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The Crow says ....
ACRYLIC
The greatest invention since oil paint in the fifteenth century!
That was when it took over from fresco because that process dried much too quickly.
The interesting thing is that, with acrylics, it seems that we have come full circle. This
new media dries fast but despite this, it has become very popular among today's artists.
The reason may be that it suits the modern approach to painting. Oils suited the need
for the allegorical images and portraiture of the middle ages and been refined since then
as the medium for serious artwork of the genre. Acrylics, on the other hand, is versatile. It can be watered down or bulked up. It's drying
time can be extended or quickened. It mixes in a manageable way with a wide range of
modern materials. It can be used a glue. It is ideal for underpainting with oil, as a
means to quickly set design/shape/tone relationships. Oils to acrylic, is like yoghurt to gelato. The one is warm, smooth and refined, the other
is cold, coarse and brash. Life itself is like that, not always one or the other but
sometimes both.
Let's drink to that! But best to use water.
Don
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The Pro says ....
OIL
As a medium, oil paint has everything going for it. The consistency of oil paint can be
used thin, or thick or medium. It can be worked on when it’s wet or when it’s dry. The
colours stay the same and don’t lighten or darken. An oil painting can be completed
in one sitting or worked on over a long period. Paint can be applied in thin translucent
glazes or thick opaque layers. The finished painting can be varnished to a shiny gloss
or left matte. It can be worked through from lean to fat. Or started out fat and
finished up even fatter. All in all, oil paint does everything. And, as a bonus, there’s the lovely fragrance of
turps. These days though, there’s a move afoot to ban all smelly things like turps. People have
been known to replace it with orange perfumed liquids, lemon scented fluids, baby oil,
and no end of low odour, no odour, smell free, fume free concoctions many of which,
in the fine print, suggest avoiding a build up of fumes?! Or stating that they don’t really
recommend painting with it...... Confused? Me too.
While they sort it all out, I’ll stay
on the Turps.!!
Ros
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The Crow says ....
Painting outdoors gives the artist everything that's needed to be creative.
Notwithstanding the seeming adverse effects of the elements. There is a greater
sense of achievement in overcoming weather impediments and t he setting-up
hassles. In comparison, working indoors, from photos, can be confining. What's
missing is the experience, and sense of place that can contribute many 'graphic
moments' to the artwork.
Photos can capture things, but not all colours will reproduce accurately. Here,
experience (what you know), combined with intuition (what you don't know) can make
for unique visual impressions. The fact of atmospheric and other changes means the
artwork can change too, as the work progresses. Photo reference generally limits the
artist to making a more striking impression of a two-dimensional image. Nature
provides a constant feed of new inspiration in lighting
intensities and contrast changes. Yea..., even helpful advice from passers-by!
Don
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The Pro says ....
Plein air painting limits the subject matter to things that don’t move.!!
So, forfeit children playing. Seagulls flying. Horses galloping etc etc.
Even the landscape can change dramatically in a short time so a plein air painter
must work quickly. Two hours at most on any subject. A landscape subject caught in the morning light, sunlight sparkling on the water and
long purple shadows across frosty grass…..is it going to wait while we set up the
easel? Within an hour or two, that special lighting effect will be gone.
So, there we are changing the length of the shadows, and deleting the sparkle off the
water because the sun has risen higher and taken the sparkles away.
And that fleeting moment that we wanted to capture, has gone. Gee if only we had
taken a photo.
If we learn to LOOK and understand how Nature works, then photos can be used
successfully. I’ve seen paintings done from photos that look like they were done outdoors.
I’ve also seen paintings done outdoors that look like they were done from photos.
It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it…..!
Ros
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