The Benefits of Varnishing

I always varnish my paintings before I frame them.  There are at least several reasons to do this, but some artists do not and that is OK.

Historically, a final varnish was applied to a finished painting which had dried for at least 6 months to protect it.  Varnishes such as Damar* must be applied to a very dry canvas. Final varnishes protect paintings from smoke, dust, etc.  They are removable.  When restorers clean paintings the varnish is removed, taking the pollutants with it.  After the needed restoration is done a fresh final varnish is applied.

In the modern world  I do not believe that most art collectors subject paintings to the same kind of environmental assaults that the great masters faced, but  some protection is not a bad idea.  Dust and pollen have a way of settling even in the best of abodes.

That said, the above is not my main concern.  I have serious doubts that my work will survive the ages (just saying), but I want my paintings to look the very best they can. Varnishes enhance oil paintings by making them more luminous and evening out the dull areas.  Each color dries in its own specific way.  Earth tones and darks usually become dull as they dry.  Varnishes return paintings to that luscious wet paint appearance. Transparent darks come alive, dull colors become glossy, and the canvas has a uniform finish rather than patches of dull and gloss.

Most of the time I use a retouch varnish, either Weber or Windsor Newton.  I can't tell any difference between the two.  They can be applied as soon as the painting is dry to the touch and they dry within a few hours if not sooner.  Retouch varnishes are made to paint into, thus the name.  A painting finished this way can be reworked later without removing the varnish.  Though not a final varnish, the aesthetic effect is about the same.

There is now at least one final varnish that can be applied as soon as the painting is dry to the touch.  Gamvar, a Gamblin product, is easy to use.  If I decide to go this route I make sure that I do not have plans to rework the painting later.  I also note on the back of the painting that I have applied a final varnish since I can't be sure it isn't retouch varnish just by looking.

Whether I am using retouch or Gamvar, here is how I do it-

I apply the varnish as evenly and thinly as possible using a disposable foam brush over the entire painting.  That's it.  I let it dry 24 hours before framing because sometimes they are a little tacky after initially drying.  This is the only time I use disposable brushes.  I do it because washing the varnish out of the brush is very difficult.  I have never tried a spray varnish so I cannot address that but I know there are those who prefer doing it that way. Here is a link to Gamblin's varnish Q&A  article. https://gamblincolors.com/varnishing-help/  The product comes in a glossy or matte finish. I prefer glossy.  At the time of this writing it is not available as a spray.

Recently I was asked if there was a varnish with UV protection for paintings that are in direct sunlight.  I found this on the internet which looks like a good product but I have not tried it.  https://www.dickblick.com/products/lascaux-uv-protect-spray-varnish/ It is best to avoid direct sunlight on fine art of any medium, but if unavoidable this is certainly a consideration.

Here is a painting with one swath of retouch varnish applied.  I think you can appreciate from the photo how much better that area looks.  The background is luminous and the bright colors more brilliant.

Thanks for reading!

* Damar is a hard natural resin that comes from a family of deciduous trees that grow in the East Indies.  It tends to darken with age.  It can be purchased as crystals for custom mixes or as a liquid or spray.

Thoughts on Blogging

Last month I completed 4 years of blogging.  This is surprising to me because I never thought I'd want to do it in the first place.  I follow the blogs of a number of well known artists and I am always struck by the different takes on this platform.  Some seem more like newsletters to me, i.e. posts of works completed since the last blog or a selection of available paintings.  Some contain detailed instruction worthy of a workshop.  A blog can be anything one choses to make of it.  There are no rules.

My goal has been to share any kind of information related to painting that I think will benefit my target audience-  new painters, painters getting back in the saddle after a long hiatus, and those new to plein air painting.  I do not in any way consider myself an expert on anything. One of my favorite things about making artist friends and painting with them is the exchange of tips, ideas and critiques.  I am fortunate to live in an area where one can hardly swing a cat without hitting another artist, but many painters do not.  I want to share what I know, especially with those who lack this fellowship.

Blogging has been enormously fulfilling and often entertaining.  For many it is a promotional tool, but I have no evidence that it has been for me.  I do put my posts on Facebook and I suppose they are read by some of my friends, but my following remains small. I am not bothered by that in the least.

This leads to my suggestion that every artist with time and inclination should consider doing this.  You don't have to be a great writer.  I believe I have proven that!  You don't have to do it on a regular basis.  I've seen bloggers take months off at a time.  Whenever I think of a subject for my blog I jot it down in my office or on my phone for future consideration.  I ask my artist friends for ideas.  I get ideas from the blogs I follow.  Writing is another creative process.  I believe that writing about art is an adjunct to better art. After all, if you aren't making art you should be thinking/writing about art.  (If not, your mind is wandering...)  I consider my blog to be a virtual journal to be enjoyed by others, but most of all by me.

