I've painted since I was little. In fact my first memory of actually painting a real picture was in my third grade art class with Ms. Walsh, she had purple hair and I recreated Van Gogh's "Sunflowers." That was it. From then on I loved making art, and I still do. Growing up my art teachers taught me the finer points of using acrylic and watercolor paints, how to mix colors, ect. but I was never really taught how to use oils. In college one of my introductory courses required we paint a self portrait using only black and white oil paints and I was only taught that the turpentine was used to clean your brushes. That was it. Fast forward... over the past year or so I've revisited oils and I've grown very fond of them. However after studying up on some of my favorite painter's techniques I realized I have some learning to do. I've been reading and practicing and learning what glazing is and how to properly mix color, lean over fat.... With all that in mind I worked on my first real piece using my new found "official" techniques and I wanted to share it here today!
One of the first things I learned is most painters who work in oils do not drawn with pencil... scary. But I went with it, followed some rules with mediums and I am so happy with the finished product! I feel like painting this way helps make my work more luminous, before things seemed very dull and flat but no more! Thanks to some good old traditional book learning I feel like I've taken one more step closer to being a real painter.
