Back from Festival Friday, Apr 13 2007

Festival Sketch,
by Jennie

Well, I am back, slowly getting into the swing of things again and resting up from a full easter. I really am looking forward to the new site, anything will be better than the dust and hills and such – I’m still exhausted!

I had a particularly enjoyable time looking at illumination sources at a collegiate. I was supposed to be painting but instead got involved in a lovely discussion on pigments, blending and the evolution of painting techniques. as you all know I m very interested in the history of oil painting and am researching it whole heartedly. I was particularly excited to learn that a current oil painting technique had it’s start in 15th century french illumination. I believed that grisaille evolved from flemish technique and verdaccio but it actually evolved from the illumination technique by the same name. after it was adopted as an oil painting practice it took glazing skills from Flemish technique and verdaccio to produce a well rounded paining technique. I will be researching it a bit more after I have translated the oil painting resources I do have. I will also play with the illumination technique during scribes guild as I have been told in no uncertain terms that I must attend!

I also got back into one of my old habits. When I was a kid and dreamed of being an artist, I was told that many artists sharpened their hands and eyes and characterization by sitting somewhere busy and drawing passers-by. candid portraits of people who don’t know you’re there, they don’t pose, they don’t stay still and you need to be on the ball to capture the essence of their face before you lose it all together. I used to sit in food courts and just draw faces for hours on end.

It took me a while to slide back into the mindset, but once I did I couldn’t stop. I bought a new sketchbook, leather bound (for a revoltingly cheap price) and took it everywhere, drawing. at least until my pencil broke. I intend to take this book to events and try to capture looks and faces that inspire me.

Technorati Tags: art, artist, portrait, sca

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Flemish Technique Documentation Parte the Thirde – Color Layers Sunday, Aug 13 2006

Having laid a solid tonal base, and incidentally become very familiar with the subject matter, I started layering the colors. Colors are lightly applied with medium to create a smooth and light layer called a glaze. Glazing is typically applied several times from very thin layers to create slight tinting, to normal color application, which, when applied correctly, will still reveal the tonal layers underneath.

Glazing is a key technique in oil painting from the very earliest techniques to today. Color layers will go from heavier application to lighter until there is almost no pigment on the brush. This helps create fine detail and translucent three dimensional effects.
I started by adding the first colors blended up, just to establish the colors. Just like working from thicker layers to thinner, it is standard to work from darkest to lightest layers. The basis of this palette was a fairly standard oils minimum palette with separately blended skintones of Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre and Umbre or white to tone.

I tend to blend a base skintone for each person and tone using the base color to create different hues for shading. ultramarine, umbre, vermillion and crimson are some that can be used to create subtle tonal and hue changes for different light effects and shadows. this creates a more realistic effect as it is blended off a base personal skin tone. Frequently a subject can have unusual and unexpected colors in their skin or clothing that as often quite subtle.

While a translucent white such as a zinc white was used in period for toning many colors, one of the final layers usually included an opaque white layer using a lead white. Many xrays of period pieces showed Lead white being used to create an opaque layer for strong highlights or sometimes corrections. Titanium white is more commonly used these days for occupational health and safety.

The very final steps in period paintings were generally the most translucent with tiny tone and hue changes, refinements in line and additional glazes to add translucency to the skin. Occasionally a final tinted glaze was washed over the painting to link the colors, similar to an imprimatura, but with far less pigment. This was especially used if there was not time to allow the work to dry sufficiently before varnishing. An oil painting will frequently take up to six months to dry completely. As varnish contains solvent, a painting needs to be completely and permanently dried before varnishing.

Technorati Tags: art, Figurative, Flemish technique, painting, Portrait

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Flemish Technique Documentation Parte the Seconde – Tonal Layers Friday, Jul 21 2006

As Promised, the next installment in the Flemish technique series on my recent Baronial Portrait.

The next stage was fine lining and refining the cartoon. In period the fine lining was done with a brush in umbre to solidify the lines of the cartoon transfer. I stuck to the period technique but expanded to add further tonality.

I then laid my Imprimatura, a thin glaze with raw sienna and a fat medium blend. The imprimatura sets the tone for the overall piece and can influence the colors, allowing them to harmonize better. It can change the influence of whites especially, toning them down. It seems unnecessary, but the color really made a difference and changes the surface as well.

After the imprimatura, I scaled back my medium to achieve a lighter medium blend rather than syrupy to solidify the tones ready to add color. Having a good tonal base really helps add depth to the work. I glazed it on with a high level of transparency to add to the tone. I chose a slight variation to the period technique (which i think is valid, but I haven’t found specific documentation yet) by adding ultramarine to add further tonal variation. Ultramarine over Umbre creates a great deep tone and using it to tone the whites instead added some interesting effects. I think the umbre would have been too opressive.

