"Some Thoughts on the Art of Painting"
or "How to Paint Good"
by Robert Canaga
First a few notes on using this e-book. All highlighted words are direct links to other sites. I have chosen these links from my knowledge of the products and my respect for others
opinions. Some of what you read will be in opposition to what you read on the linked pages so use your judgment to decide what to use. I have left out a lot of small details that will be added as the book grows, so if you have
valid ideas and experience, please feel free to share. I will most likely print your ideas or link to your site.
This book is based solely on my own experience and what I have read, researched, and tried myself. Enjoy.
Chapter 1 - The Basics for oils
People have been painting on everything from rocks, to trees, to themselves for as long as we have been able to figure out how to make
a mark, either for ourselves or to show someone else. There are as many ways to paint, as there are artists. I certainly do not profess to know them all nor how they all work but I do know some and would like to share them with
you.
Recommended reading: I highly recommend the book "The Oil Painting Book" by Bill Creevy. He did a lot of research and it shows. I question some of his recommendations on paints and he does miss some stuff but all in all an
excellent book. New at
Painting grounds:Preparing your surfaces is important as what you use to make your mark or are trying to achieve with your final product.
Make sure your canvas, wood, paper, or
whatever surface you are prepping is clean. Use clean, lint-free cloth (I prefer old cotton tee shirts) to clean the dust and surface dirt off, then moisten the same cloth and lightly rub the surface again. Let it dry and start to
apply your first layer.
For wood:
You may use any number of wood panels including plywood, hardwood panels, glue-lam panels, etc. Some say not to use fir plywood. I don't use it but I do use some pine from Russia. I find cabinet-grade birch best for my purposes, but I like Shina and other thin plywood as well. If you go over 16 inches on thinner wood or 10 inches with plank, you should always cradle it, that is build a support on the back to keep it from warping.
After sanding and removing all splinters, preferably not with your fingers, clean as mentioned above. You may also want use
a tack clothe
if you are doing a lot of sanding. I keep a few around all the time to keep cat hair, my hair, dust, and extraneous objects out of my paintings. If you want a very smooth surface[1] repeat the sanding and cleaning after the block has dried. If you sand it while the wood is
damp it may raise the grain and create obvious graining patterns.[2]
Apply your first coat of gesso to the wood. I prefer Golden
"Sandable hard gesso" for my wood surfaces. It may be sanded without the typical nitting (balling up) that happens with most commercial, especially student grade, acrylic gessoes. (See gesso) Lascaux also makes a superb gesso that is dense and sandable.
Sand lightly and
reapply a thin coat. Repeat until you are satisfied with the surface. Remember not to make it too smooth.
For pre-stretched canvas:
One of the purposes of priming a canvas is to make it stiff so that it does not flex as much under the brush and then keep it from moving once the oil paint on it[3]
. If you are using canvas pre-primed with acrylic gesso on stretchers, hold the panel up to a strong light and look for thin spots where the light shows through unevenly[4]
. If there are any, you probably want to re-prime the surface. This also gives you more control of your painting surface. Now I am not saying that we should not trust those who make our art products, (heavens no) but I always
assume that the person who made it was having a bad day. That way I am careful and not disappointed with an out come I have no control over.
If the wedges are in the stretchers, remove them before you re-prime. Brush or spray the back of the canvas with GAC 400
, let it dry, then re-prime the front using a blade[5]
, not a paintbrush.
This forces the gesso into the weave and gives you much better protection of the canvas and it saves you money.[6]
After the gesso is dry, look closely at the surface for loose thread,
foreign bodies, bugs, hair, etc. Use a piece of foam core, plywood, or something sturdy about eight inches to a foot square as a backboard. Hold this in back of the canvas and using fine sandpaper on a sanding block or a pumice
stone, sand down any large bumps on the surface. Be careful not to sand too hard or sand on the edge of your backboard.
When you are satisfied you may reapply a thin coat of gesso.
This should give you a superb surface to work on.
Re-insert your wedges and tighten the canvas, as you like, then paint your masterpiece.
If you are using oil-primed canvas, hold it up and look closely for obvious holes. You
may want to re-prime in spots using Fredrix oil prime. DO NOT USE WATER BASED ANYTHING ON THE BACK OF AN OIL PRIMED CANVAS. If you can get your hands on (not literally) a can of lead ground by Fredrix
or one of the other manufacturers, get it, hold on to it, care for it, use it sparingly and carefully.
There is nothing
like painting on an oil-primed canvas. The way it loves the paint and pulls it from your brush as if it were embracing a long lost lover…sorry, I do get carried away. There is a trick (rubbing up) to fool your paint into thinking it is on oil prime and I will talk about that later.
