If you have a website or blog to showcase images of your artwork then one thing you must always do is make sure your online images are saved in a picture format with a small file size.
JPEG or JPG is the main one to use as it has a compression feature.
This has the advantage of the webpage loading up faster and keeping storage space to a minimum but also it stops people making copies of your images for use in derivative works.
If the image is blown up the quality will be seen to deteriorate and will be useless to anyone trying to use it.
So after much deliberation I decided the background and foreground were too dark and made the pears look unreal – like two green glowing unidentified objects in the dark!
So I warmed up the backdrop, considerably lightened the base/foreground and toned down the vivid green to get an even more natural look.
(Sometimes you need to go through these things to come out the other side!)
Step 4
I have layed in the colour for the pears with medium to large hog-hair brushes and have followed the contours of the pear with my brushstrokes – no blending whatsoever.
I quite like the effect. The whole painting feels much better now. Time for a break …
So far this painting is not working for me yet.
I have added another layer to it, darkening up the background and changing the colour of the pears to a more realistic green but it doesnt have the impact I was striving for.
Step 3
Also I haven’t got the shape of the pears quite right. So its a case of waiting for it to dry and then going for a correction in a day or so.
We have a small pear tree in our back garden which was only planted two years ago. This year it has produced nearly 30 pears and I couldn’t resist doing a still life with some actual pears from it.
Here are the first steps…
After preparing the canvas I started with some underpainting getting the basic shapes and colours down.
I have done this very roughly at first not worrying about detail at this point. The object is to get the canvas covered and make a start.
Pears Step 1
Pears Step 2
Once this was dry I looked it over with regard to tonal values and decided to darken the background up and go for a chiaroscuro effect. (strong lights and darks)
More to follow soon…
Finished painting entitled "Nearing the End"
This is the 3rd and final section detailing the progress of my latest sunset oil painting.
Part 1 and Part 2 are here.
The last few touches have been made to the painting. I decided it didn’t need much more doing to it and had satisfied my original idea.
I added a bit more orange to the lower clounds near the sun to increase the brightness and then finished painting the sides as its a box canvas.
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Golden Sunset
This is my latest oil painting. Its on a canvas sheet (305mm x 250mm).
I started it off by covering it in thick acrylic paint which I applied with a brush; the brush strokes themselves adding to the texture of the ground.
Twenty four hours later the arcylic was dry and I was able to start with the oils. First of all I mixed up the approximate colours and, thinned down with turps, applied them to the canvas in the correct areas.
The next step was to stand back from the painting and check over the colours and values. I find it best to judge the tonal values once they are on the page so making the colours thin means I can rub off anything that doesnt work and quickly adjust and correct to get what I’m after.
(more…)
Here are some excellent quotes from some of the great painters.
These particular quotes show how the great artists knew their art was tied in with their existance and inherent spirituality.
They weren’t just producing copies of the physical environment but trying to show the emotional and spiritual responses to life and living.
- “Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art”
Leonardo Da Vinci (more…)
This is the second part detailing the progress of my latest oil painting.
With the colours and basic areas established I next add some of the distant clouds visible at the horizon and around the centre of interest, which in this case is the sun.
The clouds are darker at the edges of the painting, away from the centre and lighter as they approach the sun. This helps achieve the illusion of intensity of light near the sun. I lightened the clouds with orange as using yellow would dull the purple clouds (being close to complimentary) and lose the effect. Also white is a non-starter as it tends to grey and dull also.
Step 3 - Lower Clouds
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For this painting I am using a small box canvas 10 x 8 inches and 3/4 inches deep.
I tend to use different approaches for each painting depending on the overall end product I am trying to achieve.
I also from the outset try and get a full concept of what I am trying to communicate. In this case I am inspired by a dramatic sunset from our holidays a couple of years ago, sourced from our own personal photographs. I want to communicate the feeling of admiration and awe upon seeing one of natures most common and beautiful displays.
Step 1 - Acrylic Layer
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Blue Jug
Flowers in Jug
Blue Waves
Three new contemporary oil paintings have been added to Louise’s Gallery. The first is a very Van Gogh-ish one. A still life oil painting using thick paint and bright colours painted in one session (alla-prima) which is Louise’s favourite method of painting!
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Lemon and Green Bottle
Book and Red Apples
Two new oil paintings have been added to the Driver Art website under Steve’s Gallery. The first is a still life oil painting of a Lemon and a Green bottle. This has been created using thin layers of oil paint and medium to build up a depth filled effect. The second painting is another still life oil painting in the realism style; a simple still life depicting and old book and two red apples in a dark setting. Both paintings are available direct from the artist via the Driver Art website.
Buying contemporary art today can seem a bit daunting.
Many websites have sprung up, including ours 
of individual artists as well as on-line galleries that showcase many artists.
The internet has given artists the chance to show off their works to the world. No longer do artists have to compete with the elite to purchase scant wall space at top establishments.
But for the buyer of art online there may come certain worries or concerns… (more…)
These days artists often need to take digital pictures of their work for various purposes, including copyrighting, record keeping or uploading to a website.
A common problem can occur after uploading the images to your PC or website – It doesn’t quite look the same.
The digital imaging process cannot faithfully reproduce what the human eye sees. An expert photographer can usually take care of these issues. But a lot of artists are not trained photographers nor can they afford one.
I have found that the images I take only slightly differ from the original but the problem is how to tweak them to get them as they would be seen with the naked eye.
Most photo editors that come with your PC are not up to the job and do not have enough features. To buy a professional product can cost hundreds. However there is an answer to the problem. (more…)
A useful oil painting tip for beginners:
Have you ever encountered the problem, when oil painting, of your paintings losing the initial fresh colour and vibrancy they had when the paint first went on?
This is often due to the canvas absorbing the oil from the paint leaving it dull and flat.
If you don’t like the idea of using rabbit-skin glue then you can do the following:
Buy cheap commercial canvas and cover it liberally with acrylic paint. Even though they usually come primed with acrylic, these are normally very thin washes and the oil from the paint gets absorbed by the canvas anyway. Covering it with more acrylic helps to stop this absorption and will keep your paintings vivid and glossy just like when the paint first goes on.
I have tried various methods to effectively clean brushes after using oil paint.
The best one I find is to dip them in white spirit to get the thick paint off then dry it on some kitchen towel.
Next I pour out a small amount of washing-up liquid into the sink and scrub the brush into it. You will see the colour come off and change the colour of the washing-up liquid. Repeat this until no more colour comes off.
There are various methods but I find this one works well and prolongs the life of the brushes.
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