HOW TO THINK LIKE AN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER The Six Stages of Painting
MY HERITAGE ROBERT BRACKMAN September 25 1898 July 16 1980 Self Portrait Portrait of Jennie (for the movie)
CHARLES AND ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH
BRACKMAN S TEACHERS Robert Henri self portrait George Bellows portrait by Robert Henri
Robert Henri Salome, 1909, Ringling Museum, Sarasota
George Bellows Stag at Sharkey s 1909 Cleveland Museum of Art
BEFORE WE PAINT
THE CANVAS the choices cheap to hugely expensive cotton vs. linen acrylic vs. oil priming smooth vs. rough
CHEAP NOT CHEAP Artist s Loft (Michaels) Necessities 11 x 14 cotton acrylic primed pack of 7 canvases from Amazon $19.99 Masterpiece Elite HeavyWeight Linen Canvas Acrylic or Oil primed from Dick Blick 11 x 14 $62.72
cotton vs. linen Red Label Canvas, Texture Oil-Primed Linen (Left) and Raw Linen (Right)
acrylic vs. oil priming very good surface for both oil and acrylic paint most store-bought canvases are acrylic primed you can do your own or resurface a store-bought with gesso from the store much cheaper than oil priming excellent surface for oil paintings oil priming is more expensive especially if it is double or triple primed you will notice that the paint reacts very differently with oil priming. The canvas is not as absorbent as acrylic primed canvas oil primed canvas will last longer
smooth vs. rough Portrait Grade Smooth Canvas Rough Canvas is fun to work on but not easy to manipulate details
1. COMPOSITION easy vs. complicated rule of thirds to golden rectangles www.classesbygainor.com See article on Design design matters! make sure you have this one right
COMPOSITION Design your canvas using soft vine charcoal. Make sure it is soft or extra soft. Hard charcoal can t be easily erased on canvas.
MY PALETTES THIS IS MY WORKING PALETTE OF SOHO COLORS left to right: Naples Yellow, White, Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, Red Orange, Cadmium Red Light Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Viridian, Sap Green, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt, Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Paynes Gray, (the next three are optional depending on the painting) Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Rose, Chromium Oxide Green
MY PALETTES THIS IS MY WORKING PALETTE OF DICK BLICK STUDIO OILS see below for the colors Left to right: Titanium white, Primary Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Orange Hue, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Viridian, Cerulean Blue Hue, Cobalt Blue Hue, Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Paynes Gray the second row shows each color with white added to it. Note: The set of 24 colors is fine for most people but I had to add a few favorite colors that were available only as 38ml tubes; Cadmium Red Light Hue, Viridian, Cobalt Blue Hue, Paynes Gray.
MY PALETTES Yellow Ochre THIS IS MY WORKING PALETTE OF DICK BLICK STUDIO OILS see below for the colors
COMMON BRUSH TYPES These are available in many different hair types and sizes. Pick several at first and more later as you work on larger canvases. Bristle and synthetic are good for scumbling and painting. The type of brush will determine what your painting looks like in the end.
NOW WE BEGIN TO PAINT
2. CONSTRUCTION Pictured left to right: Utrecht Manglon round 239-R #4 or #2 from Utrecht or Dick Blick Ebony Splendor from a set of 8 round brushes from WalMart this one is a round #8 Sax The Flow #4 from online website. I buy 10 or 20 when ordering and have extras to sell. Perhaps this is a sematic difference but I use the word construction rather than drawing as each of them has a different connotation. Think of building a house. You need a framework and a plan, and this construction phase will give you that. Robert Simmons Titanium TT45 #0 round You want a synthetic hair brush that holds a point. Long handles please!
3. TONE Pictured left to right: Blick Masterstroke Bristle # 3. Note that this is used and has begun to be reshaped to a point Robert Simmons Signet 42 #3 Grumbacher Academy 760 #6 Robert Simmons Signet 42 #8 I like bristle filberts but you can use brights or flats.