This ends Parte the Second, stay tuned for Parte the Thirde.. Colors!

tags technorati : painting Portrait tonal Flemish technique

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Baronial Portrait – Documentation parte the First – Setup Monday, Jul 3 2006

Having just completed a portrait for Sara and Rodrigo, Baron and Baroness of Stormhold for their investiture I thought I would write up the documentation of the process. I used a very traditional flemish technique for this one based directly upon my studies.

Priming
First, I primed the board with glue and two coats of Gesso going in alternate directions to smooth the woodgrain.

Cartoon

Then, I sketched the design on the primed surface to give me a working drawing. In period this was done with a transfer by rubbing the back of the original sketch (or cartoon) with charcoal or by pricking holes in the cartoon and pouncing it using a pounce bag filled with charcoal dust. The cartoon, in period, was highly detailed and used as a reference for the entire piece. Not having much time, I drew directly on the board and referred to a photograph. These days no-one has time to sit for a portrait artist, especially when they are working in a technique like flemish technique so photographs are a huge blessing. yes I know they aren’t period but neither is my sewing machine.

Stay Tuned for Parte the Second – Tonal layers

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The Flemish Technique Friday, May 12 2006

This is part of an essay i write on Flemish art in First Year. Its a section dealing with the Flemish Technique, particularly the start. I am working on a new painting done in the flemish technique although i admit to not using period materials this time. I want to do some blending of period materials but I will need to have a bit more money before I can do that – plus my setup will need to be different as a lot of the pigments were poisonous.

Prior to the Renaissance the most commonly used paint was tempera. Tempera paints were mixed as needed from egg yolk and pigment. This caused problems as it was almost impossible to match additional batches if too little was mixed. Conversely, if too much was mixed it was frequently a waste of the expensive pigments as the paint dried very fast. The fast drying time of the tempera created problems with painting as blending was almost impossible. The result is that many tempera paintings look flat and rigid. In the Renaissance this was changed due to the practicality of oil paints. Oil paints involve pigment mixed in walnut or linseed oil to create a highly flexible paint that retains bright color. Oil paint dried very slowly allowing great control over blending, texture and translucence. It is supposed that while oil paint had been invented around the twelfth century, it was not used until the northern Renaissance. Jan van Eyck is credited with the invention, as he was the first to refine the techniques involved in creating an oil painting.

An oil painting involves many steps in the traditional application. The Flemish technique, accepted as the first discipline of oil painting, evolved from tempera application. This technique is still widely used in traditional oil painting. The surface was primed pure white with a mixture of glue and chalk. A detailed line drawing, or cartoon, was transferred to primed surface using an early carbon paper technique of applying oil or pigment to the back and tracing, or by perforating the cartoon and using it as a stencil by ‘then positioning it over the panel and slapping it with a pounce bag, or sock filled with charcoal dust’ (2004, Elliot). The lines were clarified using fine line techniques, then the entire surface was varnished to fix the drawing and limit the absorbency of the ground. Frequently a thin wash made of a diluted oil paint was applied over the entire surface called an imprimatura. The imprimatura set the tone for the painting as the tint applied affected the tonality of the light as well as the temperature and ‘making the harmonization of the colors easier, and allowing for more accurate judgment of values.’ (2004, Elliot) The shadows on the painting were executed in layers using thinned oils known as glazes. This allowed a building of tones while still retaining a level of translucency. Mid-tones were added after the shadows and could be transparent or opaque. The final stage saw the addition of highlights. These were always opaque.

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Stormhold Invest Tuesday, May 9 2006

I am going to be painting some portraits of the King and Queen and the incipient Baron and Baroness of Stormhold for the Stormhold baronial investiture next month. I will be using period techniques, posing and lighting and mostly period materials but unfortunately I don’t have time to order in the stuff I need to create period oil paints which is a pity. still I think they should be quite good.

for a running commentary I will be putting technical stuff up on my art blog. I am going to put some information here as well but most of the info here will be about the period requirements and techniques whereas on that blog will be more technical information. I will link between them though so that readers can get the full story if they want!

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Flemish Technique Friday, Feb 24 2006

I have documented the flemish technique and historical oil painting including techniques, color mixing and materials. It is my intention to start selling some miniature portraits over ebay. I have a trial one to work with and will document the steps here and on my art blog.

Tonight is the Twilight tourney and it has been suggested that I teach a round. I might keep one in mind, and maybe bring the songbooks as well incase we do any choral work. I will sing a solo piece as well but I am finding it hard to choose something. I probably need to just go on a music learning spree.

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