right now.
You should want your under-painting to dry quickly because you
will paint over it. Therefore you should use mediums that will help
your paint dry faster. The less medium in your under-painting the
better, but if you add medium to your paint make sure it is quick
drying.
33

Using a medium that has a lot of oil in it is a bad idea. Adding oil to
your paint will make your paint dry slower. This is not what you
want from an under-painting.
As you add layers to your painting, they should contain more oil in
them. This is technically the "fat over lean"...right way to paint to
prevent damage in your painting.
Your painting can crack, bubble, and other problems will result if
you paint a very oily layer of paint as your under-painting and then
put a non oily layer on top of this. Why?
The layer on top will dry all the way through before the layer
underneath has dried all the way through. While this layer
underneath is drying it will contract. Literally the paint will move!
Your eye cannot see it, but it happens. This moving of the paint will
crack the paint layers on top which have already dried and stopped
moving.
Oil is known as a "fatty" medium. So fat over lean means that your
first paint layers should contain less of a fatty medium (oil ) in
them. The layers on top should contain more oil so they will dry
more slowly.
What an under-painting does is divide your painting problems into
stages.
An under-painting is not a layer to think about color. It is the time
to think about drawing and composition. Light and dark. Big
shapes. Establishing the main parts of your painting.
Details are not part of an under-painting. Under-painting is a
preparation layer. You must keep in mind that you are painting this
layer to help you with the paint layers that will follow.
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Titian is an artist famous for his under-paintings. It is said he

painted most of his painting, the under-painting, using three colors.
Red, black, and white. All his stronger colors are then applied in the
over-painting after he has worked out his drawing problems.
Color can be used opaquely and transparently. It can be used thickly
or thinly.
Using an under-painting is a great way to do this. In this way we do
not think about color until later. We think only about drawing and
composition at first. Getting the right tonal values.
Many people simply use black and white for their under-painting.
Some people do a very rough lay-in. Other people do a more
complete job on their under-painting.
If you look at the paintings in museums, you will sometimes see the
under-painting showing through the layers of paint on top.
Sometimes the painting wasn't finished and the under-painting is
very clear.
Use only black and white or sometimes a color such as burnt umber
and white.
There is no fear of mixing mud because you are using only 1 or 2
colors.
You can freely lighten or darken your painting by adding more
white or black (or burnt umber if that's what you are using.)
Do not use much medium at all. Paint very freely without regards to
mistakes!
You can always wipe out areas and start again since an underpainting is the first layer of paint.
35

If you are not happy with the result you are getting use a palette
knife and scrape off what you have done or use a rag with some
thinner on it to wipe off the paint and begin again.
Concentrate on tones; getting light and darks correct. You are
making the painting in monochrome. One color.
Do not paint very thickly at this stage of the painting process. More
paint will go over this under-painting.
When this under-painting is dry, you can then begin the process of
the over-painting. It is at this point that you can gradually add
color.
The more you paint over the under-painting, the more color you can
add. You will not have to worry about the main "structure" of the
painting. It was already taken care of in the under-painting.
It is very hard for many painters and students to initially begin.
Your canvas or panel (depending what you use) is blank! Let us say
you are painting a still-life you have a set up...
Maybe some apples in a bowl with flowers in back of them. And all
of this is against a background of dark green cloth.
You have red apples, colorful flowers, a green background, maybe on
a wooden table. All of these colors and objects, but your painting
surface is blank!
How do you begin to put what you see in front of you, on your
canvas or panel? The problem is that you see a finished product and
you are painting on something totally blank. You have to
reconstruct what you see in front of you.
So we must start with some type of drawing which is your
foundation for the paint that will come later.
36

You are not painting by numbers. You are not carefully filling in
your lines of a completed drawing. You are making a foundation for
the layers of paint that will follow.
This is the purpose of your "drawing". You can do this drawing with
other materials as well. You do not have to use paint. If you are
comfortable using paint, use it. You may be more comfortable using
charcoal, pencil or even India ink.
All are fine. But be sure to "fix" your drawing with fixative so it does
not smudge when you begin to add paint over it. Use a soft brush to
flow medium over the under-drawing. Do not scrub.
Water, especially still water with reflections of ships or other objects
presents a problem to most artists the first time.
The idea is to paint the basic color of the water first and then, after
it has become dry, to pant the reflected subject matter over it. This
may also be done in an alla prima manner.
RememberBrush strokes and their implied direction are important.
Long, smooth horizontal strokes offset here and there by vertical
strokes are used for smooth mirror-like surfaces such as mountain
lakes or ponds.
Short, choppy strokes are required for rippled surfaces.
Strong, bold strokes are necessary to show the characteristic
movement of rough, broken water such as surf.
Water usually assumes the color of the sky, the most generally used
colors are in the blue, blue-green, green and gray categories.
4. FORM
Form is not significant until it signifies something.
37

5. MEANING
Painters are concerned with ideas, not with an inventory list of
visual details.
Philistine adults pretend what EVERY CHILD KNOWS to be untrue,
that appearances can be copied. This confuses art with nature.
ONLY a tree can look like a tree.
Select, simplify, and exaggerate up to a point!
Distortion gives significance.
Art is not life- but the interpretation of life. A haphazard stringing
together of detailed observations is meaningless.
Likewise- formal gestures and abstract patterns are meaningless
unless they represent ideas and emotions.
Abstract art in seeking direct intuitive contact with reality uses
pattern disliked from naturalistic sources
The imagination gives meaning to forms symbolically and by
association.
The mark becomes a sign and the sign becomes a hallowed mark.
Looking back:
Space through color to CzanneOrganized planes to cubismGesture and handwriting to Van GoghLocal color to Gauguin- to Rubens- Poussin and so on.
All art is based in abstraction.
Art is not nature.
Figurative works meaning resides in the abstract organization.
38

Nature must be ordered.

How do we give order?
By having ideas about what nature is: Having a story to tell
Exploring an emotion we feel? What emotions have you felt?
Sadness, happiness, loneliness, fear, anxiety, love, jealousy, envy,
hate.
Paintings devoid of emotion are as dead as a person incapable of
feeling emotions.
Whatever way we paint we are committed to an abstract activity.
We are abstracting to some degree from nature observed.
Include Secrets. Artwork is more interesting and expressive if it has
hidden features and ideas that it only reveals to diligent observers.
The popular arts, by contrast with fine art, make everything
obvious at first glance.
Challenge common assumptions. Strong artwork often makes the
viewer question prior assumptions about the world. Is my artwork
making an argument? What does my artwork have to offer that the
viewer may find incomprehensible, disagreeable, or contentious? By
contrast, popular arts tend to simply support all popular ideas and
assumptions fairly simple straight forward ways.
Meaningful images:
Projections of visual experience: Real or invented.
6. REALITY
A work of art is not reality. It is a model of reality. A play on reality.
It is a toy to be played with and enjoyed.
Excessive naturalism tends to produce absurdity.
You might avoid adding detail: this cheapens the work and you end
up talking down to your audience.
39

Abstraction out of contact with visual experience and emotion

becomes decoration of the worst kind. We may design and compose
but if there is no connection to emotion and passion the abstract
will be as dead as the copy of nature.
The flat surface immediately removes the subject from the natural
world. The flat surface provides the essential artificiality, which
separates painting from life, and it must always be respected.
The masters sought the power to manipulate appearances and use
them abstractly and symbolically and never just recorded them.
A condition of art is that it should allow us to consider the
possibility of things being other than they are (as well as what they
are).
The only true realism is reality. All painting is an abstraction or
substitute for reality.
If a painting looks like a photograph, then get a camera and don't
waste canvas and paint.
A skillful copy of reality will always be a copy of reality and not fine
art painting.
7. REPRESENTATION
The literal imitation of appearances for its own sake had never been
the aim of respectable painting as a fine art.
That is the domain of illustration and commercial design.
Medical illustrations all look alike because they do not have
personal brushstrokes and are not meant to be self-expressive.
We are involved with a total of interacting lines and shapes and
colors, planes and rhythms, plain and patterned areas, mass and
40

weight and movement, space and solidity.

We define something by enclosing a shape within a line either linear
paint or occurring as a shift in color or tone from surrounding areas.
The forms in painting cannot be copied from nature, but must be
equivalents to nature, plastic signs, images built up from simple
formal ingredients which both separately and together have
intrinsic meaning that is the meaning of red or black, curve or
straight, smooth or tough, of swift movement or slow, dark or
light,---and which, while they indicate events, are also composed
musically.
A work of art is the creation of the artist and the spectator.
Even the least of the masters of naturalism aimed to understand
and compose, not to slavishly record.
True still life-dead painting- occurs from the attempt to just copy
what we see.
It is do able. It may be done technically perfect. It is still born!
Michelangelos Last Judgment is not a slice of visual life. His
sculpture is not a copy of anatomy.
The relationship between a painting and what it represents
(whether a physical event or a psychological state) is symbolic.
New art breaks the rules. To understand we must throw away
preconceptions.
There are principles necessary to all forms of painting.
In painting we are concerned with sight and touch. The eye discerns
colors, the hand explores surfaces. From areas of color and their
boundaries we obtain shapes and lines. From surfaces, which we
feel we obtain, flat planes and curves, sharpness and corners, points
41

and edges, by which we arrive at line again. From sight and touch,
as we move about and pick up objects, we derive our knowledge of
space, volume, solid, mass weight, texture, hardness, softness,
ascending, descending, diagonal, vertical, and so derive the
geometry which is our model of physical reality.
Representation is the problem of every painter, since every painting
must mean something (an abstract painting must have an abstract
meaning; it must represent an idea or a sensation). At its simplest
the problem is this: We can paint a rough orange circle and it evokes
an orange; we can then add solidity, light and shade, porous texture,
cast shadow, color in shadow adding one observed detail after
another until it looks like nothing on earth. Obviously likeness
depends not on copying detail but on striking some chord of
recognition within ourselves by economical means; whatever we are
trying to paint--- an idea, a fact, sensations or physical situations,
objects in light or relationships of pure color demands a synthesis
which corresponds to this inner image, in the medium of paint. In
the end we find we cannot paint an orange, but some qualities of an
orange, a comment on an orange, something, which the orange
stands for. The painter comes to read external experience intuitively
in terms of an image and in terms of medium.
We cannot include every detail, shape, color, and movement of line
and must therefore choose those that have meaning. A relationship
must be created.
ABSTRACTION:
All paintings contain abstract elements. Even a painting that
carefully depicts recognizable subject matter (a representational
painting) is abstract in the sense that what we see when looking at
the painting is not the actual subject matter but its rendering in
colors and shapes of paint.
42

A painting which depicts a recognizable subject is abstract to the

degree that the painter emphasizes the general formal qualities of
the subject and eliminates minor or individual details.
Abstract paintings may be those that are composed of abstract
forms which do not derive at all from recognizable subjects. This is
called non-objective or non-representational painting.
An abstract painting may give visual form to subject matter that is
not inherently visual. Examples include paintings in which the
artist intends to visually express emotions, or musical sounds, or
intellectual concepts.
Painters may depict "images" which have established meanings as
abstract signs and symbols, such as depicting numbers, words,
emblems, or logos.
In practice, many painters combine more than one manner and
purpose when they create abstract paintings.
8. COGNITIVE MEANING OR CONTENT
Paintings contain cognitive meaning (sometimes referred to as
cognitive content). The cognitive meaning of a work of art includes
its intellectual, symbolic, emotional, thematic, and narrative
connotations. Cognitive meaning is interrelated with the other
three components. Cognitive meaning derives directly from the
materials and forms of the painting and the techniques the artist
has employed. Cognitive meaning also derives from outside
knowledge (such as familiarity with religious symbols, patterns of
social behavior, and knowledge of other paintings by the same
artist) which the viewer and artist utilize in the process of
interpreting a specific painting's meaning.
Content refers to the total meaning of a work of art. A change in
43

any one of the four "active ingredients" necessarily alters the overall
content of the painting. For each viewer, the content of a painting is
the sum of how that viewer makes sense --- makes meaning --- out
of the interaction of the materials, techniques, form, and cognitive
meaning the painting is made out of.
Content is not identical with subject matter. Subject matter is
whatever a painting depicts, that is, its imagery. Throughout
history, in most cultures, the subject matter of paintings has usually
been representational --- imagery which a viewer can recognize and
name, such as a fruit, horses, trees, a person, a goddess, and so on.
But subject matter may be non-representational --- imagery that
does not refer to anything tangible that exists outside the painting.
In the latter case, the subject matter might be a series of squares of
various colors.
Being able to identify the subject matter does not mean you know
what a painting is about or all that it is about. The content of a
painting is what we interpret as its overall meaning; this meaning
derives from the subject matter as it is communicated through
medium, form and technique. As noted, the content is affected by
additional cognitive information that is invested in the painting and
influences the context within which it is understood, such as our
knowledge of the artist's biography or the social conditions
prevailing at the time the painting was created.
For both the artist and the viewer a painting is a visual experience.
Content is never fully translatable into words.
Paintings are conceived for many different reasons: to describe the
physical world, tell a story, impart a moral lesson, express emotion,
pay homage to a political leader, protest injustice, provoke social
change, or simply provide a new look at the relationship between
two colors.
44

We each come to a painting with a considerable range of knowledge

about how to look at and interpret visual sensations, including how
to look at and interpret visual sensation, including whatever past
learning we have had regarding pictorial images in general and
paintings in particular. As viewer, we may bring to a painting an
understanding of the social conditions under which the work was
created, and knowledge of other paintings by the same artist. These
color to some degree how we conceive meaning.
You learn to tap into that which bears the strongest personal
meaning for you; and you learn to express meaning by using the
visual language of painting in ways that communicate effectively to
a wide range of viewers.
Paintings have content and the practice of painting is a form of
communicative behavior.
Painting is a mode of producing and embodying symbolic meaning
and this is like a language.
It has its own visual lexicon (forms, materials, and techniques that
interact to embody meaning), and it incorporates conventional
knowledge of "grammar" (how earlier artists arranged and related
painting's visual qualities into meaningful constructs).
Painting is a language that possesses an inexhaustible capacity for
constructing meaningfulness, including the constant potential for
each painter to evolve new "dialects" involving his or her own
idiosyncratic approach to form, materials, techniques, and cognitive
meaning.
Titles are useful tools to introduce the viewer to your content.
Painting is a language but you must have something to say that
needs to be said.
45

A painting can be about anything but that thing must be important

to you.
Painting must be more than decoration of a surface. A necktie is not
a painting although a necktie maybe painted.
9. UNDERDRAWING
Once you've drawn your subject on your canvas, don't fill in the
"shapes". The drawing isn't there to help you paint-by-numbers; it's
a starting point not the end product.
Try drawing with a brush rather than drawing on a canvas with a
pencil, which tends to smudge or show through. Use a brush with
very thin wash to sketch.
An under drawing in pencil or charcoal can be set with acrylic matte
medium or gloss medium. If using a spray can, spray above the flat
support and let the spray fall in a fog on the support. Several sprays
will fix so the graphite or charcoal does not muddy your colors. Use
a soft bush to dust off the charcoal leaving a ghost image and spray
as above or use the soft brush to lead a puddle of medium along a
pencil line or charcoal line.
Under-drawing in graphite or charcoal will mix and make dirty any
paint applied over the drawing. Brush most of the charcoal off with
a dry clean brush. This will still leave a visible trace of the drawing.
Fix with a soft brush by flowing matte or gloss medium over the
drawing. Do not scrub.
For a permanent under-drawing, use India ink and a small brush.
Do not use markers as they will bleed through any paint placed on
top.
Pastel of crayon may be rubbed on paper solidly and a drawing
made on tracing paper may be transferred by redrawing with a soft
46

pencil or ball point pen on top of the transfer sheet onto a support.
Pinholes may be punched along major lines of a drawing study and
charcoal or pastel may be pounced through the holes onto the
support to form a guide.
10. UNDERPAINTING
Use linseed oil for an under-painting or in the bottom layers of any
oil painting done wet-on-dry as it dries the most thoroughly of all
the oils used as mediums.
The under-painting or ground affects the top color especially if the
color is transparent.
Light grounds reflect light through transparent or translucent
paint.
The under-painting or ground affects the top color.
Light grounds reflect light through translucent paint.
Add acrylic burnt sienna or raw sienna to your gesso for a warm
undercoat.
Sometimes artists paint oils over an acrylic under-painting. Some
paint companies say not to do this.
Grisaille painting is done with black, white and grays. It can be used
as an under-painting for glazing with transparent color. Keep it a
bit lighter as glazes darken the area somewhat.
11. PERCEPTION
Negative space is the space between objects or parts of an object, or
around it. Studying this can have a surprisingly positive effect on a
47

painting.
How do we recognize things?
Do we store in our minds filing cabinets of visual memory traces to
compare with things observed? Do we store complete images or only
enough to compare. Can we recall total images? Could you paint
your room from memory? Can you recall in detail how a relative or
significant other looks? Enough to paint a portrait from memory?
Is the memory accurate? How could our mental image of a person,
place or thing vary from reality?
How individualistic is our vision?
Are there archetypes common to all?
Personal visions?
Gender influenced focus?
Speed of movement has altered our way of looking and observing.
Walk along a path and the world and the experience of that world is
different that todays movement an observation from speeding cars,
airplanes, space, underwater, camera vision freezing a frame,
microscopes, telescopes, knowledge of 4D, TV and movies with fast
edits and rapid succession of unrelated commercials interjects
within the continuity of a story.
Modern painting must come to terms with the new and changing
ways of how we see. We are different from the artists of the past. We
have our own challenges. What are your challenges?
Our eyes seek out and focus on the areas of greatest contrast and
sharpest edges. That is how we survived by focusing on acuity. Is
that a saber-toothed tiger or a teddy bear??
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We can recognize a person a block away without seeing any details.

What have we seen?
We can only focus on detail in a small area of our field of vision.
Why paint details all over the canvas?
12. PERSPECTIVE and SCALE
Perspective: the deliberate control of space. Establishes the position
of the spectator in relation to the painting. View point sets point of
view.
The scale of images in a photographic recording of a scene will not
relate to our psychological perception of the relative scale of the
images. In painting, changes of scale relating to this psychological
impression are a valuable means of expression. As we focus on
different objects we shift our recognition of their relative
importance and their painted scale will vary from a photographic
recording. Some photographers use different lenses and viewpoints
to imitate this power of changing scale of relative objects.
PROPORTION, INTERVAL, and SCALE: involves a unity of certain
proportions repeated by similar and different shapes throughout the
design. The regularity or irregularity of the various sizes of shapes
and the length of interval between similar shapes or lines controls
the character or the composition. Scale regulates the apparent size
of the canvas whether it seems bigger or smaller than it is-=whether the forms are generous or pinched.
CONTRAST OF PLAIN AND PATTERNING: Contrasted changes of
scale can also be seen to control the patterning of some areas and
the plainness of others.
Repeating similar shapes that get smaller shows distance.
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Foreshortened figures and linear perspective give the illusion of

space.
13. CREATIVITY AND ORIGINALITY
Doodle.
Doodling can be regarded as your artistic side expressing itself while
you mind is occupied elsewhere. The symbols or objects you create
when doodling vary enormously from person to person and
interpreting them can be fun. Keep a pen and pad next to the phone
and pick up the pen whenever you answer the phone -- you never
know when its going to turn into a long-winded call. Take a pen
and pad along to meetings (a notebook with small pages works well
as you can regularly turn over to a fresh page so it doesnt seem like
youve been doodling quite as much as you have).
When you've got a painting you like, create a series by taking one
element from it and creating another painting. This could be the
subject, the dominant color, whatever. Each painting should have
something that ties it into the others in the series. They should
work together as a group, but also be strong individually. Pick one
that you like the most. Why?
Never borrow other artist's ideas. Steal them! Picasso said not to
copy but steal. Ideas are free for the taking. Ideas are all around us.
Images and particular arrangements of words, on the other hand,
are copyrighted. Inventions are patented. Copyrights and patents
are "intellectual property", but ideas and concepts are everybody's.
They are in the public domain - always have been. If I find a good
idea, a truth, I do not want to borrow it. I do not want to return it. I
want to appropriate it, test it, and make it my own. I own it. Ideas
are free. The ability to express a good idea in an effective way
becomes good art. It is valuable.
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Be Accident Prone. Accidents in art are tragic or happy - depending

on the artist's disposition to respond. The benefits of accidents and
mistakes are very similar. They both present unexpected problems
or opportunities. Accidents and mistakes are prized by creative
people precisely because they move the mind to places it does not
voluntarily go.
Creativity is not simply problem solving. Experts may be good at
problem solving, but the highly creative also love the art of "problem
finding".
Accidents and mistakes are such useful problem finding techniques
that students need to practice them. Some lessons need to have
"intentional accidents" as part of the lesson. This is one to learn how
to generate problems and ideas.
Many "modern" societies have placed a high premium on originality
in art especially individual artists. Originality might be defined as
any significant change from an established pattern. Such change
may be gauged by comparing an artist's work with predecessors or
with contemporaries.
In contrast to this trend, in other societies there has never been a
premium placed on originality. Instead, a premium has been placed
on maintaining and revering tradition.
In a society that privileges individualism, to be recognized as
original, a painter often develops a distinctive style, a characteristic
approach to using materials, techniques, formal elements and
subject matter. By virtue of the consistency of his style, a painter's
works would be recognizably like one another and unlike the work
of other artists. It was believed that a fully developed style, like
one's handwriting or fingerprints, was the unique imprint of an
individual artist's personality and sensibility.
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While favoring a consistent style began to be contradicted even