TONE Underpainting preps the canvas for more paint It gives a value scale for the entire painting If it isn t OK here it will never get better only more finished! Watch your values and start with the darkest dark and leave the highlights the white of the canvas Paint is applied in a scrubbing motion that is called Scumbling
4. RECONSTRUCTION Use the same brushes as before Pictured left to right: Utrecht Manglon round 239-R #4 or #2 from Utrecht or Dick Blick Ebony Splendor from a set of 8 round brushes from Walmart this one is a round #8 Sax The Flow #4 from online website. I buy 10 or 20 when ordering and have extras to sell. Robert Simmons Titanium TT45 #0 round You want a synthetic hair brush that holds a point. Long handles please!
Reconstruction can save your painting. It pulls together all the elements, and gives a strong framework for applying thicker and more juicy paint. Learn to look at shapes and make sure that you note where the highlights are and the core shadows as well as the cast shadows. Lines will disappear when worked over with thicker paint. I usually use a mix of Ultramarine and Alizarin crimson to make a dark tone. I don t use black. This darkest purple looks black but doesn t interact with other paint the same way as black on the painting. Use a little solvent to make the paint flow off your brush. In construction and reconstruction is the only time I use any additives to my paint. The solvent will evaporate quickly and in a day the reconstruction lines will be dry, ready for the paint.
5. PAINTING Can you have too many brushes? I prefer filberts which gives a rounded stroke. Others might like a stroke from a flat or bright. Just about any brush will work here. Both bristle and synthetic brushes are fine. You will find the ones you like. I have hundreds of brushes! It is hard to leave the art store without one
6. ENDING The painting continues in layers of paint. The more paint the more luminous it appears. You will find that in the beginning you can t sustain the painting through more than one or two layers, but as you keep painting it will become easier to work longer on a painting adding to the groundwork you have established
The rule I was taught is this: WHEN IS IT FINISHED? WHEN YOU DON T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT DON T DO ANYTHING. STOP. START A NEW PAINTING EACH PAINTING WILL GO A LITTLE FURTHER. YOU CAN T PAINT BEYOND WHAT YOU KNOW. YOU WILL UNDO EVERYTHING AND OVERWORK YOUR PAINTING. EVENTUALLY YOU WILL GAIN ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE TO KEEP GOING
NOW WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT COLOR Opposites on the color wheel are called complementary colors and can be seen in nature and in our own eyes. If you stare at a blue field for a minute and look away you will see the complement orange in your eyes. Two complementary colors mixed together with white added will make grey
You can not paint without the primary and secondary colors on your palette! Lay them out every time you start to paint and put them in the same place each time. Titanium White Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue Cadmium Orange Hue Cadmium Red Light Hue Cadmium Red Hue Crimson Alizarin Viridian Hue Sap Green Cerulean Blue Hue Cobalt Blue Hue Ultramarine Blue Yellow Ochre Raw Sienna Paynes Gray Nice Additions to the Basic Palette Naples Yellow Buff Titanium Dioxazine Purple Primary Magenta Burnt Sienna Phthalo Blue Phthalo Green Prussian Blue Cadmium Yellow Hue I am always experimenting with new colors but my basic palette always is the same and it becomes like a piano keyboard. It is your most important tool in painting and needs to be managed with thought. How you do it is up to you but do it the same way each time.
DO YOU NEED A COLOR WHEEL? No you don t but it is handy. The color schematic on the right was chosen for the painting I m demonstrating and it is called a triadic color scheme. Many of my paintings are based on complimentary color schemes.
RED / GREEN ORANGE / BLUE YELLOW / PURPLE
PAINT APPLICATION AND BRUSHWORK SMOOTH, BROKEN, IMPASTO, KNIFED, RUNNY, THICK, SCRAPED Broken Brushwork in the style of the Impressionists How you do it becomes part of your personal style. There is no right or wrong, it just is what appeals to you. Some paintings call out for one technique and others require something else. Oil paint can become muddy quickly. Let it dry and work over it.
Broken brushwork in the background with tints of complimentary colors makes a grey tone when viewed from a distance. This is what some of the Impressionist painters did. White Orchids Oil on Canvas 36 x 36
HOW TO BLEND OIL PAINT INTO SMOOTH TRANSITIONS www.classesbygainor.com http://www.authorstream.com/gerinzhills/ BY GAINOR ROBERTS
Detail showing the background smoothed out with no brush marks Apples in a Red Glass Bowl Oil on Canvas 14 x 18 Detail showing the apples in broken color
Colorfest Oil on Canvas 18 x 24 Collection of Carrollwood Cultural Center