I have a list of some of my favorite posts by other artists, some true gems.  Take a look at the right hand column on my blogspot site under "Favorite Blog Posts by Others".

Here are some of my favorite art blogs-

Terry Miura https://terrymiura.com/blog
Larry Moore  https://www.larrymoorestudios.com/blog
Kathleen Dunphy  https://kathleendunphy.com/blog
Thomas Jefferson Kitts  http://www.thomaskitts.com
Anne Blair Brown http://anneblairbrown.com/blog

These are top quality, check them out and follow!

Because there were no pictures, here is my last painting of 2019-

                                     "A Nearby Pond"  12"x16" oil on linen panel

Hanging Systems for the Studio

When my husband and I built our current house- the first and last time we hope-  having a home studio was a top priority of mine.  Up to that point I had first used a spare bedroom as a studio in a previous home and rented space for 2 years while we were in a smaller house and building.  Besides buying a bigger easel, I wanted a hanging system that would display my framed paintings as well as works in progress.  I was tired of moving picture hangers and making new nail holes every time I needed to add paintings or change the arrangement, and I never found a good way to hang unframed pieces.

After some research I chose Walker Display Picture Hanging System which is used by several of our local galleries. Here is their website-  Walker Display  Here is how it looks on a wall in my studio-

This is just part of one wall, I have two walls of display.

I chose these components, but there are a number of options-
Picture molding with a sleeve hook, the molding painted to match the rest of the woodwork.  Metal molding is also available.

 

I used a combination of fiberglass and steel rods because the fiberglass rods bow when holding heavier paintings.  The fiberglass rods come in clear if desired.

I also use a combination of these parts-

This is for hanging framed paintings.  The wire on the frame rests in the trough of this piece so only one rod and one holder are needed even for larger paintings.

Though these are matched like this in the website catalog, I use a long holder and panel holder together for panels, the long holder on the bottom and the panel holder on top. This is more stable, especially for larger panels.  I like to hang my wet panels so I can study them.  I also use the hangers when photographing my panels.  The pencil is there to keep the metal holder from overlapping too much of the painting in the photo.

I can tell you that this system is strong, durable, and infinitely flexible.  They now offer a metal cable as an option instead of a rod.  A downside is the visibility of the rods, if that matters to you.  All of the above components must be hand tighten but it is not difficult.

Another good option is Gallery System Art Displays.  Website is Gallery System
I had the opportunity to do a one artist show at a local realty and this was the system they had installed.  Here is what the relevant parts look like-

The metal cable is thin but strong.  The push button hook self locks, so no elbow grease is required to get a reliable hold on the cable and adjustments are simple.  I had to hang the paintings myself so I can attest to the user friendliness of the system. The thin cable is not very visible, so from a cosmetic standpoint it is superior to the Walker product.  The down side is that 2 cables are needed for each painting.  Even a small painting does not tend to hang level on one cable.  So when hanging one must be careful to keep the hooks perfectly level and hanging one painting above another is tricky but certainly doable.

Here is one wall of my show to give you an idea-

Lastly, I am familiar with another system that is used in our Town Hall.  Our art guild has a rotational exhibit there and several of us, myself included, are responsible for re-hanging the work several times a year.  (This led to a previous post about framing hardware.) This system is AS Hanging Display Systems-  AS Hanging  As with Gallery System Art Displays, two cords or cables are needed for each painting.  The clear nylon cord is almost invisible which is very nice aesthetically.  The cords curl at the ends so must be tucked behind the painting for a clean look.  Steel cable is also available with a self locking hook similar to Gallery System.  The mini hook is the least expensive but has a weight capacity of 12 lbs. each and must be hand tightened via screw eyes.  I really don't like this feature, so if budget does not prohibit I recommend going with the self locking hooks or buying a combination and using the self lockers on heavier paintings.  As you can see below this is visually very pleasing.

That is all I know about hanging systems.  You can't go wrong with any of these, but personal preference and what you want them to do for you will influence your choice.

Thanks for reading, and see you next year!

Try Experimenting With Different Formats

In September I showed an example of a landscape commission I painted on a square canvas.  Typically landscapes are horizontally oriented but they certainly don't have to be. Consider some of the extremely vertical landscapes in traditional Asian art.  I'm now seeing this in the work of contemporary artists as well as horizontal formats with a 1:2 ratio, e.g. 12"x24".  Or even a 1:3 ratio.

I have tried my hand at some of these recently and it has been fun as well as a learning experience.   If painting in the studio I look through my "art ideas" photo file and edit by cropping them different ways to see what might work.  Basically I look for a better composition within the image.