during the heyday of modernism (famously by Picasso), it is only
within the past few decades that a wholesale challenge of the
desirability or even possibility of a unique "signature" style has
occurred.
Many of the artists who are labeled postmodern are motivated by
their interest in intellectual theories. This interest can be traced
back to the Conceptual art movement of the 1960s, which
emphasized the artist's thinking as the most important part of the
creative process. Artists began to research theories developed in
literature, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and other disciplines,
and apply them to art.
If you can not tell that I did I, then it does not matter that I did it.
If a painting looks like the work of another artist, then it is a copy of
that artist's style.
There is nothing truly original. Only variations in new
combinations.
If you keep painting, even if you borrow someone else's style, you
eventually develop your own style.
14. SUPPORTS
Leave a white border around the edge of your painting. It not only
gives you somewhere to 'test' your colors, but it means that when
the painting is framed you won't loose any of it under the mounting
board.
Due to space limitations at home I use standard size canvasses
which means pre-fab frames are easily available from my local art
supplies shop.
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Untempered tan Masonite wallboard may be used as a support for

painting. Tempered Masonite wallboard is dark brown and
hardened by the addition of plasticizers. It may be used if you sand
it lightly with sandpaper. Some wallboard has a canvas textured
backside which is fun to paint on.
These boards need to be cradled with 1 x 2 or 2 x 2 wood glued
to the back with yellow carpenters glue and clamped or weighted
down until set.
Stretching canvas on stretcher frames.
Stretcher frames are sold in pairs. They are mitered and slotted on
the ends so that they can be attached to each other. Use a
carpenters square or a door frame to test for square. Place a couple
of staples in each corner to stabilize the frames. Be sure to check if
the frame is not the same dimension all around that you have a long
and short piece that match.
Next, cut a piece of canvas leaving a three inch margin all around
the frame. Once the cut is started, you may rip the canvas along the
weave or just cut it.
Position the frame in the center on a flat surface and begin by
placing a staple in the center of one stretcher frame. Pull the canvas
tight from the opposite side and place a staple in the center of the
opposite stretcher frame. Use canvas stretcher pliers on large
canvases. You may place the staples on the edge or the back of the
stretcher frame. If you are going to paint the edges as part of your
design, then staple on the back side. It is best to place the staple gun
so that the two points of the staple are at right angles to the frame
rather than side by side. Continue to the other two frames placing
one staple in the middle of each stretcher frame.
Do not over stretch the canvas. Just form a soft diamond shape over
the entire canvas as the canvas settles under the staples. Continue
by putting two more staples on either side of the first staples and
put them about one inch apart. Too much space between staples will
53

result in unwanted and uneven slack areas. Do this on each of the

four sides. Proceed from the centers to the edges adding two staples
to each of the frames as you work your way out to the edges. Do not
finish on frame and then do the next. Add the staples gradually as
you make your way around the frames. As you approach the corners
the diamond slack shape will tighten up and be flat. Be sure to leave
about two inches free at each corner until you fold the corners over
to make a fold like a bed sheet. Crease the canvas and fold it in to
form a 45 degree fold and then fold that over the remainder to finish
the corners.
15. PRIMING SUPPORTS
Use an acrylic based white calcium carbonate gesso to prime the
support. If you pre-wet the canvas with plain water and mix the
gesso one part water to two parts gesso you will be able to apply a
coat of gesso that will not soak up a lot of your gesso and will go on
easier and smoother. Always start in the middle and paint out to the
edges to have even shrinking of the canvas as the gesso dries. Gesso
may be tinted by adding a small amount of acrylic color. Additional
coats can be applied at the opposite direction to counter any
brushstrokes. You may sand with a fine sandpaper after the gesso
coat is dry. Do several coats and vary the direction of the
brushstrokes on each layer. Do as many coats as it takes to make
the surface as smooth as you desire.
It can be quite intimidating when faced with a blank, white canvas.
To get over this block, wash the whole canvas in a color you like
working with, using a sponge. This will help to overcome fear and
rigidity. Even if this under wash is not quite in line with you had in
mind for your end product, you can always paint over it!
When starting a new painting or priming a canvas, use white gesso
primer but add a little color, such as yellow ocher, and you will
instantly have covered the canvas with a color for the background.
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If a canvas or Masonite panel warps, try painting a thin wash of

gesso on the back to equalize the surface tension.
If an oil painting is a mess and your attempts to fix it aren't
working, take a palette knife to it to scrape off as much of the paint
as you can. Then dip a corner of a cloth in thinner and rub it over
the canvas, removing as much of the paint as possible. What you'll
be left with is a canvas covered in a fairly even gray. Leave it to dry
and it'll be the perfect ground for another painting.
If the scraped-off paint was still quite wet, mix it together and you'll
have a gray suitable for eliminating the harsh white of another
canvas too.
If you dent a stretched canvas, soak the back with water and use a
hairdryer to dry the spot and usually the dent will shrink flat.
Try a putty knife or a spatula or a steel spreader for cake frosting to
apply gesso.
Grounds for Encaustic
The term ground refers to a prepared surface for painting. A
ground is applied to a substrate, or support, that can be wood,
board, stretched canvas, or an alternative. As a general guideline,
grounds for encaustic painting must be absorbent, so acrylic gessoes
are not recommended.
Following is a list of ways you can prepare panels for encaustic
painting, in order of combined ease and effectiveness:
1.
R&F ENCAUSTIC GESSO
A brush-able white ground that dries to a ready-to-paint
absorbent surface. This is the easiest, fastest way to prepare a
white ground for encaustic painting. R&F Encaustic Ground works
55

like a standard acrylic gesso, but it has a lower proportion of binder

to solid so that it remains highly absorbent.
2.
NO GROUND
You can paint directly on raw wood. Select a nice grade of
birch plywood and paint directly on it. Birch is absorbent, smooth
and wonderful to paint on. It will be stained by the encaustic,
however, so some artists prefer to create an Encaustic Paint Ground
by painting a layer of encaustic directly on the wood, and then
working up from it. Many artists who work this way prefer to make
their ground with either clear or white encaustic paint because they
show subsequent colors to full advantage. The drawback to this
method is that it requires a higher degree of skill in controlling the
paint, because the wax ground is susceptible to heat, and has the
potential to re-melt and change as you work.
3.
PAPER GROUNDS
A white ground can be created by gluing watercolor or
printmaking paper onto a supporting panel. The heavier the paper,
the more absorbent the ground. Bear in mind that lightweight
papers will be made translucent by the wax, resulting in the
substrate showing through and darkening the tone of the ground.
This can be avoided by first coating the bare panel with white
acrylic paint, or R&F Encaustic Gesso. Allow it to dry before gluing
the paper down on top of it. White grounds are generally desired to
show colors to full advantage, but any absorbent paper can be used.
Braced or cradled substrates are preferable to avoid warping. To
prepare:
* For the cleanest presentation, use a piece of paper that is
a bit larger all around than your panel, and then go back and trim
the paper with a sharp blade after the glue is completely dry.
* Use a thin coat of acrylic medium or archival white glue
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on the back of the paper and the face of the panel, then neatly
spread it out thinly, taking care not to let any glue get on the
surface of the paper (for work on photographic papers, we
recommend using Matte Medium as the adhesive).
* Once both surfaces are coated evenly, position the panel
onto the paper, glue-to-glue. Carefully flip the panel/paper unit over
and smooth out any air pockets to assure even adhesion.
* Protect the surface with a clean sheet of waxed paper, and
leave the paper-mounted board under weight overnight to dry.
* If your panels are unbraced, or uncradled, its a good idea
to coat the back of the panel with acrylic medium to avoid warping.
4.
TRADITIONAL RABBIT-SKIN GLUE GESSO
The most traditional, time-tested ground for encaustic, but it is
a time-consuming and elaborate process that does not appeal to
everyone. It does create an incomparably beautiful ground, though.
16. MEDIUMS
Wax and damar resin for encaustic
Purpose: This formula of damar and wax makes a hard, dry blend
that stores easily and can be diluted for other uses.
Ingredients

Parts

Beeswax
Damar, dry lumps

2
1

Note new recommendation is for 10 parts wax to 1 part damar

crystals.
Directions for manufacture:
Melt the damar first, then add the wax, and heat together until the
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wax has melted. Blend by stirring, then pour into an aluminum foil
pan to cool and harden. Score and break into pieces of convenient
size for storage and use.
Directions for use:
This medium must be reheated and melted in order to grind it with
dry pigments or to combine it with tube oil paint. Apply this paint to
rigid panels, using torch, heat lamp, or heated metal instruments to
manipulate the wax colors. Further dilution with turpentine
permits this material to be used as a painting medium or final
picture varnish.
Beeswax emulsion
Purpose: This formula, which contains water, is practical for
applying a thin coat of wax over paints or varnish which might be
softened by a wax-in-solvent mixture.
Ingredients

Parts

Beeswax
Water
Ammoiun carbonate

1
8
1

Directions for manufacture:

Determine the quantity of your total ingredients; use a pan three
times that size in volume. Combine the beeswax and water and melt
over heat. Stir in the ammonium carbonate a little at a time, for the
solution foams up quickly when it is added. If the solution threatens
to foam over the top, remove it from the heat--still stirring--until
the foam subsides. About half the volume of water is lost in the
manufacturing process. It can later be replaced with cold water.

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Directions for use:

Brush or rub on with a rag enough of the paste to leave a thin coat
over oil paintings or on thoroughly dried gum, glue, or casein
paintings. When the water has evaporated, polish with a soft cloth.
Beeswax emulsion may be used with varnishes and tube oil paints.
Saponified beeswax:
The use of saponified beeswax in painting mediums is of great
antiquity, references are to be found in the earliest writings and in
the records of most later periods, but there are few if any standard,
complete techniques established in modern practice. Some
investigators believe that one of the means the ancient painters had
for making a fluid paint before the days of turpentine and other
volatile solvents was the use of a waxy medium that could be
thinned with water. At present its use is confined to painters who
adapt it as a result of independent experiment.
Wax soap is best prepared for boiling 1 ounce of white beeswax with
5 fluid ounces of water and after it has melted pouring slowly, with
stirring, ounce or a little less of ammonium carbonate that has
been mixed to a creamy consistency with a little water. A
teaspoonful of half-strength ammonia water may be substituted for
the
Ammonium carbonate if desired.
Continue the heating until all the ammonia gas is driven off and
allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally. This wax soap will
be pasty and usually must be warmed before use; if a creamier
consistency is required, increase the original amount of water. At
this point the saponified wax is not a good paint vehicle; it is an
ingredient to mix with other materials, both aqueous and oily.
Emulsification with oily ingredients is assisted if an ounce or so of
turpentine is added before putting in the alkali. If the wax soap is
emulsified with egg or some other aqueous medium, the resulting
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mixture may be freely thinned with water.

Among the materials most recommended as ingredients of wax
emulsions are simple-solution varnishes, oleoresins, casein, glue,
and gum solutions; as plasticizers, glycerin and castor oil. The
drying oils are generally condemmed on account of their tendency to
cause such emulsions to turn yellow, but stand oil and some of the
modern varnish linseed oils may possibly be suitable.
Wax soap must be entirely free from uncombined alkali if it is to be
mixed with resins or oils; otherwise soaps of these latter materials
will be formed. Careful users will warm the wax solution until all
ammonia odor has disappeared or until the mixture no longer
turned red litmus test paper blue. Tempera mediums that contain
wax are not easily managed or controlled and must be accurately
made and well tested to guard against erratic behavior. In the hands
of an experienced painter they are capable of being applied to work
of great delicacy. Very few of the published wax tempera recipes can
be used directly without some experimental adjustment.
Acrylic Mediums
Acrylic matte medium may be used with acrylics to make a flat look
or acrylic gloss medium or varnish for a shiny look. These may be
mixed for semi-gloss.
Each paint manufacturer makes various acrylic mediums, gels and
textures pastes to add to acrylic paint for variety of surface texture
and shine.
Chroma makes these:
Atelier Slow Medium
is the most useful medium for extending drying time. Very useful
when painting large works because it gives an artist time to work
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without the paint drying too fast. It also allows thinly applied paint
to remain workable. Even paint which feels dry to the touch can be
reactivated with water for reblending techniques. Especially
recommended for anyone who has trouble getting used to using the
water spray.
Atelier Clear Painting Medium
can be used to prevent runs in diluted paint applied vertically on an
easel. It is used with the paint to dilute the viscosity and blend
colors. This medium allows paint to spread over a surface for more
blendable gradations of color and fast glazing techniques.
Atelier Fast Medium/Fixer
Is used to fix layers of paint fast especially when wanting to achieve
multiple layers of glazing. Also useful when you want to reinforce a
tender layer in preparation for scratch back and scraping
techniques. Returns Interactive to a more conventional acrylic.
Atelier Unlocking Formula
allows artists to reopen a paint layer even after being touch-dry.
Once the paint is reopened, new paint can be blended back in,
existing paint edges can be feathered or whole sections can be
removed with a rag. Can also be used to further extend wet blending
time.
Atelier Retarder
Atelier Slow Medium should used with Interactive. Retarder should,
in our experience, only be used as a 10% addition to your water
spray in extremely dry conditions.
GOLDEN paint Gels and Mediums range in thickness from watery
to paste-like consistencies and allow artists to manipulate their
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acrylic paint systems. Even though acrylic colors are offered in

various different consistencies and finishes, the use of gels and
mediums in conjunction with such colors broadens the working
properties and expands on the possible results. GOLDEN Gels and
Mediums are extremely versatile, and can be used for:
Altering Consistency
Altering Sheen
Gluing/Laminating
Increasing Film Integrity
Transparency
Cost Effectiveness
Adding Texture
Priming Supports
Paint-Making Binders
Below are some answers to commonly
asked questions about these products.
Why Are There So Many Gels and Mediums?
Over the years, artists have continuously requested new gels and
mediums that behave and handle differently than those existing at
the time. Golden Artist Colors has always listened very carefully to
the requests of our customers. Through working directly with these
professional artists, we have been able to formulate the desired
products. As a result, GOLDEN is recognized as the leader in the
field of gels and mediums, and has an exceptionally broad range of
such products.
Admittedly, such a large number of different gels and mediums to
choose from may often seem confusing to artists. However, with at
least a general understanding of the various products available, and
an inclination towards experimentation, artists can create new ways
in which to express themselves, and probably apply materials in a
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way that GOLDEN has not even thought about.

What Are Gels and Mediums Made Of?
The gels and mediums can be thought of as colorless paints, as they
are composed of the same polymers as GOLDEN Acrylic paints.
Essentially, they are the "glue" or binder that dry to form
continuous, durable films. They are made of 100% acrylic polymers,
which are proven to have excellent flexibility and chemical, water
and ultraviolet radiation resistance.
What Do Gels and Mediums Do?
GOLDEN offers a wide selection of gels and mediums, but this
doesn't mean that each one has limited uses. Because of their very
nature, most gels and mediums can function in a variety of ways,
yielding numerous results. The section that follows lists the most
traditional use of such products, but by no means is this intended to
be an all-encompassing and exhaustive list. There are always new
and different ways in which these products can be successfully
applied.
Gel & Medium Differences
With so many products to be aware of, it becomes quite a task to
keep them all straight. However, there are a few general
distinctions that can make the whole group of gels and mediums
seem much less difficult to understand.
Viscosity:
The main property that differentiates a majority of products is
viscosity - that is, how thick or thin a product is. This is what
actually separates the gels from the mediums. The mediums are
thinner than the gels, which have much higher viscosities. Mediums
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are thin enough to be pour able, while the gels are not.
Within the gel grouping, the names reflect the scale of viscosity, and
not any differences in feel of dry films. Soft Gels are thinner than
Regular Gels, which are thinner than Heavy Gels, which in turn are
thinner than Extra-Heavy Gels. Heavy Gels do not weigh more, and
Soft Gels do not feel spongier or more flexible when dry.
Leveling Differences:
Perhaps the least understood of all paint characteristics is leveling.
Leveling, also referred to as rheology, has a direct relationship to
viscosity. It controls the way a paint feels and how it is best applied.
This "feel" is dictated by the type of thickener used during the paintmaking process.
There are two types of rheologies used in acrylic paint-making:
short and long.
Short rheology refers to the way the paint "breaks short," that is to
say it imparts a buttery feel to the paint. Short rheology is used in
our Soft, Regular, Heavy and Extra Heavy Gels, and is produced by
the same type of thickener used in our Heavy Body line of paints. It
allows paint to retain brush strokes, sometimes referred to as
"memory". Soft Gels hold softer impasto peaks, and Extra Heavy
Gels hold stiffer, more distinct peaks. The GAC Mediums are
produced with the same thickener, but they are much thinner in
viscosity and show less brush strokes than a gel does.
Long rheology, on the other hand, refers to the "syrupy" quality of
certain paints, gels and mediums. These products offer better
leveling and less brush strokes. GOLDEN Clear Tar Gel is the
extreme long rheology product, and conceivably could be poured
from a three-story building as one long strand! Polymer Medium
has this property as well. Although Soft Gel and Self-Leveling Clear
Gel are the same viscosity, they react much differently due to the
64

long rheology thickener added to the Clear Gel formula. Long

rheology products can be used to thicken a paint to the proper
viscosity while imparting a certain leveling quality.
Reflectance:
Another key property is reflectance or sheen. This is the most
important difference between Polymer Medium Gloss and Matte
Medium. Nearly all the GOLDEN Gels are available in Gloss, SemiGloss and Matte finishes. Hence, a Heavy Gel Gloss and Heavy Gel
Matte will feel very similar in consistency, but will dry with
different sheens. The Semi-Gloss gels dry with an appearance
similar to wax, and this aspect has been used extensively to create
wax-like impressions.
Textural Qualities:
Over the years, many artists have wanted to add texture to their
media. Sand, sawdust and other gritty material have been mixed
with acrylic mediums. Problems arise from this, ranging from
impurities causing discoloration to overloaded systems cracking and
falling apart. The GOLDEN textural gels have been thoroughly
researched and developed to ensure their status as archival
products.
There are several products that impart a texture to the paint.
Pumice Gels are composed of pumice (volcanic lava) and are ideal
for creating rough, granular surfaces. Clear Granular Gel has the
same textural qualities as Extra Coarse Pumice Gel, but the solids
are clear acrylic, allowing for new transparent possibilities with
texture. The newest gels to enter this category is the Glass Bead
Gel. The texture in the Glass Bead Gel comes from genuine glass
beads.
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Unique Characteristics:
GOLDEN also produces specialty products that do not fit into the
above differentiations. These are products that have some other
unique property, requiring a different naming convention. In such
cases, GOLDEN has tried to assign a name that has significance to
the product's most unique feature. For instance, High Solid Gels
have higher levels of polymer solids than the other gels
(approximately 60%, versus 45-50%), and Light Molding Paste
allows for thick films to be built up without accumulating a lot of
weight.
Getting The Most From Acrylic Paints:
One of the primary roles of gels and mediums is to extend the paint
for economical reasons. One can actually create his or her own
"student grade" paint by adding a gel or medium into our existing
paints. For this purpose, there are basically no limitations as to
minimum or maximum levels of gels or mediums that can be safely
(from an archival viewpoint) added into the paint system.
Changing Paint Consistency:
Gels and mediums have also been used to alter the consistency or
body of the acrylic paints. When one needs GOLDEN Heavy Body or
Matte Acrylics to be thinner or to flow better, the addition of nearly
any one of the Mediums or the Soft Gels will prove helpful. Better
leveling and less brush strokes can be attained quickly by adding
the Clear Tar Gel. When additional body is required in the Heavy
Body and/or Matte Acrylics, the Heavy Gels, Extra-Heavy Gels or
High Solid Gels may be added. The gels and mediums can be used
with any other acrylic paint line, such as GOLDEN Fluid Acrylics,
for similar purposes.
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Additionally, an artist can thin paints down for spray-application.

