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.

Minerals, Metals and Dirt

Natural earth minerals have played an important role in artwork since the cave paintings of antiquity. Paints are made from clumps of dirt or ground up minerals such as cinnabar or lapis lazuli. In cave paintings, yellow ochres, reddish siennas, and brownish umbers were mixed with saliva or other binders and painted on walls or rocks with sticks. Burnt and charred bones or tree branches made perfect blacks. In short, anything that had color could be mixed with something liquid or fluid and made into paint.

Oil Painting Critiques

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This past week, I had the pleasure of participating in the Oil Painters of America Critique Program. For the nominal fee of $25.00 (which goes to OPA), artists have the opportunity to have a signature or master level member review their oil paintings and give instructional advice on how they might improve their technique. Because I do not do any … [Read more...] about Oil Painting Critiques

More Rembrandt Mysteries

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There is a mystery that has been baffling scholars for a long time. Why did Rembrandt apply gold leaf to the surface of a sheet of copper and paint in oil atop. Why would he cover a perfectly and already beautiful copper surface? Was it the smoothness? Was it an experiment? Nobody really knows for sure. What is known is that it is an intriguing … [Read more...] about More Rembrandt Mysteries

Into the Soup

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Experiments were made using several different brands of powdered gold leaf, but I settled on the Schmincke. This pigment is super fine, rich in color, and mixes easily into a paint by combining the powder with just a little of whatever medium you are working with on your project. I used the Strasbourg medium that I have been using all along on this … [Read more...] about Into the Soup

Atmosphere on the Easel

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This is another example of background transparency/translucency that suggests a lot of atmosphere. The brass is glowing through the paint strokes, but it's not too busy either. Black and burnt umber worked well here. Above is a detail of one of the gold leaf paintings. The gold was such a beauitiful passage that it was left unpainted … [Read more...] about Atmosphere on the Easel

Twists and Turns

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This paint on metal project has had many ups and downs with unexpected twists and turns. Mostly, it has been a big experiment with interesting discoveries. My biggest discovery is understanding what I like the look of and what I don't. What has become crystal clear to me is the look of the metal glowing through the paint is really beautiful, … [Read more...] about Twists and Turns