Art experiments - oils!

[amberdreams]

I got some Gamblin oil paints for my birthday, so I spent some time on the day having a play around with them. I'm not entirely sure what I think of them yet but they are easier to use than I'd used to think - the brushes do seem to get reasonably clean just using linseed oil, so not having to bother with turps or white spirit is a big plus for me.

So on my birthday I tried Jensen on some naff watercolour paper I wasn't too bothered about. I put a layer of non absorbent acrylic gesso on it first - burnt sienna, which is a gorgeous colour, but then got covered up when I started painting. 😂

I know the drawing isn't right but I'm not going to come back to it, it's just a practice piece after all.

I do like the colours.
This is the painting while in progress with the background gesso showing, which also shows even more clearly why the drawing was out of whack!

Then today I thought I'd try another painting, this time in my stone paper sketchbook. Having seen a proper painter using this on Youtube, I knew there was no need to prepare the surface, so this is painted straight onto the paper. I'm wondering how long it will take to dry!

It's a bit smaller than A4 size

I did this sketch first to work out the crop I wanted from the reference photo by tinozavrus on Instagram, who has the most beautifully lit and composed photos of her young daughter - well worth checking out. None of these are meant to be an accurate portrait!

Comments

[mific]

Nice! I haven't used oil paints for many hears due to the mess and smell, and I live in a small house. But I hear that modern oils don't require turps anymore, and the modern solvents aren't too smelly. Still don't really have the room though.
Gamsol, that's the name I heard - as a thinner and cleaner, instead of turps.

[amberdreams]

Yes I think Gamsol's a Gamblin solvent - I hear you about needing room for it though. Even without solvents and using oil like I'd use water with watercolour, there's still the extra time pictures take to dry once painted and you need somewhere to put them while you wait.

[goss]

So cool! I am loving the texture and movement. :D :D

[amberdreams]

Thank you!

[beelikej]

Oooh, I really love seeing the brushstrokes in the paint and the colours look great too. Is it the watercolour paper that gives Jensen his slightly rugged texture? Because the skin on the stone paper looks very smooth!

[amberdreams]

Thank you! Re: the textures, yes it's partly the paper texture on Jensen's but also I did use more obvious brush strokes and didn't blend as much as I did on the smooth paper.

[mekare]

I meant to comment on these, they are lovely!

[amberdreams]

Thank you!!