GOLDEN Airbrush Medium and Airbrush Transparent Extender
both thin paint for this purpose without loss of film strength.
Thinning with water only will result in a weaker overall film and an
increased risk of other poor film qualities such as sagging and runs.
Paint thinned with water also clogs spray equipment much more
frequently.
Controlling Sheen:
The gels and mediums offer a variety of reflectance properties
(Matte, Semi-Gloss and Gloss), enabling artists to control sheen in
their artwork by blending the appropriate gel or medium with
acrylic paints. The typical higher gloss of GOLDEN Heavy Body or
Fluid Acrylics can be reduced by adding any of the matte gels or
mediums. Similarly, to increase gloss of GOLDEN Matte or High
Load Acrylics, the addition of a gloss gel or medium will prove
effective. More subtle modifications can be created using the semigloss products, or a combination of a matte and gloss gel or medium.
Use as a Glue:
Gels and mediums are also frequently used as a glue for collaging
materials together. This technique is valuable when collaging any
materials that water-based acrylics have no difficulty bonding with.
Certain materials, such as glass and certain metals and plastics,
should be avoided. The Gloss products are usually preferred for this
purpose, since they offer the greatest transparency; however, the
other sheens work just as well as a glue. Generally, we recommend
the Soft Gel Gloss for this purpose, although the choice of medium
or gel can be as exacting as the artist wishes.
Increasing Film Integrity:
Because the majority of gels and mediums are nearly pure binder,
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they can be utilized to increase the dry film integrity of weakened

systems. When an excessive amount of dry pigment or extender has
been added into a paint (typically observed as cracking or chalky
quality in the dry paint film), the addition of a gel or medium can
correct the problem. Another weakened paint system is a
paint/water blend, in which there is more water than paint. If such
a mixture is to be applied on non-absorbent supports (i.e. in nonstain applications), then a gel or medium should be added so that no
more than half of the entire mixture is water. Note that Gloss
products work best for these sort of requirements.
Controlling Transparency:
To increase the transparency of acrylic paints, gels and mediums
are useful tools. Nearly all gels and mediums are effective for this
purpose, with the exception of those that are opaque (the Pumices
and Molding Pastes). The Gloss Gels are most effective, especially
when highly transparent glazes are desired or when the glazes are
to be applied thickly (greater than 1/8 inch wet film thickness). The
Matte and Semi-Gloss products will increase the translucency of the
paint, but will not yield genuinely transparent glazes. This is the
result of the matting agents in such products detracting from the
overall transparency. Remember: the milky acrylic emulsion
eventually dries translucent, and this must be kept in mind when
determining the amount of color to add to the gels and mediums.
When the desired outcome is to extend the paint without increasing
transparency, or specifically to increase opacity, then the addition of
Molding Paste is beneficial. While there are some products available
that are marketed specifically to increase opacity of paints,
GOLDEN Molding Paste works equally well for this purpose. It
must be understood that the addition of such products will result in
a color shift to a lower chroma (and possibly lighter value) color.
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Adding Dimensionality to Acrylic Paints:

A standard use of the thicker gels is to build relief, or 3dimensionality onto the support. For this, GOLDEN Heavy Gels,
Extra-Heavy Gels, High Solid Gels and Molding Pastes are valuable
tools. The Light Molding Paste holds the highest peaks and retains
structure, and is also the best choice when building very thick
applications (least weight buildup). GOLDEN Pumice Gels are
suitable when generating granular or pebbled surfaces (either 3dimensional or flat).
Use as a Support Primer:
A final conventional application of the gels and mediums is to prime
and prepare various supports. This is beneficial whenever one wants
a translucent primer instead of an opaque gesso to allow the nature
of the support to show through. For this purpose, the most
commonly used products are the Matte Medium and GAC 100. The
thicker gels can be used, but one must be careful in application to
avoid holdout (the lack of adequate bonding between gel and
support). Use of sufficient pressure during application, to force the
gel into the tooth of the support, can overcome this problem. GAC
100 is also useful for stopping S.I.D. (See the below specific
description for GAC 100).
Making Paint:
When making one's own paint from dry pigment, the various Gloss,
Semi-Gloss and Matte gels or mediums serve well as the binder that
forms a continuous film, encasing the pigment. The Gloss products
have the greatest binding capabilities, while that of the Matte and
Semi-Gloss products is somewhat reduced (the result of already
containing the matting agents responsible for the lower sheen).
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Additional Suggestions
Learning the Rules:
As implied from the extensive list of uses above, there is not a lot of
limitation or restriction on the use of gels and mediums. An artist
can mix any quantity of Gel with GOLDEN Acrylic colors, or other
Gels and Mediums. However, the following are rules that should be
obeyed:
* To thin, add a thinner GOLDEN Medium or water.
* When blending thin products into a gel, add in small portions
with thorough and careful stirring at each addition.
* For slower drying, add GOLDEN Retarder, but do not exceed
15%, as it will result in a surface that will not lose its tack. Acrylic
Glazing Liquid can be used in place of straight Retarder, and there
are no restrictions on amounts.
Do not mix with oils.
* Abrade non-absorbent surfaces for increased adhesion.
* Minimum film formation temperature is 49oF/9oC. Avoid
freezing.
* Paint on any non-oily surface.
* Clean tools and brushes with soap and water.
Controlling Foam:
Be aware that nearly all acrylics have a propensity to foam and get
air trapped within them. This can be most dramatic when applying
glazes and various translucent effects. Therefore, it is important to
take proper precautions and to handle the materials carefully. This
includes: avoid shaking, do not whip or stir excessively, refrain from
generating a vortex during mechanical mixing and pour and handle
slowly and carefully.
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Drying Acrylic Films:

Drying times are influenced by many factors. The most important
factors are the thickness of application and the temperature,
humidity and air flow conditions in the working area. While acrylics
surface dry, or skin over, very quickly (sometimes within minutes),
they typically take much longer, sometimes months, to thoroughly
dry. Obviously, the thicker the film, the slower it is to dry. The
development of clarity in the film does not occur until the gel or
medium is fairly dry. A 1/4 inch thick film of a Gloss Gel will take a
week or two, even in ideal conditions (70-80oF, relative humidity of
50% or less and a moderate flow of air in drying area) to develop
clarity. When humidity pushes over 80%, that same Gloss Gel may
remain cloudy for several months. (For more information on drying
considerations, refer to GOLDEN Information Sheet: "Technical
Notes on Drying").
Stopping Support Induced Discoloration (SID):
Common supports (e.g. cotton canvas, linen, masonite) contain
water-extractable materials that can cause discoloration in
transparent glazes. This manifests itself as a yellow or brown tone,
and is especially of concern when the glazes are thickly applied
(greater than 1/16 inch wet film thickness). To minimize Support
Induced Discoloration (SID), seal support with GOLDEN GAC 100
or GAC 700, followed by gesso. Note that multiple coats of gesso
alone will not be sufficient to protect from SID.
True Varnishes vs. Acrylic Gels and Mediums:
One final point to make about the use of gels and mediums is that
all of these products are NOT recommended as final picture
varnishes. Generally speaking, these products do not have proper
balance of properties for such application. They are all either too
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soft, too hard, or they simply foam up too much to be a clear

topcoat. They also all lack the property of removability. None of the
gels or mediums are removable in a manner that would not harm
the underlying paint films, and this is an important consideration
for final varnishes. Soft Gel Gloss, thinned 2:1 with water, on the
other hand, is recommended as an "isolation coat". An isolation coat
has several functions. Applied after completion of an acrylic
painting, it seals the surface, lowers the absorbency of the surface,
allows for a more uniform varnish application and serves to protect
the acrylic paint during varnish removal. Not applying this coat can
cause serious side effects, such as the varnish absorbing into a
porous support. For spray application of an isolation coat, a mixture
of GAC 500 (2:1) with Airbrush Transparent Extender is well
suited.
Conclusion
While fully understanding gels and mediums does take time, with
some experimentation and an open mind, artists can achieve
painting effects that they would have never have dreamed of. There
are certainly a few dos and don'ts, but there is still a great degree of
freedom on the use of each member of this grouping, with each able
to be used in a broad range of applications and techniques. It is
important to remember that the applications that we as
manufacturers have suggested for these products are simply
starting points. Through each artist's own unique vision, the gels
and mediums will continue to be utilized in new and exciting ways,
to create effects that we would have never imagined possible.
Liquitex acrylic mediums:
Liquitex Matt Medium
Attributes

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* Soft Body.
* Creates a matte, non-reflecting finish when added to acrylic
colors.
* Mix into any acrylic paint to increase transparency and extend
color, increase matte sheen, increase film integrity, ease flow of
paint and add flexibility and adhesion of paint film.
* Mix with Gloss Medium & Varnish to produce a semi-gloss or
satin medium.
* Opaque when wet, translucent when dry.
Application
* Refer to Techniques: Acrylic Sheets, Brushwork, Collage, Murals
and Surface Preparation
As An Extender:
* Mix with Soft Body Concentrated Artist Color to extend volume
and increase translucency, while maintaining viscosity.
* Mix with Heavy Body Artist Color or Basics Acrylic Color to
extend volume and increase translucency, while decreasing paint
viscosity.
As A Fixative:
* Use as a matte fixative over artwork (pastel, graphite, chalk) to
decrease gloss or shine. Mix 1 part Matte Medium to 1 part distilled
water and apply with atomizer or airbrush. Excess medium applied
to the surface may cause fogging.
As A Ground:

Recommended fluid medium to use as a transparent ground

(size), with excellent tooth and adhesion, instead of gesso. This
will allow the color and texture of the support to show through.
Can be used as a substitute for the rabbit skin and
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hide glue size traditionally used for oil paintings.

* For best results use Liquitex Clear Gesso which has more tooth
for paint and pastels.
* Exterior Murals: If the support or wall is somewhat smooth, a
coat of Matte Medium should be brushed or two coats sprayed onto
the surface onto the surface prior to gessoing.
Attributes
* For creating brilliant jewel like glazes with acrylic artist colors.
* Excellent brushing and leveling qualities.
* Dries quickly for rapid layering.
* Mix with any amount of acrylic color. Small quantities of color
provide the most transparency.
* Works best with transparent or translucent colors.
* Flexible, non-yellowing and water resistant when dry.
Applications
* Apply to dry, painted areas to change coloration without losing
established detail. Under layer must be thoroughly dry before
applying the next coat. May be dried with a hair dryer to speed
drying.
* Mix in a small amount of color with the medium. Mix thoroughly
and color will lighten. Color will darken and go back to a thin,
transparent version of the original color as the medium dries and
becomes transparent.
Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish
* Soft Body.
* All purpose medium, formulated to be mixed into all Liquitex
acrylic paints and mediums.
* Mix into any acrylic paint to enhance the depth of color
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intensity, increase transparency, gloss, ease flow of paint and add

flexibility and adhesion of paint film.
* Use as a non-removable varnish to protect painting and establish
gloss sheen surface.
* Translucent when wet, transparent (clear) when dry.
* 100% acrylic polymer varnish. Water soluble when wet. Good
chemical and water resistance.
* Dry to a non-tacky, hard, flexible surface that is resistant to
retention of dirt.
* Resists discoloring (non-yellowing, non-fogging) due to humidity,
heat and ultraviolet light.
* Depending upon substrate, allows moisture to pass through
(breathable).
* Will not crack as surface expands and contracts during
temperature and humidity changes. Applicable for any surface
(flexible and inflexible) suitable for acrylic paint and mediums, such
as canvas, paper, wood, Plexiglas, etc.
* Not for use over oil paint.
Application
* Acrylic Sheets, Airbrushing, Brushwork, Collage, Glazing,
Murals and Transferring Printed Images in the Techniques Section.
For best varnishing use Liquitex Gloss Varnish for flexible surfaces.
APPLICATION AS A MEDIUM
As An Extender:
* Mix with Soft Body Concentrated Artist Color to extend volume
and increase transparency, while maintaining paint viscosity.
* Mix with Heavy Body Artist Color to extend volume and increase
transparency, while decreasing paint viscosity.
As A Fixative:
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* Use as a fixative over artwork (acrylic paint, pastel, graphite,

chalk) to increase gloss or shine. Mix 1 part Gloss Medium &
Varnish to 1 part distilled water. Apply with atomizer or airbrush.
As a Binder / Adhesive:
* Powdered pigments or aggregates may be mixed into Gloss
Medium & Varnish, however they must be compatible with acrylics.
* Collage material may be glued using Gloss Medium & Varnish as
a liquid glue.
As A Ground:
* Use as transparent ground for acrylic paint instead of gesso.
Allows substrate to be seen. To prevent Substrate Induced
Discoloration, wash cotton or linen canvas before use. Refer to
Matte Medium: SID definition.
With Powdered Pigments:
* Use as a binder with powdered pigments to make an inexpensive
student grade Soft Body gloss paint.
APPLICATION AS A VARNISH
* Gloss Varnish for flexible surfaces is recommended as the best
varnish for acrylic paintings.
* Apply Gloss Medium and Varnish as a final permanent varnish
over dry acrylic paint.
* Varnish surface and environment must be clean, dry and dust
free.
* Acrylic paintings must be completely dried and cured for: 48-72
hours before varnishing.
*Dilute Gloss Medium and Varnish up to 20% for better brushing
and leveling.
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* Application may be done by brush or spray. Generally a sprayed

application will be thinner, smoother and more even. Rolling or
sponging application is not recommended.
* Caution: Acrylic paints and mediums become increasingly brittle
in cold weather. Do not apply below 60 degrees.
Brush and Paint Pad Application
1. Use a wide, soft hair brush or paint pad (vacuum pad prior to
use to remove lint). Size of area to be varnished will determine the
size of the applicator. The smaller the surface area, the narrower
the brush. Generally, a 1-4" flat brush is used.
2. Apply varnish in 1-3 thin coats, rather than 1 thick coat. A thick
coat will take longer to dry, may dry cloudy, may drip or sag during
application and has a greater chance of showing brush strokes when
dry.
3. Horizontal surface application is best with less chance of varnish
running. After varnishing, the surface should be shielded with a
protective "tent". This will prevent any dust or airborne particles
from settling into varnish as it dries.
4. Apply varnish in slightly overlapping pattern that covers entire
artwork. Apply in horizontal and vertical brush strokes, so that
entire area is evenly coated.
5. Do not rework areas you might miss, as the brush could pick up
partially dried varnish and cause clouding. If areas are missed, wait
until the varnish is dry and apply another coat.
6. When applying Liquitex Permanent Matte Varnish or Satin
Permanent Varnish, apply no more than 1-2 thin coats. A thick
application may result in cloudiness when dry. If more than 2
coats are desired, first varnish with Gloss Medium & Varnish
until desired thickness is achieved, then final varnish with
matte or satin varnish.

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Spray Application
* Refer to Techniques and search on "Airbrushing" for more
detailed information.
* Most even application method.
* Use for textured surfaces (thick impasto, thick textures), where
brush application may result in foaming and fragile surfaces
(watercolor, tempera, graphite, pastel, gouache), where brush
application may disrupt drawing or painted surface.
1. Select air pressure (PSI) depending on air gun used and viscosity
of varnish. Greater PSI permits thicker varnish to be sprayed, but
may affect fragile surfaces.
2. 2-3 light even coats are better than 1 thick coat.
3. Spray a continuous film by moving the spray gun in a smooth
motion from one side of the painting to the other. First coat
horizontal, second coat, third coat horizontal, etc.
4. During spray application, maintain same distance across the
surface of the artwork. Move your body as well as your arm to avoid
"arching" motion and uneven application.
Varnish Thinning
* Thinning increases penetration and can make it easier to apply
varnish.
* Over thinning may result in weak varnish film, poor adhesion,
running and soaking into substrate.
* You may thin Gloss Medium & Varnish with water up to 25% for
better flow, leveling and for spray applications.
* Thin with small amount of Flow-AidTM/water to reduce brush
marks or spray apply. Refer to Liquitex Paint Additives: Flow-Aid
Flow Enhancer.

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Varnish Removal
Not removable. Do not attempt to remove these varnishes with
harsh solvents.
Liquitex Glazing Medium
Attributes
* For creating brilliant jewel like glazes with acrylic artist colors.
* Excellent brushing and leveling qualities.
* Dries quickly for rapid layering.
* Mix with any amount of acrylic color. Small quantities of color
provide the most transparency.
* Works best with transparent or translucent colors.
* Flexible, non-yellowing and water resistant when dry.
Applications
* Apply to dry, painted areas to change coloration without losing
established detail. Under layer must be thoroughly dry before
applying the next coat. May be dried with a hair dryer to speed
drying.
* Mix in a small amount of color with the medium. Mix thoroughly
and color will lighten. Color will darken and go back to a thin,
transparent version of the original color as the medium dries and
becomes transparent.
Liquitex Slo-Dri Blending Medium
* A unique formulation for superior surface blending with acrylics.
* Extends drying time up to 40% for superior surface blending
with acrylics.
* Adds flow to Heavy Body Professional Artist Color and is similar
in body to Soft Body Professional Artist Color.
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* Mix any amount into color to enhance the depth of color

intensity, increase transparency, gloss, ease flow of paint, and add
flexibility and adhesion to paint film.
* Dries clear to reveal full, rich color.
* Unlike retarding additives, any quantity may be added to color
without jeopardizing the strength of the paint film.
* Translucent when wet, transparent when dry
* Flexible, non-yellowing and water resistant when dry.
Application
* Formula is designed to be used in techniques where slower
drying characteristics are desired. May also be used in many of the
conventional techniques for a Gloss Medium such as: airbrushing,
brushwork, glazing, collage, and murals.
* Refer to Techniques: Brushwork-Blending
Application Possibilities as a Medium
As an Extender
* Mix with Soft Body Professional Artist Color to lengthen drying
time, extend volume, and increase transparency while maintaining
paint viscosity and flow.
* Mix with Heavy Body Professional Artist Color to slow drying
time, extend volume, and increase transparency while thinning the
paint.
As a Fixative
* Use as a fixative over artwork (acrylic paint, pastels, graphite,
chalk) to increase gloss or shine. Increased drying time allows for
working the media on the surface prior to final fixing. Use an
atomizer or airbrush filled with a mixture of one part medium, one
part water.
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Liquitex Ultra Matte Medium

* Soft Body.
* Increases the volume of paint, while maintaining the opacity of
the color it is mixed into.
* Economically doubles the volume of Soft Body Artist Color by
adding up to an equal amount (50%) of medium to color with little
or no noticeable loss in opacity or change in hue.
* Opacity of colors mixed with Ultra Matte Medium will be higher
than if the color had been thinned to the same degree with any
other medium except Modeling Paste.
* The degree to which the color can be extended will vary among
the different pigments.
* When over 50% is added, Ultra Matte Medium can act as a weak
tinting white, increasing the value of the original color
approximately one level. Light colors will be affected less than dark
colors.
* Colors mixed with Ultra Matte Medium dry to a matte finish.
Application
* Refer to Techniques: Collage and Murals
Gouache
* Mix with opaque Soft Body Artist Color for a matte sheen and
gouache (opaque watercolor) look.
* These "gouache" colors are water resistant, flexible, lightfast and
permanent when dry. Traditional gouache colors are not permanent
and are susceptible to accidental re-wetting and must be well
protected when finished.
Murals

Mix into Soft Body Artist Color for underpainting of murals to

economically double the volume of paint. For top layers,
81

use Lightfastness I colors without Ultra Matte Medium.

Running out of color during painting

* Use when running out of a Soft Body Concentrated Artist Color
mixture while painting. When you have reached the halfway point
of painting a specific area, determine if you have enough paint to
finish. If not, add an equal amount of Ultra Matte Medium to the
color enabling you to finish painting without remixing. The color
and opacity will be unchanged, but the color may lighten (higher
value).
Underpainting
Mix into Soft Body Artist Color during initial underpainting to
double amount of color. High pigment load and soft formula
gives Soft Body Artist Color three times the coverage of Heavy
Body Artist Color.
Liquitex Palette Wetting Spray
* An innovative, fluid acrylic resin designed to slow the drying of
acrylic colors
* Allows you to keep your palette colors fresh longer, preventing
the paint from skinning over.
* Improves color blending
* Can be used to thin color while maintaining film integrity.
* Formulated with an anti-microbial agent to prevent mold.
Application
* Use repeatedly to re-wet palette
Liquitex Gel Mediums:
Add Body
Increase open time
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 Dry

transparent or translucent
Extend the volume of paint
Hold brush or knife marks
Make an excellent archival adhesive for collage
Johnsons Wax makes Pride Future acrylic floor finish which may
be added to acrylic paint or as a final coat.
Avoid using linseed oil as a medium in whites and blues as it has a
marked tendency to yellow, which is most notable with light colors.
Poppy oil is recommended for light colors as it has the least
tendency to yellow (although it does dry slower).
If, as the paint on your palette dries, it forms a lot of wrinkles, too
much oil (medium) has been added.
If you're not sure whether a bottle of mineral or white spirits is
suitable for oil painting, put a tiny quantity on a piece of paper and
let it evaporate. If it evaporates without leaving any residue, stain,
or smell, it should be fine.
If you want to clean away a layer of oil paint or oil varnish, use
alcohol, which is a powerful solvent.
OILS FOR OIL PAINTING
Linseed oil is made from the seeds of the flax plant. It adds gloss
and transparency to paints and is available in several forms. It dries
very thoroughly, making it ideal for under painting and initial
layers in a painting.
Refined linseed oil is a popular, all-purpose, pale to light yellow oil
which dries within three to five days.
Cold-pressed linseed oil dries slightly faster than refined linseed oil
and is considered to be the best quality linseed oil.
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Stand oil is a thicker processed form of linseed oil, with a slower

drying time (about a week to be dry to the touch, though it'll remain
tacky for some time). It's ideal for glazing (when mixed with a
dilutent or solvent such as turpentine) and produces a smooth,
enamel-like finish without any visible brush marks.
Sun-thickened linseed oil is a created by exposing the oil to the sun
to create a thick, syrupy, somewhat bleached oil, with similar
brushing qualities to stand oil. Pour some oil (about an inch) into a
wide dish, cover it with a propped-up lid (i.e. to minimizes debris
getting in, but so that the air can flow through). Stir every day or so
to prevent a skin from forming on the top. How long it takes for the
oil to thicken will depend on how hot the climate is where you live.
Test the thickness of the oil when it's cool, not when it's still hot
from the day's sun. Pour it through a sieve or cloth to remove debris
before you bottle the oil.
As linseed oil has a tendency to yellow as it dries, avoid using it in
whites, pale colors, and light blues (except in under paintings or
lower layers in an oil painting when painting wet on dry).
Stand oil and sun-thickened oil yellows very little.
Sun-bleached linseed oil is created by exposing the oil to the sun but
with the container's lid on, so no evaporation occurs. The result is
an oil that has less tendency to yellow.
Poppy seed oil is a very pale oil, more transparent and less likely to
yellow than linseed oil, so it is often used for whites, pale colors, and
blues. It gives oil paint a consistency similar to soft butter. Poppy
seed oil takes longer to dry than linseed oil, from five to seven days,
making it ideal for working wet on wet. Because it dries slowly and
less thoroughly, avoid using poppy seed oil in lower layers of a
painting when working wet on dry and when applying paint thickly,
as the paint will be liable to crack when it finally dries completely.
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Poppy seeds naturally contain about 50 per cent oil.

