My gardens are going wild. I have lots of beautiful flowers for painting subject matter. I keep going back and forth with watercolor and oil paint.....
Today's sketch is a gardener's still life.
Showing posts with label oil paint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil paint. Show all posts
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Sunday Sketches
We are so in the throws of summer and I am loving it! Thus, I am posting early as I am off on another hiking adventure this time in the Olympics.
My gardens are going wild. I have lots of beautiful flowers for painting subject matter. I keep going back and forth with watercolor and oil paint.....
Today's sketch is a gardener's still life.
View more Sunday Sketchers
My gardens are going wild. I have lots of beautiful flowers for painting subject matter. I keep going back and forth with watercolor and oil paint.....
Today's sketch is a gardener's still life.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Is it Gesso or What?
WHAT IS GESSO?
Gesso is a primer. Artists sometimes apply it to a surface before painting on it. In fact, gesso looks a lot like paint.
Originally, gesso only came in white. Artists put it on canvas, wood, or other surfaces before creating a painting with oil paint or acrylics.
Gesso makes the surface a little stiffer. It prevents paint from soaking into the support (canvas, paper, wood, etc.), and it gives the surface a little more texture (called "tooth"), so the paint sticks better.
Today, gesso comes in many colors. White is still the most popular, but black and colors are also widely used.
Recently, I have been painting with oils on canvas. I painted gesso over a few old oil paintings. Having seen paintings with texture, I decided to create even more texture by applying the gesso with a palette knife.
A couple days later, feeling dry to the touch, I painted the cedar tree and its boughs that I see outside my window on the textured, gesso canvas.
Look closely, you will notice that the tree trunk has interesting texture which I was excited about. BUT, the next day certain areas where the paint was applied heavily with a palette knife began cracking.
QUESTION:
What caused the cracking?
The cracking does not reflect the shape of palette knife strokes.
It is selective; both in areas of thick and thin paint.
The gesso felt dry.
Ideas, anyone?
Gesso is a primer. Artists sometimes apply it to a surface before painting on it. In fact, gesso looks a lot like paint.
Originally, gesso only came in white. Artists put it on canvas, wood, or other surfaces before creating a painting with oil paint or acrylics.
Gesso makes the surface a little stiffer. It prevents paint from soaking into the support (canvas, paper, wood, etc.), and it gives the surface a little more texture (called "tooth"), so the paint sticks better.
Today, gesso comes in many colors. White is still the most popular, but black and colors are also widely used.
Recently, I have been painting with oils on canvas. I painted gesso over a few old oil paintings. Having seen paintings with texture, I decided to create even more texture by applying the gesso with a palette knife.
A couple days later, feeling dry to the touch, I painted the cedar tree and its boughs that I see outside my window on the textured, gesso canvas.
Look closely, you will notice that the tree trunk has interesting texture which I was excited about. BUT, the next day certain areas where the paint was applied heavily with a palette knife began cracking.
QUESTION:
What caused the cracking?
The cracking does not reflect the shape of palette knife strokes.
It is selective; both in areas of thick and thin paint.
The gesso felt dry.
Ideas, anyone?
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