Using un-prepared canvas: There are many grades of canvas and things people call canvas. Most pre-stretched canvas is 7oz. This is a little light for my tastes but will work fine for you until you discover the
difference it makes using a heavier canvas, linen, or a hemp canvas[7].
Stretch your canvas but not too tight. Allow room for shrinkage.
Rabbit skin glue has been the traditional way to reduce the flexibility of canvas before painting. Although rabbit skin glue does reduce flexibility, it is also
extremely brittle. It is hydroscopic, meaning that is will always be water-soluble. Even after being completely dry, high humidity will re-introduce water into the film, causing it to soften or swell up. Over time, this constant
swelling and drying of the film can cause severe paint-film cracking and delamination. I use GOLDEN GAC 400 to replace rabbit skin glue for stiffening canvas. I discovered it quite by accident back in 1993 while working for the U of Oregon Bookstore; a client was looking for something to stiffen fabric for a large installation for a hotel in Maui. It
had to stay stiff in humid climate and she had to be able to paint over it. I called Golden and asked what they had. It worked for her and so I began to use it on my own canvases. Unlike RSG, it does not reabsorb moisture and sag
in humid climates. Nothing is more frustrating for a gallery than to have a large scale painting flopping around like a sail while they are showing it to a client, and nothing is worse for your oils once they cure than to be flexed.[8]
Apply one or two coats directly into the raw
canvas, coating both front and back for maximum stiffness. Do not use over unclean or pre-primed canvas or it will not stick and may cause delamination of subsequent paint layers.
As the canvas dries it will shrink onto the
support and be ready for the application of gesso. Some think that you should apply another coat of protectant such as GAC 700 before priming, but if you are using a good quality gesso this is not required. If you use cheep crap
(any gesso you buy for $19.95 a gallon, that says "student grade", or looks like house paint or thin cream) you should invest in either better gesso, (Real gesso [9]
requires traditional preparation. While it may be important to do it the old way for some, I believe that the new materials, if used properly, will last as long or longer and do a better job than the old ones), or Golden GAC 700.
Use GAC 700 and GAC 400 to replace rabbit skin glue as an undercoat for traditional gesso, oil prime, and for acrylic gesso, this protects the canvas from the acids produced by the oils as they oxidize.
Using paper:
This is one of my favorite surfaces on which to oil paint. Always use a good grade paper. Acid free watercolor papers or buffered Japanese papers[10] are best. I usually add just a bit of acrylic color or raw pigment to some GAC 700 along with some fine pumice gel and paint it onto the paper making sure it covers completely. This allows the texture and, without the addition of pigment, the colors of the paper to show though without jeopardizing the surface. Depending on the surface of the paper you can use a brush or use a knife to apply the GAC 700/pumice gel mixture. The pumice gel gives you a wonderful surface to draw and paint on with just a bit of tooth. You should experiment until you find the right mix. It doesn't take very much to do the job. It also makes a great ground for pastels if you use a little more of the pumice gel.
A little color lets you see where you have been and it also gives you an interesting ground on which to paint. White can get a little boring and you will be pleased and
surprised by the effects of some darker color grounds on you painting. (See painting on colored grounds)
Try using
hand made paper as a support. It comes in all shapes and sizes, and has a great range of textures.
The basic idea is to protect the surface from acids and produce a
ground that you can paint on with the best results possible. Any thing else is extraneous information that is only important if you need it to be.
Canvas on wood panel: This is a very good, solid base to use if you
are a hard, active painter, use a lot of scraping and sanding, or just like the feel of a non-pliable surface under your brush. Cut your canvas to a size just big enough to wrap around the back, or if you want, leave it to trim
later so it only adheres to the front of the panel. I use Gel Medium from Golden as glue for the canvas. Just paint it on the back of the canvas, lay the wood on it and apply pressure evenly.
I then turn it over and use my bone folder to smooth it out. A hard roller
also works for this just fine. Now apply your gesso and repeat all the standard steps. Make sure the gel is dry before applying the gesso or you could have problems later..
[11]
Paper on wood: Use basically the same process as with canvas. You
can collage the papers to build the foundation of a wonderful painting. Make sure you let things dry all the way before starting to paint. This is a good ground to experiment with some of the other mediums made by various companies
like Golden, Liquitex, Lascaux, et al.
Clay Board: Ampersand
makes some remarkable products on which to paint. The basic Clay Board and one with a gesso base are my two favorites. It is a clay base on treated and sealed Masonite. The clay pulls the oils into the surface and allows for some interesting effects. I will go into more depth later on different types of paints to use on Clayboard
.
Painting on other surfaces: There are some cool things to try just for fun. I found a plastic made just for signs, which holds oil paint like nothing I have seen. It is called Sintra. It is light and cuts very easily. It is great for doing field sketches. I have an 8"X10" oil sketch I did on it 8 years ago (SEE LEFT)
with no preparation at all, aside from cleaning, and there is no sign of delamination or cracking.