Safflower oil has the same characteristics as poppy seed oil, but
dries a bit faster. It's made from safflower seeds. Sunflower oil also
has similar characteristics to poppy seed oil. It's made from
sunflower seeds.
Walnut oil is a pale yellow-brown oil (when newly made it's a pale
oil with a greenish tinge) that has a distinctive smell. As it's a thin
oil, it's used to make oil paint more fluid. As it yellows less than
linseed oil (but more than safflower oil) it's good for pale colors.
Walnut oil dries in four or five days. It's an expensive oil and must
be stored correctly otherwise it goes rancid (off). Walnuts naturally
contain about 65 per cent oil. (Read more on using walnut oil...)
Boiled oils are oils that have been heated and mixed with a dryer to
create a faster-drying oil that gives a glossy finish. They tend to
yellow and darken with age, so are best limited to lower layers in a
painting and darker colors. If you're not sure what effect an oil is
going to have, rather take the time to do a test than 'lose' or
'damage' a whole painting.
For really thin washes be sure to add some matte or gloss medium
in acrylic painting as too much water will break down the binding
medium of acrylics.
Best not to add any dryers to oil paint.
If you like juicy oil paint, add sun thickened linseed oil to paint. For
acrylic, add acrylic gel medium.
Dorlands wax medium or beeswax may be added to oil paint with
thinner for encaustic paintings.
Wax and damar resin for encaustic:
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Purpose: This formula of damar and wax makes a hard, dry blend
that stores easily and can be diluted for other uses.
Ingredients

Parts

Beeswax
Damar, dry lumps

2
1

Note new recommendation is for 10 parts wax to 1 part damar

crystals.
Directions for manufacture:
Melt the damar first, then add the wax, and heat together until the
wax has melted. Blend by stirring, then pour into an aluminum foil
pan to cool and harden. Score and break into pieces of convenient
size for storage and use.
Directions for use:
This medium must be reheated and melted in order to grind it with
dry pigments or to combine it with tube oil paint. Apply this paint to
rigid panels, using torch, heat lamp, or heated metal instruments to
manipulate the wax colors. Further dilution with turpentine
permits this material to be used as a painting medium or final
picture varnish.
17. BRUSHES
If you like to keep all your brushes organized and within easy reach
while painting, use a plastic 'revolving utensil holder' with five large
sections that hold all 102 of my brushes. I just love mine as my
brushes are always within easy reach. They can be bought at WalMart, eg, for just a few bucks.
If a brush seems totally ruined and the hairs out of shape, wash the
brush again, then dip the bristles in some linseed oil and reshape it.
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Now dip the oiled and shaped brush into water-soluble glue (I use
Elmers glue) and let it dry for a couple of weeks (bristles facing
up!). As the glue is water soluble you can wash it off in warm water,
no soap needed. Et voila... much useful life restored to the brush.
I've found it works on all but the worst victims of brush abuse.
If the bristles of a hog hair brush are a little 'wild,' a way to shape
them is to leave them damp (with a little soap) and wrap the bristles
in toilet tissue, shaping the hairs. Leave them dry overnight and
remove the tissue. The bristles tend to hold together.
When you're using masking fluid, use a cheap, fine brush. Before
you dip it into the masking fluid, dip the brush in water and then
rub it across a cake of soap. This makes the masking fluid flow
easier and longer. Continue working in this way, and the brush
cleans right up and you can easily use it again.
Wet your brush and apply hand soap before dipping it into masking
fluid. It prevents the brush being damaged, and makes the masking
fluid wash out easily.
Use an old nail-polish brush to apply masking fluid to my watercolor
paper. It goes on easily, washes quickly from the brush, and never
dries too rapidly.
Save those expensive brushes: when mixing water colors on a
palette use a cheap synthetic brush to do the mixing, and use your
expensive sable brushes only for applying the paint to your picture.
Use a BIG brush:
Painting with a big brush makes it hard to put down detail. A big
brush encourages you to use your whole arm to make broad,
sweeping strokes. Use a flat brush not a round one because you're
wanting to increase significantly the width of the painting strokes
you make.
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Use a ridiculously long brush:

Take a stick at least a meter/yard long and tape it to the handle of
your brush. Put a large piece of paper on the floor. Now paint. The
long brush handle exaggerates the movement of your hand and arm,
creating longer marks on the paper than you'd usually make. Don't
fight this by trying to make smaller movements!
You might avoid using repetitive brush strokes: these put the
viewer to sleep. Use a variety of brush strokes.
You might avoid applying scratchy, dry, scumbled strokes: these
look cheap, afraid, stingy, not masterful.
Some painters blend their brushstrokes carefully, so that the final
surface has a smooth appearance. Others preserve the integrity of
the marks. Blended brushstrokes frequently result in imagery
which is lifeless or overly finicky.
Using dynamic brushstrokes is an effective way for beginning
painters to learn more about the tactile and gestural qualities of
paint - how to use visible marks to activate the surface of the
painting. Dynamic brushstrokes tend to reinforce the viewer's
attention onto the picture plane where the trace of the artist's hand
remains visible.
One method for creating dynamic brushstrokes is to make the
strokes consistent in size throughout the composition. The
consistency will tend to flatten the appearance of the painting --emphasizing the picture plane -- even when the brushstrokes
themselves record spatial relationships.
Practice direct painting with as few brushstrokes as possible,
aiming to make each stroke count in defining your subject's forms.
Try to anticipate the exact hue, value, saturation, shape, and
thickness that every stroke of paint should be to achieve maximum
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visual impact.
Avoid scrubbing with your brush. Use enough paint to lay down a
film of paint with every stroke.
For dry-brush or broken color effects, use an almost dry brush and a
light touch to apply paint allowing some of the under-painting to
show.
You might avoid changing to small brushes: stay with the larger
brushes as long as possible.
Use the biggest brush you have and go buy a bigger one.
Practice a brushstroke several times in the air before you touch the
canvas.
Since most brushes have long handles, hold them by the end.
Strong brush strokes (or knife marks), whether assisting or
contradicting the representational theme, complementing or
countering line and form, have an expressive quality of their own.
The charged surface becomes a continuous stretch of interlocking
texture and color.
Since most brushes have long handles, hold them by the end.
Take care of your brushes and they will take care of you. Store
brushes hanging from the handles or flat. If you store brushes tips
up, some paint may settle in the ferrules.
Wet brushes in water before dipping in acrylic paint.
Do not let paint get in the ferrule as this will dry and spread the
hairs.
Keep acrylic brushes in a jar of water while you are not using them
during a painting session. Do not leave them in water overnight as
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this will bend the hair and swell the wooden handles so the paint or
varnish cracks off.
How do we know a specific artist painted a painting. It is the
personal mark making of the brushstrokes. That is how experts
identify work by artists.
Short-haired brushes make short strokes and long haired brushes
make long strokes. Try different lengths to find out which works
best for you.
Hammer a bamboo skewer to make a cheap brush.
Placing a bamboo skewer tip in the ground will decay some of the
soft parts leaving strands which make a brush.
To get a better grip on a small brush wrap a lot of masking tape
around the handle where you want to hold it.
Try clay shaper " brushes" as paint will not stick to them and they
make unique marks and are great for pushing paint around.
18. KNIVES
Steel painting knives are slightly greasy and repel water. If using
watercolor or acrylic in thin washes first wash the knife in scouring
cleansing powder or stab the knife into a lemon and leave it
overnight. The acid will remove the grease.
Plastic knives from fast food places may be held over a candle flame
and bent with pliers to make knives for mixing and painting. File
the blades to different shapes. Do not burn yourself!
Scrape with a palette knife or a putty knife to reveal underpainting.
Mix paint with a palette knife and save your brushes for painting.
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19. PALETTE AND STORAGE

Always lay your oil paints out on your palette in the same order so
that, with time, you'll be able to pick up a bit of a color instinctively.
Often, I have oil paint left on my palette after a painting session.
More importantly, I have colors I have blended for the painting I am
working on. I have tried many way of preserving these. I have used
glass palette and simply submerged them in a tray of water. This
works overnight quite well. Another way I have come up with to
preserve a palette is to use wax paper over my wood palette, or waxy
disposable palettes. I simply cover them with either another piece of
waxed paper or another disposable palette, and freeze them. This
will keep the palette longer. I have never had any trouble with the
paint after it has thawed out. It doesn't seem to effect the paintings
either, as I have done this for many, many year, and have never had
any trouble with any of the paintings.
Get 20 empty 35mm film cartridges [containers] from a photo store.
At the end of a painting session with a palette knife, I put my oil
paints into the cartridges. As they're airtight the paint keeps for a
long time. I've also labeled them.
I took some lessons from a lady who used Styrofoam plates as
palettes when painting and when she finished for the day she simply
put another plate, of the same size of course, over it and taped it on
the sides in a couple of places with masking tape and stuck it in the
freezer. This might work for you if you are not mixing an enormous
amount at a time. They work good as palettes since they do not
absorb the oils in the paint and they are easily and quickly disposed
of when you are finished with them and they are cheap!
With oil paint so expensive these days, no one can afford to scrape
off their palette and just throw away the paint. I use a seven-day
plastic pill holder to store any leftover paint. When I am done
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painting for the day, I mix together all the colors on my palette
which usually turns out a wonderful gray. Then I put it in one of
the day slots, close the lid and put it in the freezer.
Often I take it out and use it the next day to continue on the
painting where I got the scrapings from. The gray works well as a
medium ground for the painting because it is made of the same
colors in the painting. Or, I collect the grays over a period of time
and when I need just the right gray, I take it out and it is like new.
It is also fun to do a painting with all the grays I have collected.
To get dried acrylic paint off a palette, soak it in fabric softener and
it will come out like magic. It also works to clean stiffen paint
brushes like new.
If you're using a hard plastic, tile, or glass palette try spraying it
with glass cleaner; in five minutes any dried paint should wipe off
easily.
Store small amounts of unused acrylic paint in film cartridges
containers. Place Saran Wrap into the can down to the paint level.
Add boiled or distilled water and put the cap on. This will keep
moisture in the can which can be poured off to use the paint. Dab
the color on the lid if the container is opaque.
If you have a photo shop in town, you might ask them to save these
used 35mm film containers for you. Customers generally bring their
film in them when they want it processed. Generally, the stores
have no use for them and are willing to give them to you for free. I
use them to store acrylic paints which I have scraped off the palette
after a painting session. It is an excellent way to preserve colors
which you may have mixed in haste while you were painting and
wish to preserve a bit longer.
I use my palette knife to place a dab of the paint on the lid so I may
remember the color inside or alternately use a permanent marker to
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label them. That way, you are not needlessly opening and closing
the containers and letting in air which will dry out the paint more
rapidly.
The little containers hold the moisture in the paint for quite a
while. Sometimes, I even paint right out of the film containers
without even placing them on a palette at all.
You don't have to spend money on one of those "stay wet" palettes.
Get a regular white enamel palette (often called butcher's boards).
Lay a few layers of wet paper towels in the bottom of it (it has an
edge like a shallow baking dish) and then put a sheet of waxed
paper or designer's vellum. When you are finished for the day, just
lift the waxed paper up a little bit and spray some distilled or boiled
water on the paper towels.
When you mix a special color and want to save it to use tomorrow or
on another painting, use heavy duty aluminum foil to make a tube
to store it. This is how to make it:
1. Wrap a piece of foil around a broom handle. (Heavy-duty grade
foil works best.)
2. Glue down the edge (Gorilla Glue or some other that will seal)
and remove tube shape from the broom handle before it dries.
3. Fold the bottom, then apply glue and crimp with canvas stretcher
or pliers. Let dry.
4. Fill tube with extra paint, using a palette knife or tool of your
choice.
5. Clean and fold the top down several times. Apply glue after first
fold and wait to dry.
6. This creates a completely air-proof tube. When you're ready to use
the paint, clip a corner of the top and press out the paint.
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7. If you place a short straw in the top folded corner while gluing
and remove it before the glue is dry, this will leave a hole to squeeze
out paint.
If you have to make up large amounts of a specific color, this is a
wonderful way of storing the mixed paint.
Save your empty toothpaste tubes and use them to store the paint.
Cut off the bottom of the tube and wash out the remains of the
toothpaste. Dry the inside of the tube with paper towel, then fill it
with paint. Seal the edge with strong contact glue, then use clothes
pegs to it hold together while the glue dries. Finally, dip the lid into
a little of the color so you can easily identify what's in the tube.
Color is affected by its surrounding colors and value so what looks
right to you on a white palette or brown palette could look totally
different on the area of your painting. Paint a sample on a scrap of
paper and hold it next to the area in the painting if you let it dry
first you can also adjust for acrylic drying slightly darker when it is
dry.
Keep paint mixtures in an Rubbermaid plastic egg saver with a lid.
Tape a sponge wet with distilled water or boiled water to the lid.
Acrylic paint will last for months.
Cling wrap may be placed over oil paint on a palette to keep it from
drying.
A metal butcher tray makes a good palette for watercolor.
Dont cover watercolors on a glass or steel palette. They will mold.
Just spray with water the next session to wake them up!
20. PAINT
A painter must love paint. Here are some favorites.
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Encaustic or Hot Wax.

This technique has been dated to as early as the fourth century B.C.
Although wax may appear to be a fragile material, some encaustic
paintings from A.D 100-125 survive today in the form of head and
shoulder wax portraits set into mummy casings in Greco-Roman
Egypt.
To prepare the encaustic medium, melt beeswax and add damar
crystals, a hardening and stabilizing agent, then filter and cool the
mixture for later use. It usually takes a day to make up a large
batch.
Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using
heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The
liquid/paste is then applied to a surface usually prepared wood,
though canvas and other materials are often used. The simplest
encaustic mixture can be made from adding pigments to beeswax,
but there are several other recipes that can be used some
containing other types of waxes, damar resin, linseed oil, or other
ingredients. Pure, powdered pigments can be purchased and used,
though some mixtures use oil paints or other forms of pigment.
Metal tools and special brushes can be used to shape the paint
before it cools, or heated metal tools can be used to manipulate the
wax once it has cooled onto the surface. Today, tools such as heat
lamps, heat guns, and other methods of applying heat allow artists
to extend the amount of time they have to work with the material.
Because wax is used as the pigment binder, encaustics can be
sculpted as well as painted. Other materials can be encased or
collaged into the surface, or layered, using the encaustic medium to
adhere it to the surface.
History
This technique was notably used in the Fayum mummy portraits
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from Egypt around 100-300 AD, in the Blachernitissa and other

early icons, as well as in many works of 20th-century American
artists, including Jasper Johns and Fernando Leal Audirac. Kutkut, a lost art of the Philippines implements sgraffito and encaustic
techniques. It was practiced by the indigenous tribe of Samar island
around 1600 to 1800.
In the 20th century, painter Fritz Faiss (1905-1981), a student of
Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky at the Bauhaus, together with Dr.
Hans Schmid, rediscovered the so-called "Punic wax" technique of
encaustic painting. Faiss held two German patents related to the
preparation of waxes for encaustic painting. One covered a method
for treating beeswax so that its melting point was raised from 60
degrees Celsius to 100 degrees Celsius (from 140 to 212 F). This
occurred after boiling the wax in a solution of sea water and soda
three successive times. The resulting, harder wax is the same as the
Punic wax referred to in ancient Greek writings on encaustic
painting.
Encaustic art has seen a resurgence in popularity since the 1990s
with people using electric irons, hotplates and heated stylus on a
variety of different surfaces including card, paper and even pottery.
The iron makes producing a variety of artistic patterns elementary.
However, the medium is not limited to just abstract designs, it can
be used to create complex paintings, just as in other media such as
oil and acrylic.
It would take intense direct heat to damage an encaustic painting,
but subzero temperatures cause the wax to become brittle and can
lead to cracking. Really you should not leave an encaustic painting
in direct sunlight or intense cold, because extreme temperatures can
damage any fine painting.
Beeswax is considered the best medium for the pigment. Paraffin is
much cheaper than beeswax, but it can be brittle.
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Don't mix other mediums in with the wax, though you could mix in
oil pastel or oil paint for pigment. Place a line of oil paint on a paper
towel overnight to remove some of the oil.
Melt the wax mixture and add pigment in tins sitting on griddles.
Use a brush to paint the encaustic onto a panel, which lies
horizontally on a table so that the melted wax doesn't run. Paint
swiftly, often only a few strokes at a time, for the wax cools very
quickly. Use a propane torch to reheat the wax, smoothing the
surface a bit and bonding the new layer to the one below. Continue
to build up layers of wax with pigment added, heating it after each
layer with the propane torch or a heat gun. This layering lends an
ethereal quality that is part of the appeal of an encaustic painting.
In some paintings ypu might add other materials paper, linen,
twigs to create a collage effect. Some paintings have 10 or more
layers of wax; others are more gestural in feel and involve less
layering.
Egg Tempera
Separate the yoke of an egg from the white. Save the yokes. Mix
with dry pigments to form egg tempera paint. Thin overlapping and
cross-hatched lines coalesce to make the form in a painting done in
egg tempera. The paint is translucent so under painting shows
some.
Separated egg white may also be used mixed with pigments to form
a glair medium.
Oil Paint
Oil paints are extremely versatile. They can be used thickly in
impasto or extremely thinly in glazes; they can be opaque or
transparent.
If you use oil paints and don't have the discipline to keep a brush
just for the white paint (like myself, I always end up mixing the
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paint with my brush), a small palette knife next to the pile of

