Margret E. Short Fine Arts

Portland, Oregon artist Margret Short - a modern day master of 17th Century Dutch art using the chiaroscuro technique to create still life and floral paintings.

Pigments: Historical and Modern

There is a distinct difference between modern day pigments and the natural pigments used prior to the middle of the 1700s. In the past, artists had apprentices who ground the colors for them throughout the oil painting sessions. Because they were made by hand, the pigments retained a natural grittiness and consistency with larger particle size. Today's oil paint manufacturers make synthetic colors in huge vats where the end result is exceptional smoothness. Prior to the middle of the 1700, natural pigments came from dirt, minerals, and even plants.

Living Green

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Some of the most useful colors I have found for this project are the lovely green earths. Green earth is a generic term used to describe a family of colors. Verona green, (mined near Verona, Italy), epidot, Bavarian and Bohemian, nicosia, celadonite, terre verde, and vagone are a few. For the most part, each one is slightly gritty. These natural … [Read more...] about Living Green

Full Steam Ahead

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March 1st is just around the corner and full steam ahead it is! Pictured here is a detail of painting #5. The detail is showing a very small portion because this is the "stool climbing canvas" and will be the largest in the exhibit. As some of you know, I started taking piano lessons a few years ago. This introduction to music opened vast … [Read more...] about Full Steam Ahead

Juicy Paint

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Painting number 4, detail at right, is complete. This one is larger than the first 3 and measures 26x30. Willem Kalf has long been one of my favorite Dutch artists, and sadly there are no paintings by him in this exhibit. However there is a lovely one in the Portland Art Museum collection. The approach for this painting was to pattern the … [Read more...] about Juicy Paint

Impenetrable Goo

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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

Oak-er Not Okra

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This is a yellow ochre just being wet with the oil. You can see the light area is still dry as the darker area has oil in it. It is important at this point to add the linseed oil slowly to the dry pigment to make a paste. By adding drops at a time and mixing it in prevents getting too much oil. Remember it is easier to add than take away. It is … [Read more...] about Oak-er Not Okra