New Chair Paintings

Fancy Chair in Brown
oil on paper
4 x 6 inch
available here

Many have said that chairs are like people...they have personality.  I agree and that is a reason I love to paint them!

Plain Chair in Brown
oil on paper
4 x 6 inch
available here

I made both of these by smearing oil paint on gessoed 140 lb watercolor paper.  The chair drawing is then scratched into the paint and allowed to dry.  The nice thing about working in oil is that you can smear over your mistakes and redraw.  And it's also easier to remain loose in the work.  

Have a blessed weekend. 

Textured Oil Painting.

in progress
oil on 9 x 12 inch panel

In my last post I mentioned an oil painting I had started  during a class I am taking that was all about building texture first.  Here it is at its current stage.  This is definitely a different way to work for me and creates a challenge because I mostly paint with my gut and this way of painting seems to require a lot more thinking ahead than I am used to.  Big bumps and lines can really make a face or an arm look bizarre.












Below is how it started out. I  smeared thick goopy gobs of paint mixed with Gamlin Solvent-Free Gel onto the panel with a palette knife.  The gel helps speed the drying time and adds texture.  The emphasis in this initial layer was all about texture and interesting brush strokes in various places.

Once my background was pleasing, I drew the figures into the paint.  It didn't take long to do all of this and then I had to let it dry...all week...before it was ready to be worked on again without messing up the texture I had created.  That is why I ended up beginning the 16 x 20 inch mixed media piece in the last post.  I needed something to do while this was drying!  So this may be my new rhythm...to do an oil painting in layers and either acrylic, mixed media or drawing in between.

in progress (initial stage)

 Everything done today (the first photo) was in a thin layer so it will dry quickly allowing me to move forward anytime. I just painted details on faces and added some thin strokes of color to the background and clothing. All this was done under the instruction of our teacher in the class Brian Hinkle.  He is an encyclopedia in all things art and has all kinds of different ideas on technique.  Everyone in the class is just doing their own thing and Brian helps us when we need it.  It is a great environment to work in and learn in.

Thank you all for your visits and comments.  I so appreciate it!
See you soon!