already mixed white (mixed with turpentine to a consistency of
mayonnaise) is useful for not dirtying the white. The very small
palette knife doesn't tempt me to use it for mixing as I have a large
one for that.
My fingers don't work like they used to so I keep a pair of pliers
handy for opening my acrylic paint tubes. They are a good tool to
have on my paint table and have saved my fingers a great deal of
pain especially when the lids are stuck on. Use a jar opener. I keep a
small pair of pliers among my tubes of paint to use for stuck paint
caps.
Try placing the cap of the tube in between a door frame, then close
the door over enough to hold the cap, then turn the tube! Works for
me every time!
You can use a small piece of the rubber shelf-liner people use in
their RVs to keep things from sliding around to open the top of a
tube. It works better than pliers and does not damage your paint
cap. I keep a piece (bought at WalMart) in my paint supplies all the
time.
If you can't get the cap on your tube of paint off, snip off the bottom
end of the tube and then keep it closed it with a bulldog clip.
I use nutcrackers to open stubborn tube caps, but if the tube begins
to twist, boiling water always loosens stuck caps in seconds. Just
plop the tubes head down in a cup. (Use the rest of the water to
make a nice cup of tea or to fill your thermos for a plein air outing.)
I keep a clothes pin [clothes peg] in my paint box. Simply place it
around the cap, hold firmly, and twist. Works like a charm!
I once put a number of tubes of oil paint away for a long time and,
predictably, the stoppers couldn't be unscrewed when I retrieved
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them as the paint had hardened around the neck of the tube. I put
these top-down in a jar half filled with domestic heating paraffin
and left them there for a couple of weeks. After two weeks or so, the
paint around the neck of the tube had softened and the stoppers
unscrewed quite easily. I expect that any solvent can be used
instead of heating paraffin.
Tired of having your paint tubes crust up so that you can't open
them? Try using some Vaseline (petroleum jelly) around the cap.
According to an artist I met at a watercolor workshop, this will
prevent the top from sticking.
I had the problem of opening oil paint tubes after many years
packed away. I turned them upside down with the tops submerged
in turpentine. The tops were freed up within a week or so. It's best
to then clean any paint residue from the thread and cap and lightly
oil with olive or cooking oil.
If the cap of a paint tube breaks or cracks, you need to reseal the
tube so the paint doesn't dry out. I've fortunately only had it happen
a few times. I fold up a small piece of plastic wrap (clingfilm) into
several layers, then put this over the top of the tube instead of the
cap, and keep it in place with a small elastic band.
When the cap on an acrylic paint tube sticks, just invert the tube
and soak it for a few minutes in hot water; it should then loosen up
nicely.
If you can't get the cap on your tube of paint off, heat it with a
match ever so carefully to loosen. After the cap is off, clean the rim
and the cap, rub Vaseline (petroleum jelly or glycerine) around the
rim and cap; it will work perfectly for years to come!
When using a pair of pliers isn't working to get a stuck top off a tube
of oil paint, try heating up the cap on the paint tube with a match
for a moment or two. Then take a towel and twist the cap off. It
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works well, but do not keep the heat on the tube for a long time.
A simpler way to get a resistant cap off a tube of paint: hold the cap
under the hot water tap for a minute or so, then turn it (possibly
using rubber gloves for grip). It works every time.
The method for removing stuck paint caps I show my students is
generally more immediate than soaking them in hot water or using
a dangerous flame to loosen them. Squeeze all the paint to the top of
the tube (like with toothpaste), roll up the bottom as far as it will
go, grasp the tube firmly in one hand (I'm right-handed, so I grasp
the tube in my left hand), and unscrew the stuck cap. If the cap has
"sharp" ridges, then simply use a paint rag to unscrew the cap. If
that fails, then use those misplaced pliers which should always be at
your easel or in your paint box - I even recommend that my
students get a cheap pair of pliers to keep in their paint box. When
the paint is squeezed to the top and held firmly in place it prevents
the tube from twisting and possibly splitting.
With oils you don't have to put the cap back on until you are done
painting for the day. So try this: when you are done painting for the
day light a candle. When there is enough melted wax in the candle's
top, dip the end of the paint tube in the melted wax. This should
form a seal around the tip. Peel it off when you are ready to use
them again.
If the cap of your paint cracks or breaks Press-N-Seal works great to
seal the moisture in nicely.
If a paint tube cap cracks in two just above the thread, I take a wide
elastic band and keep the top of the cap in place by stretching this
over the top of the cap and around the bottom of the tube.
Next time you finish a tube of paint, clean the cap and then store it
for possible use as a replacement in the future.
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I've lost or cracked the screw rims of the several tube tops; I've
found the acrylic content will soften up when inverted in a glass of
water, sometimes for days.
I get the last out of a tube of paint by using scissors to cut off the
end, then scrape out all with a small spatula or anything small
enough.
After you have rolled that paint tube until there's no more room to
roll, but you are annoyed because you can still see paint in there,
grab your canvas stretching pliers. Mine have nice wide jaws that
are perfect for getting that last dollop of paint out of a tube.
When a tube of paint starts getting empty and I want to ensure I've
got most of it out, I use the handle of a brush to squeeze the paint
towards the lid -- running it down the tube from the end of the tube
to the lid. Sure it's not designed for this, but a brush is always to
hand!
To slow the drying time of acrylics, spray water behind the canvas
and or put a wet cloth behind your canvas. This will double the
drying time of the acrylic paint. If you do this as well as spraying
little water over the paint it really does extend the working time of
acrylics a lot.
Use a mister (like you use for watering ferns) to spray a fine mist
over an acrylic painting as you're working on it. This will give you a
little extra time for working with the paint before it dries. But don't
spray too heavily, or the acrylic paint may run.
You might avoid being stingy with paint: use lots and, yes, you will
waste some.
You might avoid putting paint on simply because you dont want to
waste it: youll waste your painting this way.
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The best quality paint will make a good painting better.

Watercolor dries lighter and most acrylics dry darker in value.
To make dry paint more intense cover with an acrylic gloss medium
or varnish, if acrylic, or a retouch or damar varnish, if oil.
Paint may be as thin as a veil and as thick as a wall.
Your little finger may be used to blend small areas.
Spray water with a fine spray plant atomizer to keep acrylic paint
surface on the canvas and palette wet so you can blend and keep
mixing.
Use wet newspapers or paper towels taped to the back of a stretched
canvas to keep the front wet. The moisture will seep through from
the back.
Boil water or use distilled water for tap water in jars will grow mold
and get yucky.
Never paint acrylics or use acrylic gesso over oil.
New information says not to paint oils over an acrylic
underpainting.
Oil paintings need light. The oil darkens in storage closets.
Add magnesium sterate or talcum powder ( don't inhale) to acrylic
to add drag and body to acrylic.
Propylene glycol or glycerine on small drops will reduce the drying
time for acrylics.
Milk Paint
You may have seen milk paint in artfully distressed surfaces or in
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green and sustainable applications. Martha Stewart has a recipe on

her web site and of course you can buy pre-mixed bags of dry
ingredients. I use the 1870 milk paint recipe on Pioneer Thinking.
Garden lime, not quick lime.
Many of the recipes I saw on the web (including Marthas)
instructed you to sour the milk in advance and make the paint from
the curds. This seemed like an unnecessary extra step. Adding lime
does the trick.
Here are the materials I used:
Non-fat dry milk
Garden lime made from Dolomite limestone purchased at Home
Depot in garden supply.
Distilled water
Marble dust powder for filler. Look for it in the gesso aisle of any
good art supply store. I think you can also use whiting which is
chalk. The ladies at Utrecht shook their heads when I asked about
whiting, so my next stop will be the farm store to look for bags of
chalk.
Iron red pigment (or any dry pigment)
I had four panels and a bench to paint, not the back side of a barn,
so I halved the recipe:
1 quart milk mixed from distilled water
1 tablespoon lime
I whisked these together in a metal bowl, feeling the sides often to
make sure I hadnt accidentally bought Quick Lime instead of
hydrogenated lime. One is for dissolving bodies a la The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett, the other is for your strawberries. Guess
which one you should use here? Hint: not Quick Lime. It evidently
gets very, very hot, like a chemical reaction.
Adding a tablespoon of lime to milk
The mixture was thin at this point and smelled sour, though not
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unpleasant. I added:
6 heaping tablespoons of marble dust to thicken the paint,
whisking well after each addition.
The mixture was gray and thick, though the marble settled out
quickly. I added:
About a tablespoon of iron red dry pigment. Martha says you can
add acrylic paint, which would probably blend well.
I had a moment of despair while I whisked the color wasnt coming
up. But after a while, the pigment particles and marble dust blended
sufficiently, and as long as I kept the paint in suspension (whisked)
it was lovely. Iron red makes the kind of orange that has no blue in
it beautiful.
Adding pigment...and more pigment
I brushed the paint onto untreated boards with a cheap paintbrush.
The paint was foamy and soaked into the wood. In seconds I could
see the grain again. I gave the boards one coat and left them to dry.
Brushing on the first coat of milk paint
The boards were surface dry, though the wood still felt damp.
I gave everything another coat, noticing that the paint felt thicker.
Possibly the marble dust needed time to absorb more liquid.
Panels with second coat of paint
After a week, the boards were completely dry and cured. The
surface felt chalky but still fairly smooth and I didnt bother to sand
it down.
Smooth as silk in two coats
The next batch I made was white, using titanium oxide for the
pigment. Two coats of milk paint dried overnight but this time the
surface was gritty. A few quick swipes with sandpaper took the
surface down to something you might encounter in a lingerie
drawer silky smooth.
21. CLEANUP

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Apply a lotion to hands before painting and it will be easier to wash

your hands of paint.
Talcum powder may be rubbed over the hands in the same fashion.
Some use rubber or plastic gloves to keep hands clean.
If you use gloves, rub some talcum powder on your hands to keep
hands dry in the gloves and make it easier to get the gloves off.
The best thing I have ever found for cleaning your hands after oil
painting are baby wipes. These pre-moistened little squares will
take off almost anything (after all, look at what they are designed to
remove!). One wipe is usually enough to clean up my hands, and
sometimes the handles of brushes. They come in handy little
packets which go easily into a painting kit, are ideal for taking out
plein air painting. They are also fairly inexpensive and more
effective than regular hand wipes.
To get dried oil paint off a brush [with natural hairs], soak it in nailpolish remover for a minute or two, after that you wipe off what
remains and clean your brushes with soap and water as usual.
Remember that nail-polish remover is basically the same as lacquer
thinner sold in hardware stores and can melt the glue that holds the
fibers and will melt synthetic brush hairs.
Because I enjoy plein air painting and not the clean up, I cover my
palette with wax paper and tape it securely on the bottom. This way
when I'm finished and ready to load into the car, I can throw it away
or place the wadded palette wax paper in a trash bag and avoid both
getting paint in my car and the clean up.
Rinse brushes in water and at the end of the session with mild soap
and cold water. Do not use hot water. Rinse and shape the hairs
with your fingers and store in a brush wallet or jar or can with
brush tips up.
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Wipe oil paint off on newspapers to get most of the paint off the
brush. Clean with baby oil. Wash with mild soap and cold water.
Rinse and dry on paper towel. Shape with fingers. Store as above or
dip natural bristles in lard to preserve the brush. Clean as above
before using.
If acrylic dries in a brush, soak overnight in rubbing alcohol or
denatured alcohol and use an old toothbrush to remove the loosened
paint. Do this outdoors Repeat as needed until the paint is removed.
Clean as above.
Dried oil paint may be removed with nail polish remover. Outside.
Clean as above. Reshape with liquid soap and let it dry held by a
clothes pin and then wash out the soap. This usually reshapes a
bent brush.
Use warm water or hold a stuck cap or lid over a candle flame or
lighter to warm the cap. Do not burn yourself. Use pliers to take off
the cap.
Wipe paint caps and tube threads before recapping.
When you press paint from a tube, press the end of the tube flat
against the palette to cut off the column of paint evenly.
If you squeeze too much from a tube carefully squeeze the tube to
spread the tube open creating a vacuum that will suck some or all of
the excess paint back into the tube.
Put some petroleum jelly on the inside of a cap and on the threads
of a paint tube and the cap will not stick tight.
Put petroleum jelly on jar lids to keep paint from sticking lids on
jars.
To make your own paint, grind fragments of minerals in a mortar
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and pestle. Yelow iron oxide or red iron oxide are easy to grind.
Wear a OSHA mask to avoid breathing the dust. Grind until you
have a fine powder. Add refined linseed oil and continue to grind
until smooth. Place in storage tubes or baby food jars or film
canisters. Dry pigments may also be purchased. Talc or beeswax
may be added as a filler.
22. HEALTH AND SAFETY
Do not eat while painting and do not put brush handles in your
mouth.
Many colors have poison or harmful components if ingested.
Pure cadmiums and cobalts are cancer causing pigments. Substitute
cadmiums and cobalts with HUE at the end of the name which are
safe.
Use no paint with a lead component.
Do not use thinners, even oderless thinners, nor Turpenoid which
have a cautionary label. Use EcoHouse or Turpenoid Natural
instead.
Avoid house paint and primers with volatile solvents in the
ingredients. Get professional grade acrylic gesso instead of house
paint primer.
Wear a mask when using dry pigments or sanding paint.
Don't poke yourself in the eye with the brush handle.
Temperature Safety for Encaustics
Make sure the temperature remains at a constant non-boiling level
never to exceed 225F. You can measure the temperature of beeswax
using a candy thermometer. Beeswax heated above 250F begins to
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decompose; giving off acrolein, formaldehyde and other dangerous

gases, vapors and fumes. The boiling point of beeswax is 468F.
The wax is usually heated to about 225 degrees for painting. Since it
can cause acute burns, I am careful not to get it on my skin. Wax
heated above 250 degrees can produce toxic fumes, so I always work
in a cross-ventilated space, and during summer use an exhaust fan.
Can the blowtorch start a fire on the wax?
Yes, what is called "wax condensate" a concentration of fine wax
particles that hover above heated wax can ignite from the spark of
a propane torch.
The rheostats that control the temperature on some used hot plates
can be faulty and not work properly. If you cannot control the
temperature of your used hotplate, get rid of it. In addition to the
rheostat, the temperature of wax can be more accurately monitored
through the by using a candy thermometer.
Stay away from purchasing any hotplates that are cast iron or have
exposed electrical elements. Cast iron tends to be harder to regulate
in temperature and ends up burning the wax. Exposed electrical
elements tend to collect wax drips, creating smoke and toxic
working conditions. Griddles with flat metal or aluminum surface
are the best.
When handling paint cans on the hotplate, use small clamps,
wooden clothes pins, or a heat resistent glove for easy and safe
maneuvering.
Ventilation
Encaustic requires more than just an open window. An exhaust fan
is necessary to pull out wax vapors. A three-speed window fan facing
out is adequate while a hood or louvered industrial fan is ideal.
Cross ventilation is also important, make sure you have air flowing
in from a far end window to replace air going out. Your work area
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should be situated between you and the fan so that vapors do not
pass your breathing path on their way out.
Fire Safety
* For safety, keep a fire extinguisher near your encaustic work
area. Fire extinguishers can be fairly compact and reasonably priced
at most safety supply or hardware stores. In the rare occasion of a
fire, do not pour water on beeswax; this will cause the flames to
spread.
* Make sure your work area has the electrical capacity for use of
hotplates and heat guns. Most fires result from overloaded circuits
or faulty cords and sockets.
* Avoid the use of domestic extension cords. Use heavy duty
ones.
* Keep your work area free of anything that could catch fire such
as paper towels, solvents or propane canisters.
* Plug cords into a safety strip that will shut off if overloaded.
* When buying used hot plates, check cords for signs of wear.
* Check your wax often. If you see a white ring around the cans
of colors, the temperature is too low. If the wax begins to bubble or
smoke, the temperature is too high.
23. TECHNIQUES
The proportion of oil (medium) should be increased for each
subsequent layer in an oil painting known as painting 'fat over
lean' because the lower layers absorb oil from the layers on top of
them. If the upper layers dry faster than the lower ones, they can
crack.
Avoid using Ivory Black for an under-painting or sketching as it
dries much slower than other oil paints.
Pigments containing lead, cobalt, and manganese accelerate drying.
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They can be mixed with other colors to speed up drying and are
ideal for under layers. (Student-quality paints usually contain
cheaper alternatives to these pigments, generally labeled hues.)
Old, expired plastic credit cards have numerous uses as a tool for oil
painting (be sure to deface the information on the card!). Some of
which are:
To get straight edges.
Creating painting "knives" which may be bent and/or cut with a
scissors or knife to any contour.
Ditto for sgraffito. Scratching through paint layers with sharp tools.
Scraping paint off a canvas.
Cleaning the palette.
Bent at a right angle to lean a wet brush on.
William Alexander used a thin, oil based white mixture that he
called "Magic White". It was basically, white pigment in linseed oil,
about the consistency of cream. He coated the canvas with a very
thin coat of his magic white before he began. Bob Ross, Robert
Warren, and many others you see on TV were students of William
Alexander. I have made my own version by diluting my titanium
white out of the tube with linseed oil. It works just fine.
When working wet-on-wet pull the brush along its length with the
handle close to the surface. You get two strokes with a flat bristle
brush, one side then the other, look at the brush for any paint it
picked up and wipe it. Think of the brush hairs as if they were the
fingers on your hand stroking the surface. This method allows wet
paint to go over another (wet) color with clean results.
I paint wet-on-wet with oils with lots of impasto. To keep the
texture as I add more paint, I don't dab with a brush onto the wet
paint but flick the brush sideways touching the existing paint so it
pulls off the new paint from the brush rather than anything else.
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Use a filbert rake brush or a cat's tongue rake brush. These are flat
brushes with a rounded tip, and thinned out hairs, perfect for doing
fur.
When painting fur, you need to paint in a push and lift motion -load paint onto the brush, put the tip on the paper, as you move it
across push down slightly so the brush mark becomes a bit wider,
then flip it up. If you find this hard to visualize, think of the motion
you use when you brush your cat or dog's fur.
GLAZING:
1. Sketch your composition.
2. Create the under-painting and allow to dry completely. Use
values slightly lighter as the glaze will add a slightly darker tone.
3. Mix transparent paint (oil or acrylic) with glazing medium. Use a
soft brush or a shaving brush and wipe, if needed, with a soft cloth
to make the glaze even. Allow to dry.
4. Apply additional glazes. Allow each to dry.
5. Put in some opaque paint to establish high lights and refine
details.
6. Apply final varnish.
Remove part of a glaze with a soft cloth in glazing medium, not
solvent to correct or diminish or to leave in valleys. Multiple layers
work better than a thick glaze. Test glazes over a drawn pencil line
on a piece of paper to be sure they are transparent.
Apply five to ten coats of matt or gloss acrylic medium to a
magazine or newspaper reproduction letting each coat dry between
application. Once dry, submerge in hot soapy water and carefully
rub all the paper backing off making a transparency decal of colored
ink in the acrylic. This may be placed in a painting with medium to
make it stick. Be careful not to rip or tear while washing off the
paper backing.
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A grid of one inch squares may be made on a piece of tracing paper

over a study. On a support make corresponding squares two, three,
four or more square inches to enlarge the study to the final size of
the painting. Watch where lines cross the grid to mimic placement
of the enlarged lines in appropriate squares.
Paint the large masses of deciduous trees and spot in the sky
shapes.
Canvas strainer and stretcher bars can cause ridges of paint if you
press the canvas against the wooden bars while painting. Hold a
piece of matt board or Masonite between the canvas and the board
temporarily so you will have a flat area while brushing over the
boards.
Making paintings is the best way to learn how to make paintings.
Place some distilled or boiled water in partially filled jars of paint.
Pour off to use. Another way to do thus: Place plastic wrap over the
jar and make a depression into which distilled or boiled water may
be poured or wet a small piece of sponge and place it in the
depression.
If you use tap water, mold will grow and it is nasty!
Tooth picks are good for painting fine detail.
Q tips may be used for small areas or dots of color.
A new pencil eraser may also be used to stamp dots of color.23 A
piece of matt board or index card may be held next to an area where
you want to paint a fairly straight line.
Put highlights in heavy paint and blend with your little finger.
Shapes may be cut out of file folders or index cards to make a
stencil. Use a stiff bristle brush with hairs the same length to
pounce the paint within the stencil area.
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Use round shapes like paper cups or plates to paint circles by

painting around the shape.
Put two or three colors on one flat brush and blend as you pull the
brush. Dip into one color and add two other colors on the edges of
the brush.
Thinned paint may be sprayed on a painting using a mouth
atomizer commonly used to spray fixer on drawings.
You can load your own refillable spray can which uses a bicycle
pump to pump air into the can once you have placed a thinned paint
in the container. It has a nozzle like any other spray can and special
effect interchangeable nozzles may be used as well.
A single edged razor blade may be used to scratch out thin lines or
to lighten a passage in a dry watercolor.
Heavy watercolor paper has layers which may be carefully removed
with a razor blade or X-acto knife. A dry wash can have a white
shape revealed which may be left white or tinted.
A steel palette knife may be passed over a wet watercolor to remove
some of the wash.
A fine sandpaper may be used to lighten an area of watercolor.
To paint a flat wash in watercolor, tilt the board at an angle and use
a large brush to apply a line of watercolor. Then use the brush fully
charged to lead the swell of watercolor down the paper. Do not
scrub into the paper. Do not retreat back into an area that is drying
as this will cause an irregular wash unless of course you want this
effect. Add more water to lighten the wash or more pigment to
darken the wash as you proceed down the paper. Other colors may
be added in the same manner. At the end of the wash wipe the
brush on a paper towel and soak up the excess wash like a sponge.
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Table salt sprinkled on a wet wash will cause tiny light spots as it
soaks up some of the pigment.
A wax crayon or candle drawn on the paper before a watercolor
wash blocks the wash.
Gouache or opaque watercolor may be painted under an area over
which acrylic paint is applied. When the acrylic is dry, if you spray
the surface with water the gouache will wash off leaving the acrylic
in the open areas. Some staining may occur from the pigments in
the gouache.
24. SEEING AND ANALYZING
Dont paint what you know about the subject. Paint what you see.
Art

