Here is a list a words I have come to know and love in all my glossaries. Impasto - thickly applied paint which stands out from the surface of a painting Pastose - paint mixed to a stiff texture, so that it can be used to create impasto Grisaille -The process of painting in different shades of grey or near-monochrome Monochrome - A painting … [Read more...] about The Painted Word
Chiaroscuro and Other Oil Painting Techniques
Chiaroscuro is from the Italian language and the root meaning is chiaro, light, and scuro (obscure), dark. It is a perfect technique to use in oil painting to achieve drama of contrasts such as that used by the 17th Century Dutch. Another technique that helps attain this look is impasto oil painting, which is used freely in the main focus of the composition and then to a lesser degree in the shadow areas. It is very effective in all sizes and subject matter such as oil paintings of flowers, still life, and even landscape. Fumed Silica gel is a great medium to use for getting texture in oil painting. It is a combination of linseed oil and silica mixed together which forms a fluffy clear medium. When mixed with paint, the consistency retains its shape and stays put with no slumping.
Art Glossary 101
Glossary (glos'e-re, glos'-) n. pl. -ries A lexicon of the technical obscure, or foreign words of a work or field. (<L glossarium <glossa, See GLOSS-) glossarial (glo-sar' e' el) adj. --glosssarially adv. -- glossarist (glos'e rist, glos') n. Glossitis -- Inflammation fo the tongue. Really ...its in the dictionary. To me, books about … [Read more...] about Art Glossary 101
A Thimble Full
"Sparkling light enters from the left" describes Willem Kalf's paintings perfectly and succinctly. He painted luminous elegant objects peering through the shadowy chiaroscuro of his still life compositions. Willem Kalf, mentioned in my previous post, Juicy Paint, was born in Rotterdam in 1619, and was known not only for his still life, … [Read more...] about A Thimble Full
Color Charts
Since the inception of this project, documenting each pigment has been carefully carried out in 3 places; on each tube, and on two charts. Nancy and I have made quite a few now and it is amazing how vastly different the pigments are, not only in hue (color), but saturation, and texture also. It is easy to see why some went out of favor and some … [Read more...] about Color Charts
Impenetrable Goo
Last Thursday evening I finished painting #4. Each one gets a little larger as I become more familiar with the handling and brushability of the paints. Unquestionably, these historic pigments are profoundly different from the modern ones. Paints without a wax binder or other stabilizers are "long", meaning slightly runny and not in any … [Read more...] about Impenetrable Goo
Chicanery
Who could have guessed one of the most helpful and instructional guides for this project would be a cunning art forger? While examining one of my favorite art book's bibliography (the best feature of any book!), the title, The Art Forger's Handbook jumped off the page. Eric Hebborn wrote about his artistic skills describing ingenious … [Read more...] about Chicanery