Examples:

Photo of a beach on Cape Cod-  what interested me most was the horizontal arrangement of the colorful umbrellas.  The foreground didn't add much.

                                                      Cropped version-

                                         And from this the painting on a 6"x12" panel-

Next a photo of waves on our local beach-  I love the energy and movement of the waves breaking from the center to the right in the upper half of the photo.

                                                         Cropped version-

                                         And the painting on a 6"x12" panel-

As for vertical formats, I have not tried this with a landscape other than tree portraits which easily fit.  Here is a plein air example, 10"x8"-

For an even more vertical format I tried a cat portrait 16"x8"- I think his tail makes it all work-

Obviously I cropped the original photo quite a bit.

Try looking at your photos that you like but have yet to inspire a painting.  They might work well in a different format.

Thanks for reading!

Improving Paintings with Glazes

I am mostly an alla prima or direct painter.  By that I mean that I paint wet into wet as much as possible.  I often paint small paintings in one session.   Though I studiously (though not always successfully) avoid over blending, a bit of wet on wet mixing can result in interesting painterly effects.  Painting wet over dry is more challenging for me though I have to do it on larger pieces or when I rework older paintings.

Glazing is the application of transparent layers of color over dry paint.  There are many ways to do this and I'm sure that some artists would say that my way isn't right, but it does work.  Simply stated a paint color is diluted with a medium and brushed over dry paint to add, enhance or change the color.  The old masters painted a gray underpainting, called a grisaille, and added many layers of color glaze on top.  The way light travels through all of these layers results in a luminosity or glow that cannot be duplicated with directly applied paint.  Of course this greatly slowed the painting process because each layer must dry before another can be applied.  We now have mediums with alkyd resins that dramatically decrease the drying time.  Even so, glazing multiple layers on top of an underpainting is not as fast as painting alla prima.

I never do the above, but I have glazed some of my finished alla prima paintings to make improvements or corrections.  The entire painting can be glazed or just a part.  I either use Galkyd lite, a product made by Gamblin, diluted with a little clean Gamsol, or Liquin made by Winsor and Newton, again thinning with a little mineral spirits.  These are added to the color I have mixed to make it transparent and the glaze is applied with a brush dabbing a bit with a towel if necessary.  If I decide I don't like the result I can remove it right away with mineral spirits and try again or forget the whole thing.

Here is a painting from a recent workshop.  The exercise was to use only 3 colors, in this case asphaltum*, yellow ochre and white.  (I know, white isn't really a color, but you get it.) The object of the exercise was to get the values right.  This is sort of like a grisaille, but the paint is thicker and is  not just black or brown mixed with white.  It is a tonal alla prima painting.

This is an architectural detail of a house in the Caribbean that my husband and I love and I wanted to keep it.  The real house is pink so this little study didn't do the colorful building justice.   I decided to glaze it later with several layers of pink and orange to show the warm glow of the end of day sunlight.

Though it may not be obvious in the photo, the painting is luminous and obviously more colorful.  I used some thin darker glaze to vary the shadows cast by the palms.  I also made a glaze using Naples yellow light to brighten and warm the lightest areas.

Here is an example where I used glazing to improve parts of a painting.

I glazed a warmer blue (horizon blue) on the lower sky to brighten it.  This is difficult to see in the photos, but I glazed violet (ultramarine blue mixed with cad. red and a bit of white) on the shadow sides of the tree trunks and the shadow areas of the foreground.  I warmed the weeds in the foreground with a light yellow glaze.  I like it better with more lavender, which was already present in the upper portion of the sky.

And last is a painting that I glazed entirely with Indian yellow.  I decided that the overall temperature was too cool and I wanted more color harmony.

 

I especially like what the glaze did to the asphalt and the car.  

I hope this gives you some ideas.  It is easy to experiment and then wipe if things aren't working out.  Save your tonal studies so you can practice.  

Thanks for reading!

*asphaltum is a transparent brownish-black made by Gamblin.  We were supposed to use burnt umber in the exercise but I forgot to bring some so used this instead.

An Approach to a Large Commission

I hope you had a great summer.  We were challenged here on the southeast coast with yet another hurricane and evacuation, though it was better than expected.  Besides the usual summer things I was busy with commissions, just like last year.  I'm not sure why this time of year but it is becoming a pattern.

Among other things I was asked to paint a large local tidal marsh scene for a new home in my area, coastal South Carolina.  The clients weren't exactly sure of the size but thought it should be at least 36" wide.  They had looked at the galleries in Charleston and had photos of some paintings they loved.  Their budget precluded buying something this size in a gallery.  I am able to charge less because I do not pay a gallery commission which is 50% in our area.

