Allen on Oil Painting
I began sketching as a child, but I never spent any serious time with paints until my sophomore year of high school. We were allowed two elective classes in our school schedule. I signed up for art and general business – both would be of aid in my future.
We learned the basic art mediums in high school. I painted my first oil paintings in my sophomore year. I liked the medium as the colors did not become totally muddy in appearance if I had to fix an area on the canvas. Not so with watercolor, as I soon discovered. And oil paint produces brilliant color.
In art college, we used stand-up easels, but on occasion the paint would run down the canvas if I were using paint that was liberally enhanced with linseed oil, as many inexpensive oil paints can be.
I soon started painting on a flat surface. I used my father’s flat upholstery table at his furniture business, after he closed his shop for the day. I liked that fact the paint stayed where I put it. The downside is that oil paint is slow to dry, and you must let the canvases dry flat during that process – which can take up a lot of space. It, also, might take one to three months before the painting is dry and the painting can be sold, shipped, or delivered.
My skill is the use of color. I like brilliant color. On most occasions, I have an idea of what I want to do (at least on one canvas), when I pick a day to paint in the studio. But I can also go to the studio with no idea in mind and by the time I set up the studio to paint (takes about 25 minutes), I know what I want to attempt. I have been known to complete 5 small canvases in a day, but my average is 2 per painting session.
I use ready-to-buy canvases. I used to stretch my own canvases, but ready-to-buy canvases are much improved from the days when I began painting. The time savings is a contributing factor for favoring store-bought canvases. I earned money in art college by stretching canvases for other students.
Many times, my mind, my hand, and the Muse all have different ideas on how the canvas should turn out. Seldom do paintings turn out exactly as I imagined - most are better, but on occasion a canvas can be way off from my expectation. I am seldom unhappy with my color choices or brush strokes, but the composition might elude me.
As far as how a painting day goes, time wise: set up, clean up, taking photos of the new art and logging it into my DB and spreadsheets take most of the time. The actual fun part - the painting - ends up receiving the least amount of the time in the day. 20% fun; 80% work.
I try to paint in the studio when the weather is not too hot and between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. depending on the time of year - and when the light is good in the studio.
I painted through college and about five years into my career job. I had a 35-year lay-off from painting when a family and my career became the priority. When I started again, I concentrated on recovering my brush stroke and my color blending. In recent years, I have concentrated on using plenty of texture.
Though I have painted still life canvases in the past, I prefer creating abstracts, surrealism, and impressionist work. When creating abstracts, I normally cover the new canvas with a base coat of paint – normally white or a light color. When I apply the paint to abstract canvases and spread it out, unique paint-gap bubbles are created by the process, providing a unique look.
I seldom create large canvases any longer as the market has changed. The public now desires smaller paintings. The cell phone camera has weakened the original art market. People now fill their living space walls with framed images of their favorite cell phone photos instead of original wall art, if they buy original artwork at all.
My paint of choice is Pébéo. Pébéo began in Saint-Marcel, France in 1919. In 1934, Pébéo developed the first “ready-to-use” colors, creating a revolution in the world of art! Their paints flow with silk-like smoothness and they dry well. Due to that fact, I have mostly eliminated my need to use linseed oil and japan dryer products. I love Pébéo’s pearl-like colors, iridescent, glitter and metallic paints – which, when they catch the light under a gallery lamp, the canvas gains an additional burst of brilliance. My favorite paint is Pébéo XL Studio Oil Color - Dyna Iridescent Blue Green. But not too long ago, the company discontinued that specific color.
Oil has always been my medium of choice, but I did learn many overall painting techniques from our watercolor instructor in art college, the legendary George Post.
My completed canvases are sold, but I also use Nikon photos of my paintings to create digital art, as is also done with my photography prints. Hence, the canvases and photos receive a second life beyond their initial creation. The photos archive the canvases for the benefit of our family. As appropriate, I save the photos in .jpeg, PNG and .tif formats.
When a painting is purchased, I supply the buyer with a tip sheet to help them learn how to care for their painting. Every buyer receives a colorful bookmark of my own design.
I hope you enjoyed this sneak-peek inside the studio of a working artist.
~ Allen
Cool Flame #1
New Blue Dream
Blue Tuesday
Allen Weitzel November 2021
