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.

Margret's Blog

Chicanery

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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

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

Birch Panels

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In addition to the linen canvases, my plan is to use 4 birch panels as a painting surface. Pictured here are 3/4 inch birch panels cut to size. Traditional gesso made with rabbit skin glue, chalk, and water was soaked, heated and applied in 7 coats, sanding lightly between each coat. This mixture is applied with a fine soft brush stroking in … [Read more...] about Birch Panels

Priming

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After the glue is thoroughly dry the fabric must be sanded lightly to remove the fine furry particles of fiber from the face of the canvas. It is now ready to prime. Here I have used an oil lead primer from Robert Doak & Associates. It is applied to the surface with a step down palette knife in a thin coating. After several days of drying add … [Read more...] about Priming

Glue Sizing

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The next step after stretching the linen over the bars is to prepare the glue sizing. Rabbit skin glue comes in a crystal form and looks somewhat like cream of wheat. This is truly one of the historic materials and techniques and has been used for centuries. The crystals are soaked overnight in water and then heated in a double boiler where the … [Read more...] about Glue Sizing