Don't be afraid to try new things, but be aware before you start a painting where you want to go with it. Is it a work up for a future painting? Is it a quick sketch or a piece to refer to later
for ideas? Or is it the real deal, that work that you have been thinking about and now are ready to put in place? The time you spend on your preparation may actually influence your final
results and how you feel about the work. Process begets product.
Bad things to paint on: If you want it to go to your great grandchildren do not paint on anything that is not archival
Unsealed Masonite
. It will absorb moisture over time and break down. You can seal it with GAC 700 and paint over it with gesso but if there are other surfaces out there that are more stable, why go to all the trouble?
Canvas board
. You see it in art stores. Cheap canvas wrapped onto cardboard and gessoed. BAD! Cardboard[12]
will acidify and rot, or will be damaged by humidity. Avoid it except for work-ups.
Tree paper:
It is going to rot. This is a no-brainer. Go outside and lay your newspaper on the lawn for three days. Now look at it next to a fresh one. Go to your library and get a book that was printed in the 40's. Open it and look at
the paper. Now go the desk and ask to see an old book, pre 1900's. They still used cotton then and all those old books are still in great shape save the occasional worm or walnut gal ink. The new books are falling apart. Lignum in
tree fiber produces it's own acids as it ages and very simply eats itself.
Foam core:
No, it is not archival! The stuff in the middle may last into the next incarnation of the earth but the paper on the outside will not. I have seen artists selling work done on this surface and when questioned, they either have no
idea about what they use, or they don't care. This is not very respectful of the person buying their work.
All this talk of archival this and acid free that is of course now mute as nothing has to last longer than 878 years unless they find a way to steer that asteroid, right?
[1] Be careful with your search for a smooth surface. You can make it so smooth the paint has nothing to which to attach. Think of an eggshell. It is really quite bumpy. A super smooth first coat will delaminate as the paint film shrinks, though it may be years before it happens.
[2] Print makers and painters who want an interesting surface, with the grain of the wood prominent, should wet the wood, then place a damp cloth over it, keeping it damp for at least an hour. Do not soak the wood. Warm water works well. After wetting the wood, sand it down with fairly coarse sandpaper until the hard grain is showing then continue with finer paper until smooth. As the wood dries the soft grain shrinks back it will leave a beautiful grain for printing. This works because the softer wood absorbs the moister and rises while the harder, denser wood repels the water.
[3] Oil paint will become brittle with age and will crack and check with flexion, unlike acrylic or the new Archival oils from Australia.
[4] If you have ever completed a painting and months later found discoloration on the back where the oil seeped through you have seen the effects of a poorly primed canvas. The canvas will eventually rot from the acidification of the oil.
[5] A good quality long bladed palette knife or trowel is best. Do not use anything with a sharp blade or you could cut the surface of your support.
[6] For an experiment when you have time, take two small canvases; prime one with a brush and the other with a long bladed palette knife. See how much more gesso you use with the brush and how little real penetration of the ground there is into canvas.
[7] I have no idea if this is fact or fiction but it always made sense to me. The word canvas comes from when the early Dutch painters would go down to the ships where people were repairing sail cloth and get pieces to stretch on their boards. The canvas was made with hemp cloth from India. Cannabis—canvas. What do you think?
[8] Oil becomes stiff and brittle as it oxidizes. Some colors harden at different rates while some remain fairly movable for a long time. It is best not to flex, roll, or bend an oil painting after a few months as it may cause severe cracking.
[9]
Gesso grosso:
Raw plaster of Paris used alone or made by grinding plaster of Paris in glue size.
Gesso sottile: Made with plaster of Paris soaked in water for a month and stirred every day before being ground, squeezed of water
and added to hot, but not boiling, size. A number of coats of this finishing gesso are applied at right angles to each other over an under layer of gesso grosso.
[10] There is no artist paper made with rice! The term used for paper made in any part of Asia seems to have come about in the thirties and after the war.
[11] Remember that you never want to apply anything that dries faster or oxidizes faster than the substance you are working over. This will cause everything from blooming, delamination, separation, discoloring, and the list goes on. As I have mentioned before: Take time for process and the product will be better.
[12] Cardboard now is not cardboard then! You may read references to Whistler painting on cardboard or Leonardo using cardboard. Rest assured they did not go to the store and buy Crown Zellarbach packing board! It was a dense, thick cotton, or hemp paper that is still around with paint on it after 700 years. They also used thin veneers as "cardboard" and they are also around. I actually had a grad student at the U of Oregon try to tell me in class that you could use cardboard from the back of your note pad to paint on because they used to use it in Italy.
NEXT - CHAPTER 2 - Brushes