Sometimes clients are very specific about what they want and even have their own reference photo.  This couple was very different in that regard other than showing a preference for scenes with lots of water and dramatic light.  This I gleaned from the photos they showed me from the galleries.  They also wanted a lot of blue in the painting.

I looked through my reference photos and came up with an idea.  Here is a local marsh at high tide, so lots of water-

I love the reflections and the distant trees and thought I could play up the grasses in the foreground to add more depth.  But the sky and light are a bit on the blah side and not anything like the paintings they loved.

I looked through my "skies" file and found this-

No shortage of drama here but the foreground and water patterns aren't very interesting. The solution was to combine the references.

When doing large commissions I have learned a valuable lesson.  Start with a small study and get the client's approval.  This can save headaches and prevent miscommunications.  It definitely did in this case.  Here is my first study, 11"x14" for a proposed 30"x40" painting.

I was happy with the sky.  I chose a golden marsh because I thought the warm/cool vibration would work well and also because the clients had told me they didn't like green. Our marshes are this color in the late fall.  I put a lot of reflected light in the water which I was sure they would like.  I sent them the image for review.

Turns out they had decided that a 30"x40" wasn't going to work in their space and they wanted a 36"x36" instead.  Also, they wanted some green, just not certain greens or too much green.  A color change is not difficult of course but this was going to call for a different composition.  I have done a fair number of landscapes in a square format so that really wasn't a problem for me.  Here is my second small study, a 12"x12".

Same sky and reflections, more green in the foreground and middle ground but I kept the distant gold.  This image was approved so now I could get to work on the big canvas.

I never looked at the reference photos again while painting from the two studies.  I kept them on my painting stand by the big canvas while working.  I kept the 11'x14" close by because I liked some of the colors and brushwork in that one.

As I painted I sent the clients progress shots in case they wanted to give feedback.  Here is the finished painting-

In summary, this is what I have learned over time regarding large commissions-

1.  If the clients aren't sure of what they want, ask for examples of paintings they love and try to determine why they love them.

2. Paint a small study for approval before you start.  If it isn't what the clients want, keep working small until everyone is happy.  It isn't a waste of time- familiarizing yourself with the subject saves time when you go large, and the small studies sell too.

3.  Keep in touch while you are working on the piece.  Clients love progress reports.  That way they know you haven't forgotten about them.  Even if the deadline is far in the future I like to keep in contact.  I have heard a lot of stories about artists who "go dark" after agreeing to do a commission.  Clients may lose interest or decide to buy from someone else.

Though challenging, I like the fact that commissions already have a home to go to rather than adding to my storage issues.

Thanks for reading!

Painting a Series

Years ago one of my workshop instructors recommended painting a series to the group. He often started a new painting every day, each with similar subject matter and worked on all of them together until they were finished, as many as 20 paintings. Everything he learned from one could be applied to the next.  For him the obvious utility was to produce a group of related paintings for a gallery show, but he also said that doing this would make us better painters.  All these years later I have yet to do this in the methodical way he described.  However I have revisited many themes, sometimes 2 or 3 at a time, and I have learned a lot about specific subjects.

I love bicycles.  They are interesting and not easy to draw.  I live near Charleston, SC. The College of Charleston is downtown near the historic district.  Bikes are everywhere.  I love to go to town to take photos, particularly on days with good light.  Below is a series I have painted over about 4 years.

I started with single bikes, trying to figure out how to draw them.

Then I tackled some groups- the first is a small study, the second a 16"x20" version of the same scene.

I have played around with details of the city.

I have revisited the same locations for different arrangements.

I started taking similar reference photos when I traveled.  This one is near SCAD in Savannah.

Recently I tried a scene in which the bikes were not the main event.  This is a well known landmark in Charleston, also an attempt at a nocturne.

What I have learned from this-

1. When drawing bikes, get the wheels right first, making sure they are the right distance apart and the right shape (they are often ellipses rather than circles).  Then add the frame.

2.  Groupings are more interesting when there are splashes of color.  I am partial to turquoise and red, but they can't all be colorful.  Push the color on just a few, the stars of the show.

3.  Don't worry about all the details when painting a group.  Even if all the handle bars don't match up with a specific bike it doesn't matter- the more chaotic the better.

4.  Suggest a few of the wheel spokes with a fine round brush, don't try to paint all of them.

5.  Play up metallic highlights, especially on baskets and handlebars.

6.  Bike shadows are great- include them when you can.  I have seen wonderful paintings of bike shadows without the bike itself.  I will try this sometime.

Thanks for reading!  Have a great summer- this is my last post until fall.