is not what you see but what you make others see. -Degas

If you squint your eyes, the light and dark areas in whatever you're
painting will become more obvious. It also eliminates some of the
detail, which you can probably leave out of your painting too.
Work in the dark:
Well, not complete darkness, but in reduced light where you can't
see every last bit of detail. Try lighting a still-life with a strong lamp
from one side (oblique light). Or if you can't change the light, squint
your eyes so the lights and darks in your subject become stronger.
Leave stuff out:
Our brains are quite adept at filling in missing details, so you
needn't put down every single thing. Take a long hard look at your
subject, trying to decide which are the essential bits. Put down these
only, and then decide whether you want more detail or not. You'll be
surprised at how little can be necessary to capture the essence of
something.
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If you find your figures are ending up too upright, try exaggerating
the pose when you start to help counter a tendency to straighten up
the figures as you paint them. And a few times while you're
painting, check the pose by holding the brush (or a pencil) against
the figure across the shoulders, then the hips, and then the spine.
In Western society, we read from left to right, and seem to read
pictures the same way. So, when you paint a still life, it seems to
work better if the light enters from the left and the right side is
more shadowed. Also, the focal point should be in the right side of
the picture.
When you feel that somethings not right in your painting but can't
figure out what it is, turn it upside down. This way your brain is
more likely to see the shapes rather than interpreting them into the
subject of your painting, and it's easier to see which bits aren't
working. Looking at a painting in a mirror also helps you see
mistakes or areas that need working on.
Create a Blind Contour Drawing
A blind contour drawing is a drawing made without looking at the
piece of paper or picking up your pencil. You keep your eye on what
youre drawing and move your pencil or pen across the paper as
your eye moves across the outline of the subject. Draw your hand,
your computer, a colleague at their desk. Be adventurous and go
around the whole room drawing everyone and every bit of furniture.
Do it quickly and without worrying about the finished result -- its
about observation, not the final art.
Paint in Your Imagination
You cant set up your easel and canvas next to your desk, but you
can set it up in your mind and think through the steps in a painting.
While the subjects available may not be anything youd want to
paint for real (such as Still life with stapler and scissors) the
exercise of thinking through the stages of such a painting and
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mentally painting it is good practice. Work your imaginary brush

around the surfaces, add in the shadows and highlights, mix your
colors. One great advantage is that you never have to wait for the
paint to dry!
You might avoid painting what you know and not what you see.
Squint often or take off glasses to study the general composition.
We can recognize a person a block away without seeing any details.
What have we seen?
Close your eyes. What do you remember about the subject? Paint
that.
We can only focus on detail in a small area of our field of vision.
Why paint details all over the canvas?
How do you see the model? As edges defined by lines or as plane
shapes of various hues, values and textures?
Watch how the model looks at the edges meeting the background.
Are the edges sharp or do the forms turn into the space with blurred
edges?
We perceive a painting via our senses and simultaneously become
engaged in the process of making sense of the painting. This is the
process of interpretation. We may interpret a painting in a highly
conscious and carefully structured manner, or we may apply a more
intuitive process.
Be sure you have looked enough before you paint a brushstroke.
How do you see the model? As edges defined by lines or as plane
shapes of various hues, values and textures?
Watch how the model looks at the edges meeting the background.
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Are the edges sharp or do the forms turn into the space with blurred
edges?
Close your eyes. What do you remember about the subject? Paint
that.
Imagine that you are touching the subject with your brush.
25. COMPOSITION
If anything in a painting seems not to fit get rid of it. In the classical
sense composition is the logical organization of pictorial means. It
does not mean that everything we do while painting has to be logical
or that the control must be conscious. Decisions may be made
consciously or instinctively based on conscious training. Often these
logical decisions occur in reflection. Designing on a flat canvas
surface we can say that a painting is made of several different kinds
of interwoven pattern: a scheme of color, a scheme of light and dark,
a system of scale and intervals, an arrangement of shapes, an order
of small and large scale patterning, and a network of linear
rhythms.
If you can't decide where to place the elements in a painting, make
some quick sketches of them, cut these out and then move them
around on a sheet of paper until you get a composition that works.
Then stick them down so they don't accidentally move again!
Don't position the objects you want in a still life in a straight row -they'll look like soldiers on parade. Rather stagger them -- but not at
equal distances from each other! Or if you really want them in a
straight row, overlap them or paint them from an usual angle, such
as straight on or from above
Painting Composition Tip 1: Where's the Focal Point?
The focal point should draw the viewer's eye to it. Place the focal
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point (the thing that's the main subject of the painting) on one of
the 'intersection spots' from the Rule of Thirds, then check the other
elements in the painting, which should lead they eye towards this
point. It doesn't have to be an overt 'path', such as a road leading to
a house; it can be subtle, such as a color repeated in flowers. (Also,
don't try to include too much in one painting.)
Painting Composition Tip 2: Did You Use a Viewfinder?
Isolate the key elements in a scene and check their placement by
using a viewfinder.
Painting Composition Tip 3: Are the Values Varied?
Do a thumbnail sketch of your painting's composition in just three
values: white (light), black (dark), and grey (mid-tone). Now check
how much of each value its got. For a strong composition, you want
them to be in quite different amounts, not similar. Try this rule to
start: "two thirds, one third, and a little bit." For example, two
thirds dark in tone, one third light in tone, and a small area or
object that's mid-tone.
Painting Composition Tip 4: How Many Elements are There?
Have an odd number of elements in the painting rather than even.
For the reasons why, see
Painting Composition Tip 5: How Are the Elements Spaced?
It's rare to find neat and orderly arrangements of elements in
nature. Just think of the difference between a natural forest, where
the trees grow any which way, and a plantation, where the trees are
planted in evenly spaced rows. Varying the space between the
elements in your composition, the angles they lie at, and their sizes
makes a painting more interesting.
Painting Composition Tip 6: Are Any Elements Kissing?
Kissing, in this context, means just touching. Elements must either
be definitely apart or definitely overlapped. No kissing please, as
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this creates a weak, connected shape which will distract the viewer's
eye, causing a momentary pause as they puzzle it out.
Painting Composition Tip 7: Do Warm or Cool Colors Dominate?
It doesn't matter whether the overall feeling of the color in a
painting is warm or cool, it just shouldn't try to be both.
Painting Composition Tip 8: Is There Unity?
Do the elements in the painting's composition feel they belong
together, or are they separate bits that just happen to be in the
same painting? Help create unity by glazing over the whole painting
with a single color; you can always touch up the highlights again if
necessary.
Painting Composition Tip 9: Is the Underlying Composition
Obvious?
The painting isn't finished yet if the first thoughts of someone
seeing your painting is going to be analytical: "There's the focal
point, with a spot of yellow to highlight it, that line there leads my
eye in, that object was placed there for balance, etc".
Painting Composition Tip 10: Is There Variety?
Don't get stuck in a rut and use the same composition all the time,
no matter how successful it is. Vary where you put the horizon line,
where you put the focal point, swap between portrait (vertical) and
landscape (horizontal) shaped canvases.
One of the first things to decide in a composition is how many
elements or items there will be in it. And one of the simplest ways to
make a composition more dynamic is to have an odd number in the
composition, say three, five, or seven, rather than an even number,
say two, four, or six.
This way your eye and brain can't pair them up or group them
easily. There's somehow always one left over which keeps your eyes
moving across the composition.
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The Rule of Thirds is a basic composition rule popular among

photographers, but equally applicable to the composition of
paintings. Applying the rule of thirds to a painting means you'll
never have a painting that's split in half, either vertically or
horizontally, nor one with the main focus right in the centre like a
bull's-eye. Quite simply, divide a canvas in thirds both horizontally
and vertically, and place the focus of the painting either one third
across or one third up or down the picture, or where the lines
intersect.
MOVEMENT: All composition aims at movement. Without movement
there is no life. Movement in composition is the eye at greater speed
and the then slower, the close or separated changes of color and
tone, the slow or fast development of a shape. Static elements vs.
dynamic; shapes and lines which give repose and stability, and
shapes and lines seem to make motion. Horizontal lines are at rest
and stable; vertical lines are upright and stable; both relating to
gravitys pull and the horizontal plane of the earth. The vertical line
or axis of our body and the ground upon which we balance.
Diagonals being off balance either falling or ascending, the direction
of thrust of energy and friction are dynamic symbols of motion.
Movement begins on a canvas when we begin applying marks. A
mark between two others well be attracted to the nearest, a mark
near to the edge of the frame will be pulled to it, a mark on a line
will either be in the center and pulled equally to one end or the
other, or the nearer it is to one end the more it will be pulled
towards that end. Map the attractions and counter attractions in
your painting, and it will look like a map of a magnetic field. The
pull to the center, the pull to each side, with a special pull to the
center of each side and a big pull toward the corners.
--------------> (V to right = arrow)
-->------------ (Make it a light beam and it moves to left.)
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\ __(Make it an alligators hinged jaw and the movement is vertical.)

/
You might avoid concentrating on one area of the canvas while
neglecting the rest: the whole of the canvas is important.
You might avoid adding bits and pieces in your composition: keep
things in larger groups.
You might avoid losing the big shapes and values.
Nothing in the composition should be so strong that the rest of the
composition looks neglected. I study my composition to see if
anything looks too important, I change that part to make it less
important, or I find something else in the composition and make it
more important.
Keep everything connected. Every aspect of the composition should
be connected to something else in the composition. I think of this as
Theme With Variation. If I use a big red circle, perhaps I need
another circle or another red or another big thing. I probably should
not have another big red circle. If I use a black and white cow, I may
need another animal or organic shape, or I may need another
instance of black and white spots, etc., and so on.
Repeat hues in various places in varying sizes to connect areas
leading the eye.
On a light value background a few well placed dark shapes will aid
the eye movement in the painting.
Likewise, on a dark background, light shapes do the same.
An equal amount of dark and light shapes creates a kind of stasis
that can be boring to the viewer.
Composition is a painting's overall visual organization. Composition
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refers to the specific manner in which the visual elements are

arranged across the picture plane as well as how the visual elements
may create forms in pictorial depth.
Georgia O'Keeffe defined composition as the challenge of "how to fill
a space beautifully."
To analyze relationships of visual elements to one another and to
the whole, a painter learns to look at "the big picture" all at once.
PAINTING THE LARGEST SHAPES FIRST (positive and negative shapes)
A painter divides, embellishes, and enlivens the picture plane by
combining a variety of shapes, colors, values, textures, volumes, and
lines in any way he chooses.
(Only in rare instances have artists experimented with painting a
canvas all one color.)
In order to make the picture plane an integrated whole, many
painters first create a simplified composition, then add complexity
and refinements in later stages. Some artists even employ a style of
image-making in which the final product retains this effect of
simplicity.
In organizing the picture plane, many painters find it is most
effective to begin each composition by concentrating on the largest
shapes first. The process of starting with the large shapes first is
known as blocking in. At this stage, the painter develops an overall
structure for the composition, usually emphasizing the basic
contrast of lights and darks by massing them together as prominent
shapes that interlock to fill the entire picture plane. After blocking
these shapes in, further refinement proceeds: shapes gain more
detail, the larger shapes are broken up into smaller components as
necessary to define the subject fully, edges are refined, more color
distinctions are created, and the shapes are defined with positions
in space. Even at the blocking in stage, the artist has begun to
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articulate how the shapes of the painting behave in two specific

ways on the picture plane:
First, shapes may function as flat areas of value, texture, and color
on the picture plane, and simultaneously, the same shapes may
"read" as subject matter or parts of subject matter seen in depth
from specific angles.
Secondly, the negative shapes should be as distinctive and as
important to the visual organization of the picture plane as the
positive shapes.
Positive shapes are those flat shapes on the picture plane, which are
intended to represent something in a painting. The spaces in
between the positive shapes are called negative shapes or spaces.
Sometimes this is referred to as figure-ground relationships or
object-interspace relationships. These fit together like a jigsaw
puzzle.
BALANCE
Symmetrical balance:
Symmetrical balance is an equal distribution of the art elements on
each side of an imaginary line down the middle of the painting each
side mirroring the forms of the other side exactly or nearly exact.
Asymmetrical balance:
Asymmetrical balance is achieved when the opposite sides of a
composition each contain the same total visual weight.
Asymmetrical balance is a more indirect process.
First, an increase in visual weight is usually produced by any
feature which is conspicuous compared to its surroundings, and the
more salient the feature the more weight that is produced.
Secondly, visual weight is usually increased in proportion to how far
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a feature is located away from the center line of the composition.

CONTRAST:
In painting, contrast is a relationship of opposing qualities. For
example, a painting consisting simply of circles and triangles of
many different sizes and colors would be a contrast of shapes and
hues. To make a contrast more compelling an artist often selects
one quality for emphasis, while the contrasting quality plays the
role of providing variation, relief, or drama -- think of a painting of
dozens of green circles and one red triangle.
Although contrast can involve subject matter (such as a painting of
one smiling face among a crowd of frowning expressions), most
often contrast involves formal qualities, the use of materials, and/or
techniques. Developing contrasts is a strategy that is integral to the
organization of most abstract paintings' compositions. Why?
Because contrast is key to the development of a dynamic
relationship between parts and between parts and the whole.
Contrast keeps the viewer's eye moving.
While the concept of contrast may, at first glance, appear to work
against compositional unity, this is not necessarily the case. In fact,
a rule of thumb subscribed to by many artists is that an artwork is
not complete unless a contrast is asserted and then brought to a
unified resolution. Much as the concept of asymmetry continues to
demand balance, the concept of contrast ultimately must be
contained within an overall equilibrium of competing forces.
In many paintings, contrasting elements occur on multiple levels,
often serving as a recurring motif.
While contrast is discussed most frequently in terms of a dichotomy
(two qualities that seem to be at opposite ends of some scale from
each other), contrast can just as certainly involve qualities that
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range fluidly along a spectrum. In exploring the qualities listed

below, you should think of each as constituting relative directions
on a continuum, not as fixed polar opposites.
At a basic level, visual elements can be related in contrasting ways,
such as:
A contrast of colors --chromatic / achromatic
saturated colors / neutral colors
pairs of complementary colors
dark / light
warm / cool
transparent / opaque
A contrast of shapes, planes and volumes --geometric / organic
rounded / angular
flat / curved
large / small
many / few
foreshortened / not foreshortened
A contrast of texture and surface treatment --rough / smooth
thick / thin
glossy / matte
A contrast of linear qualities --straight / rounded
thick / thin
continuous / broken (implied)
A contrast of spatial dimensions --flatness / depth
near / far
Compositional climax (Here the contrast involves the complexity of
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elements coalescing in one area --- the compositional climax --relative to the reduced complexity in all other areas of the
composition.)
Movement / stasis (Implications of dynamic movement contrast with
areas of rest in a composition.)
Structural contrast (This can involve any contrast of the major
compositional structure, such as vertical / horizontal.)
A contrast can involve multiple differences.
Avoid shelf placement and repeating the picture plane. Look for
unusual points of view and diagonal action lines.
Repeat hues in various places in varying sizes to connect areas
thereby leading the eye.
On a light value background a few well placed dark shapes will aid
the eye movement in the painting.
Likewise, on a dark background, light shapes do the same.
An equal amount of dark and light shapes creates a kind of stasis
that can be boring to the viewer.
Look at your painting in a mirror to help see the general
composition.
What area demands the most attention in your painting? Why? Does
it deserve to dominate and attract that much attention? If not,
consider how you can obscure, change value, hue, texture to remove
it from grabbing all the attention.
Most portraits place the chin of the subject slightly to the left or
right of where the diagonals from each corner cross.
Watch edges and corners. Corners are like arrows pointing out of
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the picture. Control and counter this movement. Edges are like
magnets and draw shapes placed too close to the edges to those
edges creating a spatial tension not helpful to composition.
Diagonals are action lines and add life to a painting. Use counter
diagonals to slow down the action.
Keep major shapes away from the edges and the corners. Edges are
magnets and draw all thing to themselves. Corners are arrows
pointing away from the painting. All corners must be contained.
Artists have used the Golden Section for centuries to set up a
composition.
26. POINT
A point is a touch, a dot, a small piece of paint.
Points may be connected by our eyes to form lines and shapes.
Point equals touch. Line equals the finger moving over the object.
Flat hand covers and describes the plane. The eye works in concert
with the finger following the contour.
When this miming with the finger touches surface whether it be
cave wall, dust on a floor, paper or canvas a symbolic representation
of the object is recorded. Dance moves from the floor to the wall or
in the case of Pollock the wall is placed on the floor. Interior lines
may be added suggesting overlapping shapes, which symbolize
sections and changes of plane within the object.
The gestures of life are selected, simplified and translated into line
in order to describe the significance of events according to their
structure, character and movement.
A point is a touch, a dot, a small piece of paint.
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Points may be connected to suggest lines and shapes.

27. LINE
LINE, SHAPE, and COLORS are basic ingredients of a painting.
Contrasts of these along with similarities. Very few and simple
shapes can produce very complicated designs. Strength is in
repeating motifs, the echoes and similarities as much as in the
differences and contrasts.
Gesture translates an event and also the emotion of the event.
Our gestural marks relate to our emotional state. Marks made in
anger or fright will differ from marks made in mourning or passion.
How the artist feels and personality is revealed in the marks made
by the artist.
Color and shape may be deliberately chosen but the marks are
personal and intuitive.
Line does not have a physical existence. It is an idea related to the
direction of movement, the distance between two points or the
boundary of an area. In art, line symbolically expresses movement
and defines objects surrounding them and separating them from
other objects.
We observe the line of a hill or the contour of a figure. We touch a
plank of wood. Line is not a part of the hill, the figure, or the plank.
Line is a gesture, which the hand makes in following the eye along
the silhouette of the hill, in surrounding the shape of the figure with
a contour, in feeling the edge of the plank, in recalling the
movement of the oceans wave or the trajectory of a rocket, the
flight of the fly. The drawn line is the record of the movement of the
hand describing objects and their behavior.
The first measure of quality in a painting is the quality of line
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Dishonesty, vanity, cowardice, laziness, courage and intelligence

will show.
Line conveys specific emotions.
Apes and infants scraping in the dust make straight lines, curves,
and wavy line and the circular line that closes in upon itself. With
awe primitive people and children name these as the spear and the
bow the serpent or water, the net or the cross roads, the moon or a
figure, grasping at reality with these first symbols in the magical
twilight of their endeavor to control themselves and their
environment. The mark is made first and endowed with meaning.
Each symbol stands for many things. Shapes and lines in painting
look back to a wellspring, a source of inherited unconscious
meanings and poetic evocations. Form these lines of archetypal
significance the sign language of abstract art draws its power.
To put a line round something is to name it and define it from its
surroundings.
If you've trouble painting thin lines, try revealing them instead of
painting them. Start by painting a background color in the color you
want the lines to be (in the example in the photo, this is black). Let
it dry completely then paint the overall color (in the photo: gray in
the background wings and white in the foreground ones).
While the second layer is still wet, scratch through the paint to
reveal the underlying color. A pencil works well, as does a toothpick.
Technically, it's called sgraffito.
Scratch out contrasting lines by painting over a dry area and use
the end of a brush handle or palette knife to remove small lines
revealing the underneath color. Toothpicks or small nails may also
be used. Rembrandt did hair, eyelashes, eyebrows this way.
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28. SHAPE
Shapes that overlap give space.
Apply masking fluid:
Masking fluid enables you to block out areas a watercolor so you
don't have to worry about accidentally painting there. For example,
instead of painstakingly trying to paint around the petals of a white
daisy, paint the petals in masking fluid first. You can then paint
freely safe in the knowledge that your white petals will appear
pristine when you rub off the masking fluid (do it as soon as your
painting is dry; it becomes harder to remove the longer it's on the
paper).
THINK NEGATIVE:
Or rather, think about negative spaces. These are the spaces
between objects or parts of an object, or around it. For example the
hole left by the handle on a coffee mug. Spend time looking at
these spaces and mentally trace the shapes they create. Negative
space is very useful when confronted with 'difficult' subjects as by
first drawing the negative spaces you build up a strong basic form
on which you can then work further.
PLASTIC ANALOGIES:
Shapes on canvas have spatial properties and represent something.
Abstract repetition of shapes and proportions and patterns take on
the power of magic. The same shape repeated in different objects, in
trees, in rock, or water or sky, or in the shapes of human beings or
animals, and in negative shapes left between, in reverse, on the
same scale or on a different scale, not only provides a melodic theme
but also poetic links which make associations and affinities between
objects and events and areas of the painting, or point dramatic
contrasts. These metaphorical links may be between patterned
areas and plain or modeled solids echoes by flat shapes or between
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parallel lines of which one moves into the picture and one across the
surface; in this way the movement of landscape continues the
movement of figures, or the inanimate objects in an interior make
their personalities felt. The formal link is always a psychological
link.
AMBIGUITY:
Shapes and colors can be read in alternate ways. A form
representing one thing my remind us or a variety of other things--by its own shape or the shape combined with others or when it
echoes some other part of the canvas. Landscape/human body; Still
life/city; human body/temple; rocks/clowns; vegetation/portrait.
Simile and metaphor occur in painting as in speech. Analogy
extends human understanding.
Shapes may be arrows pointing to other shapes leading the eye or
may be static like a square or circle.
Shapes may be arrows pointing to other shapes leading the eye or
may be static like a square or circle.
29. PLANES
Planes are any change of value, color or texture that you see.
Planes suggest space by their dominant direction if they are not
equal to the picture plane, they advance or recede. Brushstrokes
reinforce this hint of space.
THE PICTURE PLANE:
All lines, shapes and colors have a twofold role in depth and on the
surface of the canvas. (The rhomboid on the surface is the rectangle
in depth). A painting is not fulfilled unless the composition is
performing both these functions. Painting is first of all organization
on a flat surface.
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__

A rhomboid appears as a receding rectangle. /__\

To establish an emphasis on the whole painting at once, many
painters concentrate their initial focus on the picture plane.
Paintings typically are painted on a flat support such as a wall or
stretched canvas, and the picture plane is the upper flat surface of
the support to which paint is applied. While some painters
concentrate primarily on creating strong surface patterns directly
on the picture plane, other painters strive also to create an illusion
of depth and space behind the picture plane, as if viewers were
looking at real, solid forms instead of flat designs of paint. Even the
most illusionistic painters though, know that each painting must
also hold together as a flat design on the picture plane, and if they
lose sight of the surface design, their painting will be less effective.
When focusing on the picture plane, you concentrate on the visual
elements (lines, shapes, colors, values, and textures) that you make
with paint. No matter what subject matter you depict and what
style you use, the process of painting involves manipulating visual
elements on the picture plane. As you orchestrate these elements
into relationships, you emphasize how the artwork is seen all at
once in its entirety as an integrated arrangement. Even painters
with inherently "interesting" subject matter require effective
relationships of visual elements to hold a viewer's interest.
Relationships are created when elements are seen not individually
or in isolation but in relationship to each other. Relationships are
primarily created by either pronounced similarity, contrast,
position, or alignment.
29. PLANES
Planes suggest space by their dominant direction if they are not
equal to the picture plane, they advance or recede.
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Planes occur where any hue, value and texture change.

30. VOLUME
Don't paint outlines:
Objects are three-dimensional, they don't have outlines. If you're
unsure about this, look at your body and see if you've got an outline
or if you're 3-D. You do have an 'edge' when you look at e.g. your leg,
but as you move, so this changes. Instead of drawing an outline (or
painting one) and then filling it in, paint the object as a whole.
On rounded forms brush around the form, not up and down.
To suggest three-dimensional form you must have ALL these
represented:
High light or point of brightest areas
Light areas facing the light.
Shadow areas turning away from the light source.
Core or darkest shadow areas hidden from the light.
Reflected light bouncing off light areas reflecting into dark shadow
areas.
Cast shadows where a form is between the light and another surface
or form.
Some artists paint the edges of shapes emphasizing the linear
design.
Ingres
Picasso
Pollock
Other artists focus on what is happening inside the shapes painting
the various planes of forms.
Rembrandt
Cezanne
Monet
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31. VALUE
Practice Your Tones
This is another great one for meetings and will be less likely to
attract the attention of your boss than doodling. Take a pencil and
draw a gradated scale of tones, from dark to light (or light to dark),
seeing how many distinctive tones you can create (you should be
able to get at least 10 with a pencil). You may find it easier initially
if you lightly draw a series of blocks in which to create the
individual tones.
Czanne substituted color for tone.
Van Gogh substituted calligraphic marks for interior modeling.
If we reject modeling form, we must abandon chiaroscuro or light
and shadow.
The lightness or darkness of a color is tone. This is influenced by
the planes facing the light source being lighter; tints and planes
turned away from the light source being shades of color. Shadowed
planes may be modified by reflected light. Tone is altered by texture
relative to the direction of the light and the type of texture. Local
color affects tone. Lemons vs. limes. Distance and atmosphere affect
tone. Tone models form, local tone, lighting conditions. Composition
occurs through light and dark arrangement.
Painting may be strong color or strong tone. They are not used
equally in one work. Breughel used a discreet combination of both,
balancing strength of color against strength of tone and separating
strong local color with neutral warm and cold areas. Colors are most
effective when close in tone.
The value or lightness and darkness of colors are associated with
the saturation of intensity of color.
Dark shadow areas may be painted flat with thin paint while
highlights are painted thick to catch the light.
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If you dry out the brush on a paper towel you can scumble or
drybrush a lighter value over a dark or a different hue on top of
another to break up the colors. Dark over light may also be done in
this manner.
Acrylics dry darker in value.
Watercolor dries lighter and most acrylics dry darker in value.
Dark shadow areas may be painted flat with thin paint while
highlights are painted thick to catch the light.
Without dark areas no light area will look bright enough.
If you think a painting lacks impact, try increasing the contrast of
light and dark.
Subject matter may look best in a painting in which high key or
light values are dominant.
Likewise, some subjects may look best in a low key or dark tones
and values painting.
Nature displays a broad range of values with hundreds of variations.
Paint must represent this range usually with only five to eight
values.
If you are painting light and shadow, figure out where the light
source is located and imagine a string from that light source
extending to the closest points on the planes of you subject. Paint
the same light values on each plane. Areas hidden from the light
should be the same dark value in shadow.
Contrast light and dark areas especially where their shapes meet to
make the light and dark areas appear more intense.
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32. SPACE
Shapes that overlap give space.
Because we move in time, artists have to address space and
movement.
The difference between flat pattern painting and a painting in depth
is a matter of degree. There is always a design on the surface,
always some degree of suggested depth (or projection).
Once I paint with my acrylics, I mix a translucent glaze with an
oyster or off-white. Coat all/parts of the painting with this. It
creates the illusion of distance. Then go over the painting with the
acrylics for those images that you want to appear closer. It works
great particularly with murals.
To achieve an illusion of distance, add a pale blue instead of a white
to the distant objects (hills, whatever). Or put another way, when
lightening colors to achieve a sense of distance, use pale blue not
white paint. Things far away have little contrast and are always
blue-ish. The bluer, the farther away they are. Distant objects
should also not have shadows darker than mid tones.
A painting can be a window through which we see a space or it can
be a 2-D area of arranged shapes with no illusion of space.
As soon as a plane turns away from the picture plane it suggests
space.
Brushstrokes reinforce this hint of space.
A painting can be a window through which we see a space or it can
be a 2-D area of arranged shapes with no illusion of space.
In a space painting, values get lighter in the distance. Hues get
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cooler and lose saturation and contrast. There is less detail in the
distance as things get hazy.
Warm colors appear closer in space. Cool colors look farther away In
a spatial painting.
33. COLOR
Local color belongs to a particular object or substance.
Impressionists disregarded local color so their tree trunks are not
always brown and their bananas are not always yellow.
Every color has meanings and feelings associated with it.
The eye can discern painted surfaces from dyed fabrics weathering
from intrinsic coloring, transparency from glitter, opacity from
limpidity, solid from liquid, vegetable from animal, leaf from fur and
fur from feather; sky from water, liquid from vapor, shadow from
substance. The eye is involved in an intellectual activity. The
subtlety of visually descriptive words in any language supports this.
Eskimos name seventeen different kinds of white for snow. Why?
One warns of danger, another is good for hunting, one is bad for
walking, and another announces a change of season.
The language of color is not abstract but extremely concrete and
universal.
In painting color is always interpretation. The origins of emotional
and symbolic interpretation are factual and from experience. The
meaning of symbolic color may be concealed from the intellect while
instantly grasped by intuition. Colors have universal associations.
Mix a color equal to RUST. What associations come to mind? Earth?
Iron ore? Rusted metal? The color of animals? Lichens? Autumnal
vegetation? Man made metal: Ploughshares? Ships? Cranes?
Ancient artifacts? Cowhide? Harness? Abstract ideas: industry?
Maritime adventure and wealth? Decay? Poverty? Curbing of
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natural forces? What smells come to mind? Is the color friendly or

menacing in different contexts? Change it so slightly to look like
DRIED BLOOD and what associations come to mind? See how direct
is our experience of color?
In painting, all color begins as local color or the pigment used. Color
conditioned by light is tonal.
A color has hue (its name), value (its lightness or darkness), and
saturation (its intensity or purity). Addition of its compliment
reduces the saturations does the addition of white or black or gray
to a color. A color will advance or recede based on whether it is light
or dark, warm or cool.
If you are doing barn roofs, try adding a subtle reflection of the sky
color. It sounds strange, but it will liven up the painting.
Most any combination of two deep, dark colors -- one warm, the
other cool -- will produce a dark, usually interesting color. Try
Ultramarine and burnt umber (rather than raw umber), Thalo blue
and burnt sienna, dark blues with earth red-browns, You can get a
blue-black by mixing thalo blue and cadmium red light. Which side
of the color spectrum your 'black' leans towards depends on the
balance of colors in your mixture.
Thalo green, Thalo blue mixed with Alizarin crimson, Acra Magenta
or Thio violet make an excellent dark.
If you paint white over white and wet on wet, and still your white is
not white, there could be two reasons for this.
(1) Remember shade and light, there is no light without shade and
vice versa. Also complementary colors are opposite colors, so when
placed side by side they appear most contrasty... so white is whiter if
near deep black.
White is whiter if used directly from the tube ... you could wait until
your painting is dried to do your brightest white.
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Also when painting directly from the tube remember ambient light
will play on the texture of your colors, I mean it will appear whiter
if you use its texture to catch ambient light. I often paint my whites
in "horizontal" strokes or in "X" strokes to make it catch the light.
No matter how green an landscape, there are other colors in it too.
Even an Irish landscape. Too much green makes for a dull landscape
picture. Mix a few reddish greens and yellow greens for foliage,
especially trees and grasses.
An extremely useful painting tool is a 'spot card'. When a color is
viewed through the hole in the 'spot card', the color is isolated from
the surrounding colors and you can see its true hue and value.
Remember what Leonardo da Vinci said, "Never trust your eyes for
they err constantly."
To make one, take a white (some use neutral gray or black, but I
prefer white) piece of mat board or cardboard (paint it white if
necessary) about three inches by four inches, and punch a hole in
the middle with a hole punch.
Then when you want to match a color, hold the spot card over the
color you are trying to match and place your palette knife with the
mixed color on it half way into the opening of the hole. This lets you
see immediately how close, or far away, you are to matching the
color.
Remember, it's important to not 'shadow' the color you are looking
at with the card. Stay far enough away to allow light to strike the
object. And to ensure that you've the same light striking the color on
your palette knife as on the color you're trying to match.
Try unrealistic colors:
Instead of worrying whether you've got accurate colors, try some
that are completely unrealistic. Paint a self-portrait in your favorite
colors rather than skin tones. The result will probably be a lot more
emotive and certainly dramatic.
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To paint ginger hair (or fur), I never use tube orange as it's a color
that never looks natural unless you're painting a goldfish. I
generally start with a green under painting, doing all the shading in
sap and/or marine green first. Then I use burnt umber, yellowed
and lightened with either an ocher or yellow for very bright ginger
hair. (Plus use white to lighten it further.) Shading I do in greens or
blues, depending on how the light is falling in the painting and the
atmosphere I want to achieve.
If the burnt umber is too deep and dark, I use some raw umber.
This is a color often ignored because it doesn't look like much on its
own, but it's invaluable when painting reddish or ginger fur or hair.
Sometimes I also use a tinge of red, just a smidgen, in the mix, and
tame it all with a last glaze of white.
To get skin tones that really glow, rather than being flat, lifeless,
and muddy, apply your color in thin glazes (layers) and let each dry
completely before applying the next. This way your colors mix
optically on the paper (as you look at them) and create a depth you
simply don't get from mixing your colors and applying them all at
once.
Identify Colors
Start looking at things with the colors and pigments on your palette
in mind. Try and identify specific colors, or mixes of colors, you see.
So, its not just a blue folder, but a cobalt blue one. Its not just a
dubious brown office partition, but one that could be recreated in
paint by a titanium buff undercoat with burnt umber speckled on
top. Is it a bluish red or a orangey-red in-tray. And so on.
Space is associated with representational painting. Tactile
sensations through modeling of light and shadow symbolize
sculptural solids. Painting in flat tones gives the greatest symbolic
significance. Relative opacity or translucency, weight, brilliance or
dullness, darkness and lightness, suggestions of object and ground,
cool and warm, give to each color an implication which the eye will
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instinctively read in relationship to the visual experience by which

we know the phenomenal world.
Flat colors laid next to each other produce the sensation of space.
Warm advance, cool recede.
You might avoid using too many colors: use three or four with white
and see how many variations you can arrive at.
You might avoid using too much white: this makes paintings chalky
and cold.
Color mixed on the canvas will be more alive than color mixed on a
palette.
Try not mixing the hues completely saving some of the identity of
the components.
Wherever you are you can mix colors in your mind. Start with the
basic hue and add value, adjust chroma till you understand color.
Any tube color can be mixed with Hansa or Cadmium Yellow
Medium hue, Thalo Green blue shade, Thalo Blue green shade, Thio
Violet or Acra Magenta, Napthol or Cadmium Red Light Hue,
Yellow Ochre or Oxide plus White and Black.
Need a special color? Check your pastels. Scrape off some pigment
and mix with acrylic paint, medium or gel to paint with the color.
Mix more of any color than you think you will need so you won't
have to stop and remix while working.
Color mixed on the canvas will be more alive than color mixed on a
palette.
Try not mixing the hues completely saving some of the identity of
the components.
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Where ever you are you can mix colors in your mind. Start with the
basic hue and add value, adjust chroma till you understand color.
Any tube color can be matched or mixed with Hansa or Cadmium
Yellow Medium hue, Thalo Green blue shade, Thalo Blue green
shade, Thio Violet or Acra Magenta, Napthol or Cadmium Red Light
Hue, Yellow Ochre or Oxide plus White and Black.
The red, yellow and blue made by various paint companies have
traces of the other colors so we need six primaries. A warm and cold
red, warm and cold yellow and a warm and cold blue to use as
primaries so you do not mix secondaries and tertiaries with traces of
compliment when we want the highest chroma.
Add a color to white or a lighter hue to make a tint.
Add black to a color or a darker hue to a color to make a shade.
If you add black to a cool color add a tiny amount of the next color
down so if you add black to green add a tiny amount of blue.
Likewise, when adding white to a color add a tiny amount of the
next color up so if adding white to red add a tiny amount of orange.
Pink is not a shade of red. Wine color is not a tint. Do not confuse
the terms.
Add color to gray to make a tone.
What is your favorite color? Use it with it's compliment or pick the
two colors next to the compliment hue on a color circle.
Colors will look more intense if they are used with tones of neutral
areas.
Color may be altered slightly by painting over a dry area and wiping
off with a dry or wet paper towel.
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Add red, blue or burnt umber to black to add color to the black and
enhance any gray mixtures.
Flesh tones: Burnt sienna, cadmium red light, yellow oxide/ochre,
Naples yellow, cerulean blue for Caucasian flesh tones. Do not use
black or cadmium red medium or ultramarine blue.
Acrylic paint flesh tones:
Pale skin
Burnt sienna + white
Add raw umber, cad or napthol red light, crimson, hansa yellow,
lemon yellow, cerulean blue.
Lips: burnt sienna and crimson and white
Burnt sienna and white and napthol red and burnt sienna.
Naples yellow and napthol red light
Burnt sienna and white and napthol red light and cerulean.
Hair:
Naples yellow and raw umber
Yellow ochre and raw umber
Hansa yellow and burnt umber
Yellow ochre and raw umber and napthol red light
Eyes:
Raw umber and Paynes gray
Yellow ochre and cerulean
Naples yellow and Paynes gray
Paynes gray and raw umber and titanium white
Mid tone skin
Burnt umber + white
Add raw sienna, napthol or cad red light, crimson, hands yellow,
burnt sienna and cerulean blue.
Lips:
Napthol red light and raw umber
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Napthol red light and cerulean and white

Crimson and Naples yellow
Crimson and cerulean blue and Naples yellow
Hair:
Burnt sienna and Paynes gray
Raw umber and cerulean blue
Burnt umber and cerulean
Burnt umber and Paynes gray and white
Eyes:
Burnt umber and raw sienna
Napthol red light and cerulean blue and hansa yellow
Dark skin
Raw umber + white
Add napthol or cad red light, crimson, hansa yellow, Naples yellow,
cerulean blue, Paynes gray.
Lips:
napthol red light and raw umber
Napthol red light and raw umber and white
Napthol red light and Paynes gray
Crimson and cerulean blue and Naples yellow
Hair:
Burnt umber and Paynes gray
Napthol red light and cerulean blue and raw sienna
Eyes:
Burnt umber and Naples yellow
Burnt sienna and Paynes gray and Naples yellow
Basic Colors for Water:
Ultramarine blue and phthalo green are the colors for the Southern
seas.
Used alone or with their complimentaries, or mixed with other
greens, yellow, or white. The Northern and wintry seas are painted
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with colors that are more subdued or grayed. Burnt sienna, yellow
ochre and white or yellow ochre and white are good highlight colors
and are useful for painting.
The creamy froth of ocean breakers and rough waves. White makes
a good highlight on the open sea for reflected light.
Stormy seas:
Cobalt blue and raw umber.
Trough of waves:
Phthalo green and alizarin crimson.
Big waves:
Phthalo green and ultramarine for deep water. Add more green
nearer shore. Phthalo green for green seen through extreme waves
against the light.
Green reflections under boats in sea water:
Phthalo green with a little raw sienna.
Warm sandy beach:
Raw umber, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue plus white as needed.
Rocks:
Burnt umber and cobalt blue plus add white as needed.
Burnt umber and ultramarine blue and viridian plus white.
Smoke:
Cobalt blue and white.
Ultramarine blue and burnt sienna plus white as required.
Snow:
Snow is generally painted with white tinted with the color of the
reflected light. This color can vary greatly. It may be gray, blue,
violet or even red or yellow under some conditions. Shadows are
most often cool.
Hair colors:
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Blond:
Basic tone- yellow ochre, cadmium yellow light and white. Lighter
tones:
Cadmium yellow light and white.
Highlights:
A little alizarin crimson with a lot of white.
Shadows:
Alizarin crimson and phthalo blue mixed into basic tone.
Raw sienna and a touch of burnt umber.
To make these mixtures work for a red head, add a touch of
cadmium orange or burnt sienna to all the mixtures and use more of
a bluish mixture for highlights, even more blue for the shadows.
0ther mixtures for blond:
Yellow ochre or raw sienna and burnt umber.
Brunette:
Basic tone:
Burnt umber, burnt sienna and some white.
Lighter tones:
Add a little alizarin crimson to a very light gray.
Highlight:
Add a little alizarin crimson to a very light gray.
Shadow:
Add some alizarin crimson and phthalo blue to a basic tone
Gray hair:
Basic tone:
Black and white and some burnt umber.
Lighter tones:
Add more white to the basic mixture and a touch of yellow ochre.
Highlight:
White with a tiny amount of alizarin crimson.
Shadows:
Add some alizarin crimson and phthalo blue into
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a tone of gray made by mixing black and white.

Black hair:
Basic tone:
Burnt umber and ultramarine blue.
Avoid mixing any basic tone so light that the lighter
tones don't show.
Basic mixtures for lips:
Men:
Burnt sienna mixed with alizarin crimson. Use alizarin crimson in
the shadow areas. Blend edges into flesh tones.
Women:
Burnt sienna mixed with alizarin crimson plus cadmium red light.
Use darker reds of the same hue in the shadow areas.
Basic colors for eyes:
There are three distinct color areas in the eye:
White - Iris - Pupil.
The white of the eye should not be painted pure white but should be
made from a light flesh color with enough white added to make it
appear white. The white of the eye should never have a yellow cast
as this is the color of someone who is not healthy - unless this is the
desired look.
The iris or colored part of the eye should be a grayed color, only the
predominant color should be painted and any other colors only
hinted at.
The pupil should not, in most cases, be pure black but rather one of
mixtures used to make a very black gray. Black may be added to
darken. In order to show the pupil in eyes which have a black iris,
paint the iris with a black-gray and use black for the pupil.
Highlights can be the same color used for the white of the eye.
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Flesh mixtures:
Yellow ochre plus alizarin crimson plus white.
Raw sienna plus alizarin crimson plus white.
Burnt sienna plus white.
Alizarin crimson plus permanent green light plus white.
Acra violet plus permanent green light plus white.
Ultramarine blue plus cadmium yellow orange plus white.
Cadmium red light plus permanent green light plus white.
Cadmium red light plus phthalo green plus white.
Cadmium red medium plus permanent green light plus white.
Red oxide or light red or Indian red plus raw sienna plus white.
Cadmium red light plus yellow ochre plus white.
Cadmium red light plus burnt sienna plus white.
Burnt sienna plus yellow ochre plus white.
Alizarin crimson plus cadmium yellow plus yellow ochre plus white.
Flesh mixture or tint plus chromium oxide green.
Darker shades of red:
Red oxide plus raw sienna plus white.
Red oxide plus raw umber plus white.
Green tones:
Phthalo green plus red oxide plus white.
Grays:
Red oxide plus black and white.
Black flesh mixture:
Red oxide plus burnt umber plus white.
Shadowed flesh:
Cobalt violet plus alizarin crimson plus permanent green light plus
cadmium yellow light.
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Dioxazine purple plus permanent green light plus cadmium yellow

light.
Burnt umber plus permanent green light plus cadmium yellow light.
Beard areas:
Phthalo green plus raw umber plus cadmium red light plus white.
Add greens to any of the above flesh mixtures.
Highlights:
Add white to any of the above flesh mixtures.
Cadmium yellow light plus burnt sienna and white.
Ultramarine blue plus yellow ochre plus a touch of alizarin crimson
plus white.
Alizarin crimson plus white.
Landscapes:
Add white to all mixtures.
Grass:
Viridiam or phthalo green and raw sienna.
Phthalo green and cadmium yellow light.
Phthalo green and yellow ochre and cadmium yellow light.
Yellow ochre and ultramarine blue.
Raw sienna and ultramarine blue.
Phthalo blue and yellow ochre.
Phthalo blue and raw sienna.
Leaves: Spring and summer
Highlights:
White and permanent green light and cadmium yellow light.
Basic tones:
Permanent green, phthalo blue and yellow ochre.
Permanent green light and yellow ochre.
Permanent green light and cadmium yellow light.
Permanent green light and raw sienna.
Permanent green light and yellow ochre.
Permanent green light and cadmium yellow light.
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Phthalo green and raw sienna.

Phthalo green and burnt sienna.
Phthalo green and burnt umber..
Shadows:
Permanent green light, phthalo blue, yellow ochre, raw sienna,
phthalo green.
Phthalo blue and or burnt sienna.
Optic light:
Top light from sky:
White and cobalt blue and raw sienna.
Reflected light from the ground:
Yellow ochre and burnt sienna.
Autumn leaves:
Alizarin crimson and raw sienna.
Permanent green light and burnt umber.
Burnt sienna and cadmium orange.
Cadmium orange and burnt sienna and red oxide-no white.
Cadmium yellow light, cadmium orange, red oxide- no white.
Permanent green light, cadmium yellow light and raw sienna - no
white.
Permanent green light, raw sienna, cadmium orange and white.
Cadmium yellow light and red oxide.
Cadmium yellow light and burnt sienna.
Tree trunks and branches:
Cobalt blue, yellow ochre, and
raw sienna.
Phthalo green and red oxide.
Cobalt blue and burnt umber.
Red oxide and ultramarine blue.
Distances:
Cobalt blue and alizarin crimson.
Broken foregrounds with earth showing through:
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Red oxide and yellow ochre.

Alizarin crimson and viridian or phthalo green.
Red oxide and ultramarine blue.
Weeds in foreground:
Phthalo green and raw sienna.
Phthalo blue and raw umber.
Roads and paths:
Yellow ochre and red oxide.
Burnt umber, cobalt blue and phthalo green.
Various gray mixtures:
Skies:
Cool gray:
Cobalt blue and cadmium red light plus white.
Cobalt blue and red oxide plus white.
Warm gray:
Cobalt blue, red oxide and yellow ochre plus white.
Dark gray:
Phthalo blue and red oxide plus white.
Blue sky:
Cerulean blue plus white.
Ultramarine blue blended through cobalt blue mixed with cadmium
red light or alizarin crimson at the horizon. Tint with white.
Raw umber with yellow ochre and white.
Chromium green earth with yellow ochre and white make stormy
skies.
The strange greenish-black often seen in skies just before a storm
can be made by adding any yellow and black with the addition of
white to lighten it.
Clouds:
Cast shadows from clouds are generally darker underneath than on
top. The edges of clouds are generally highlighted. Sunset clouds
must be painted from observation. Cloud formations follow definite
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patterns depending upon the type of cloud.

Basic color mixtures for clouds:
White, tinted for the reflected light and modified to show the
modeling of the cloud, is the basic color.
Yellow added to the cloud will give it a feeling of sunny warmth,
while blue or violet will make it seem icy and cold.
Gray clouds are made from the various gray mixtures.
Cobalt blue or ultramarine blue with red oxide plus white.
Cobalt blue, yellow ochre and red oxide plus white.
Black and raw umber plus white.
Moonlight:
Ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. Lighten as necessary with
white.
Ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and phthalo green plus white.
Sunset:
Sunset clouds can be of any color of the spectrum. Yellows and
oranges, made to contrast with deeper colors. Create the gold effect
common to edge-lighted clouds.
Remember that skies are darker at the zenith overhead and lighten
as you look down to the horizon. Haze often warms the blue of the
sky near the horizon.
Distances:
Cobalt blue and alizarin crimson.
Broken foregrounds with earth showing through:
Red oxide and yellow ochre.
Alizarin crimson and viridian or phthalo green.
Red oxide and ultramarine blue.
Weeds in foreground:
Phthalo green and raw sienna.
Phthalo blue and raw umber.
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Roads and paths:

Yellow ochre and red oxide.
Burnt umber, cobalt blue and phthalo green.
Various gray mixtures:
Skies:
Cool gray:
Cobalt blue and cadmium red light plus white.
Cobalt blue and red oxide plus white.
Warm gray:
Cobalt blue, red oxide and yellow ochre plus white.
Dark gray:
Phthalo blue and red oxide plus white.
Blue sky:
Cerulean blue plus white.
Ultramarine blue blended through cobalt blue mixed with cadmium
red light or alizarin crimson at the horizon. Tint with white.
Raw umber with yellow ochre and white.
Chromium green earth with yellow ochre and white make stormy
skies.
The strange greenish-black often seen in skies just before a storm
can be made by adding any yellow and black with the addition of
white to lighten it.
34. TEXTURE
Besides the issue of what colors to use in your shadows and whether
or not you should use black in them, remember that there will also
be texture in the shadow. This also helps tie it to the object it
belongs to.
Here is an easy way to paint lace on a dress. First I paint a white
stripe, then I take an actual piece of lace or a lacy paper-napkin (like
you'd buy in a supermarket to put under a an elegant cake) and
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stick this lightly on the white strip. Then I use it as a stencil,

dabbing on a little of the dress color. The result: impressive lace on
a dress.
Drag a brush like an old tooth brush filled with paint across am old
comb to spatter paint. Or tap a paintbrush against your other hand
to spatter.
Sponges are wonderful texture tools both man made and natural
sponges may be used.
Add sand, coffee grounds, tea leaves, cat litter, papier mch to
acrylic paint and gel to add texture. Use sand or vermiculite with oil
paint.
Saran wrap rolled in paint and then rolled on the support yields
interesting textures and patterns. You may also paint on Saran
wrap and press it to the support and remove the Saran wrap to
make interesting textures.
Many different textured objects may be covered in paint and
stamped on the support to make texture in a painting.
Paper towels may be placed on a support flat on a table or floor and
washes of color flooded over the paper. Places where the paper
touches the support will pool and places where the paper does not
touch will be free of paint creating novel shapes and color mixes.
35. VARNISH AND CARE
Don't dry your oil paintings in the dark. This may cause a thin film
of oil to rise to the surface, yellowing it. (This can be removed by
exposure to bright daylight.)
To stop dust getting onto a still-wet oil painting, face it towards a
wall so that dust will have less tendency to stick on it. I put a
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reversed canvas between the wall and the painting to protect the
wall.
If you think an oil painting varnish is too glossy the way it comes
out of the bottle, you can reduce the glossiness by running the tips
of a varnishing brush over the varnish before it has dried, just when
it's starting to become tacky. But try it out before you try it on a
painting, as you don't want to overdo the effect!
Unfortunately, if you varnish an oil painting that soon, it will crack
later. This because the varnish will dry before the paint does, and
then when the paint moves as it dries it'll "break" the layer of
varnish.
If the paint is thin, the cracks will tend to be tiny and will take
about a year to appear, but it's not worth the risk because your longterm reputation may be damaged.
Oil paint should be given at least six months to dry, more if the
paint is thick and depending on the medium you used.
In the interim, use a retouch varnish to protect the painting (it can
be applied when the painting is "touch dry") and offer to varnish the
painting if a buyer returns it at some point in the future. Or they
may be able to have it done at a good framer's or art restorer.
Retouch varnish is used to restore gloss to a dry oil painting, or
when you want to continue working on a dry oil painting. It has
more thinner than the final varnish. Paint areas dry differently and
some will be shiny and some dull. Retouch varnish gives a uniform
shine to the whole painting.
To make dry paint more intense cover with an acrylic gloss medium
or varnish if acrylic or a retouch or damar if oil.
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Beeswax emulsion
Purpose: This formula, which contains water, is practical for
applying a thin coat of wax over paints or varnish which might be
softened by a wax-in-solvent mixture.
Ingredients

Parts

Beeswax
Water
Ammoiun carbonate

1
8
1

Directions for manufacture:

Determine the quantity of your total ingredients; use a pan three
times that size in volume. Combine the beeswax and water and melt
over heat. Stir in the ammonium carbonate a little at a time, for the
solution foams up quickly when it is added. If the solution threatens
to foam over the top, remove it from the heat--still stirring--until
the foam subsides. About half the volume of water is lost in the
manufacturing process. It can later be replaced with cold water.
Directions for use:
Brush or rub on with a rag enough of the paste to leave a thin coat
over oil paintings or on thoroughly dried gum, glue, or casein
paintings. When the water has evaporated, polish with a soft cloth.
Beeswax emulsion may be used with varnishes and tube oil paints.
Saponified beeswax:
The use of saponified beeswax in painting mediums is of great
antiquity, references are to be found in the earliest writings and in
the records of most later periods, but there are few if any standard,
complete techniques established in modern practice. Some
investigators believe that one of the means the ancient painters had
for making a fluid paint before the days of turpentine and other
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volatile solvents was the use of a waxy medium that could be

thinned with water. At present its use is confined to painters who
adapt it as a result of independent experiment.
Wax soap is best prepared for boiling 1 ounce of white beeswax with
5 fluid ounces of water and after it has melted pouring slowly, with
stirring, ounce or a little less of ammonium carbonate that has
been mixed to a creamy consistency with a little water. A
teaspoonful of half-strength ammonia water may be substituted for
the
Ammonium carbonate if desired.
Continue the heating until all the ammonia gas is driven off and
allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally. This wax soap will
be pasty and usually must be warmed before use; if a creamier
consistency is required, increase the original amount of water. At
this point the saponified wax is not a good paint vehicle; it is an
ingredient to mix with other materials, both aqueous and oily.
Emulsification with oily ingredients is assisted if an ounce or so of
turpentine is added before putting in the alkali. If the wax soap is
emulsified with egg or some other aqueous medium, the resulting
mixture may be freely thinned with water.
Among the materials most recommended as ingredients of wax
emulsions are simple-solution varnishes, oleoresins, casein, glue,
and gum solutions; as plasticizers, glycerin and castor oil. The
drying oils are generally condemmed on account of their tendency to
cause such emulsions to turn yellow, but stand oil and some of the
modern varnish linseed oils may possibly be suitable.
Wax soap must be entirely free from uncombined alkali if it is to be
mixed with resins or oils; otherwise soaps of these latter materials
will be formed. Careful users will warm the wax solution until all
ammonia odor has disappeared or until the mixture no longer
turned red litmus test paper blue. Tempera mediums that contain
wax are not easily managed or controlled and must be accurately
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made and well tested to guard against erratic behavior. In the hands
of an experienced painter they are capable of being applied to work
of great delicacy. Very few of the published wax tempera recipes can
be used directly without some experimental adjustment.
36. STUDIO
Easel from a Step Ladder: Drill two holes in the front lip of each
step of an aluminum step ladder and two more holes (the same
distance apart) in an old piece of wooden picture rail. A bolt through
each hole of both the rail and the ladder -- bingo, instant easel.
Sturdy, cheap, very light, folds up, and hangs in the tool shed.
To make low tack masking tape (which can be more expensive than
normal making tape) take a roll of ordinary masking tape and break
a piece off at the desired length. Then lightly stick it to your clothes
and pull it off; fluff from your clothes will stick to the masking tape
and make it low tack.
Create a Stimulating Environment
Put up as many visually stimulating items as you can for
inspiration. If youre working for a relaxed corporation, theres lots
of scope, from posters of your favorite paintings and art
screensavers to a pin board for items that you find visually
stimulating, including postcards, photos torn out of magazines,
printouts from the web, feathers, autumn leaves Even in the most
rigid of corporate identities you should be able to smuggle in art in
small ways, such as a mug with a painting on it or a small calendar
displaying great paintings.
37. SUBJECTS AND MODELS
One of the biggest mistakes that most amateurs make when they
try to paint a still-life is to casually set up their props and start to
paint. They rarely spend any serious thought about the set-up, the
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lighting, the mood or concept they intend to convey.

Take some time, re-arrange the pieces, make it playtime for you.
Look at an arrangement someone else did and set yours up like it.
Play with your light source if you can. Long shadows, short
shadows, see what works. Check out the colors, are they compatible?
Once you get it set up live with it a while. Spend 10 minutes just
looking at it, or more if necessary. After all this painting is going to
be your painting, a testament to you observation and love of the art
form.
Look at the flow of the pieces, the highlights, the deepest shadows.
Put the brush in your mind and paint the strokes in you head before
you ever touch the canvas. You will be amazed at the difference this
will make. Most of all, paint what you see. If you lose concentration
or get interrupted, regroup your mental focus before proceeding.
The subject of painting is a state of mind.
Do women experience life differently than men?
If art is the expression of feelings, or relative of experience, and if
womens experiences differ from mens, to their feelings and
experience in visual languages and critical standards primarily
developed by men?
Do all women share the same experiences?
Do all men share the same experiences?
Are all experiences of one gender uniformly opposed to those of the
other gender?
What can art reveal about the sex of the person that created it?
What are some experiences that women share?
(Menstruation, childbirth common to many, living as women in a
certain culture?)
Are there any experiences shared by most men?
Is destruction a male trait? Picasso said we must destroy in order to
create? What did he mean?
Do we internalize beliefs about the kinds of experiences and
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behavior appropriate to gender? What are some of these?

How do there beliefs influence artists?
Has clothing or the removal of it played any role in this equation?
Is there a womens art? Do women have an instinct to decorate and
embellish?
Do women have an urge to tell stories? To use detail? Is the art of
women gentler, prettier, more domestic and accessible?
Could a woman have painted A Bar at Folies Bergere or
Olympia?
SOCIAL-ECONOMIC-SUBJECTIVE
Are gender differences in art the result of fundamental biological
characteristics of women and men or the product of how society
structures sexual differences?
What effect does gender have on art production and appreciation?
Consider: the gender of the artist; gender of figure/s represented;
viewers interpretation of the gender of the subject, which may not
agree with the intent of the artist; gender of the viewer.
Is it possible for women artists to create their own meanings in
languages created or at least dominated by male artists, gallery
directors, collectors, museum directors, critics, teachers?
Allegorical figures, gender centered, have a tradition in art
representing abstract ideas like LIBERTY JUSTICE.
What role does the traditional roles of women being homemakers,
child bearers, nurturers, teachers, nurses have on art?
Are there socially determined roles for men that have influenced
art?
Traditionally males have been associated with power, domination
and activity; females with weakness, emotional discord, lassitude.
Fire has been a symbol of creativity.
In western cultures males have been equated with heat and dryness.
Females have been equated with cold and dampness.
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In the 16th and 17th centuries flowers had strong physical and
medicinal symbolic connections. By the 18th century flowers had
been associated with women and relegated to only symbolize the
beautiful, graceful and decorative.
This developed by the restriction of women to the environment of
the home so the objects specific to that locale were the obvious
subjects for women to paint.
With feminism, multiculturalism, and other developments contrary
to formalism, there is a revised interest in art that connects with
the world outside of art. The reinvestment of art with ideas and
purposes drawn from reality is exemplified by such developments as
paintings that make explicit social commentary, and painted
artworks that serve a functional purpose.
Related to challenging the separation of art and life, postmodernism
challenges a hierarchy which places the fine arts ("high" art) above
popular and vernacular culture ("low" art). Borrowing "kitsch"
imagery, materials, and techniques, has become widespread in the
current period.
Feminists, multiculturalists, and gay activists, among others, have
utilized painting to challenge the social structure of society. In these
artists' views, various structural conditions of society provide power,
privilege, and prestige to some members of society at the expense of
others.
At various periods, different kinds of subject matter and different
kinds of media have been considered more prestigious than others.
For example, historically across the continent of Africa, the human
figure was the principle subject in art, except in Islamic areas,
where religious doctrine did not permit representations of humans.
Within European painting from the Renaissance until late in the
nineteenth century, certain subjects were ranked as more important
than others -- narrative painting, for instance, was deemed more
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important than still life. Furthermore, a traditional hierarchy

valued art above craft -- the fine arts of painting and sculpture
ranked above functional activities such as glassblowing and
woodworking. In the twentieth century, formalist art critics also
stressed keeping different media separate. They were not supportive
of mixed-media works, maintaining instead that the best artworks
were those that remained "pure" in terms of a single medium. For
example, they said that painting and sculpture should never be
combined because (they argued) painting's essential nature is twodimensional while sculpture is three-dimensional.
In our own period, the validity of each of these hierarchies is
questioned, and traditional boundaries between various visual arts
media and between the arts and crafts are increasingly blurred,
leading to the hybrid forms.
You might avoid not taking the time to study your subject: if you
dont know your subject, how can you paint it?
Paint what you remember after the model leaves the room.
Paint anything that you love and let that love show.
Look up at the subject. Look down at the subject. Change your
viewpoint position.
38. EVALUATION
CRITERIA FOR JUDGING PAINTINGS:
excellence of form (e.g. balance, unity, harmony)
expression of beauty
creative originality
importance to society
excellence of craftsmanship
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labor and time involved in creating

excellence compared to other works by that artist
intensity of emotional expression
capturing a realistic likeness
accuracy in documenting history
appeal of the subject matter
distinctiveness of style
conceptual content
monetary value
CRITERIA FOR GROUP CRITIQUE:
What criteria are most useful to the viewer and to the artist in
evaluating an abstract painting?
At this moment in time, can we assert that there are any universal
meanings in art?
Are there any universal meanings in your work?
Would adults from other cultures around the globe understand and
appreciate your painting?
Is it important that art try to be universal?
Can art provide an experience of transcendence?
If an area is not working, wash it out or scrape it off. Stop messing
with a mess. It probably wont get better so stop looking at it and
start over fresh.
Be sure to get back often and look at your work from a distance to
see major shape, value and color relationships.
Squint often or take off glasses to study the general shapes of a
composition.
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Move back from your painting often to see the general organization
of the composition without the details.
Turn a painting upside down and sideways to see the general
composition and separate your associations with the subject matter.
extracted with editing from:
The Painting as a Language: Material, Technique, Form, Content
Jean Robertson & Craig McDaniel copyright 2000.
Thompson Publishing
**************************************************************
PAINTING RESOURCES
Chroma Interactive Acrylics
http://www.chromaonline.com/chroma/products/atelier_interactive
http://www.chromaonline.com/chroma/media_library/multimedia/at
elier_interactive_mediums
Golden Artist Colors' Color Mixing Guide
http://www.goldenpaints.com/mixgude2.htm
Liquitex paint
http://www.Liquitex.com/
Donald Jusko's Real Color Wheel
http://www.mauigateway.com/~donjusko/tubecolors.htm
Gamblin Color Space
http://www.gamblincolors.com/navigating.color.space/index.html
Hall Groat II
http://www.hallgroat.com
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Adobe Technical Page on color

http://www.adobe.com/print/tips/fmtxtfrmat/main.html
Free lesons by William Powell
http://www.williampowell-artist.com/painting-drwgexercises.html
Art Papa Free lesson
http://www.artpapa.com/oil-painting-lesson-1/index.html
How to paint an apple in the classical tradition
http://www.artpapa.com/forum/DCForumID23/1.html
Free lessons by John Hagan
http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/mainmenu.htm
Luscher Color Test
http://www.fibervision.com/perdev/colortest/colortest.html
Dr. Marqaurdt's Beauty Analysis
http://www.beautyanalysis.com/index2_mba.htm
Artchive
http://www.artchive.com
Munsell Color Charts for PC's (sorry no MACS)
http://Standards.GretagMacbeth.com/Munsell/Color
%20Conversion.htm
Book Resources on Art & Spirit:
http://www.wisdomportal.com/Art/BookResources.html
Excerpts from Robert Henri's Writings
http://www.constable.net/arthistory/glo-henri.html
The Artist's Perspective
http://www.constable.net/arthistory/art-writings.html
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Art Curriculum for the End of a Millennium (1995)

http://www.jessieevans-dongray.com/essays/essay001.html
Robert Henri's The Art Spirit
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064301389/ref=lib_
dp_TFCV/002-6787130-8007227?
v=glance&s=books&vi=reader#reader-link
Ways of Seeing
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140135154/ref=lib_
rd_next_6/002-6787130-8007227?
v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=6#reader-link
Rembrandt self portrait
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0415921139.01.LZZZZZZZ.gif
Art dictionary
http://www.artlex.com/
PSU Visual Communication: Guide to Analyzing Art
http://www.eurostud.pdx.edu/module/art.guide.htm
analyzing_art
http://hs.hw-regional.k12.ma.us/schlossberg/analyzing_art.htm
Guidelines for looking at art
http://www.quistlink.com/looking_at_art.htm
The Art Alphabet
http://www.schoolofabraham.com/artalphabet.htm
The Truth in Painting, or in Text?
http://www.aesthetics-online.org/ideas/costache.html
Pollack: Art Appreciation Page
http://members.tripod.com/~caccart/artpollock.html
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ColorQuiz.com - The free five minute personality test

http://www.colorquiz.com/
Art Academy
http://www.art.net/~rebecca/Academy.html
Drawing
http://www2.evansville.edu/drawinglab/gesture.html
Drawing
http://www.learn-to-draw.com/drawing-basics/
Geometry of the Circle
http://wholemovement.com/index.php?
option=com_zoom&Itemid=26

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