Finally, Painting In Oil

I have been known to draw and paint on occasion.  I grew up with the smell of turpentine in the house as my Mom painted with oil.  My Dad was a fair sketch artist, although he rarely drew.  My late brother was also very talented in the same vein.

I've painted small and large but always in acrylic.  I've done some work with pastels but up to now I've always shied away from my Mom's favourite medium of oil paint, thinking it too complex, time consuming and needful of instruction.  Turns out I was only one third right.

Ever heard of Bob Ross?  He's the soft voiced dude with the big 'fro who paints happy little trees.  All through the 90s he had a show, "The Joy of Painting" on PBS and over the years he painted some 400 or so different paintings on the show, each in about 25 minutes or so.  I watched him once or twice back then but hadn't thought of him or attempting an oil painting in years.  Somehow or other he popped onto my radar a couple of months ago and I hunted up his youtube channel. 

Two episodes later, I was hooked.

A few episodes after that, I was off to the art supply store.

You see, Ross advocates something called the "wet on wet" technique.  While I can totally see y'all snickering at the pornographic name, "wet on wet" in this case has nothing to do with any of that fun stuff y'all are thinkin' about.  It's basically starting with a canvas that has been coated in a thin layer of thinned white oil paint and then using that wet surface in some very specific ways to paint a complete oil painting in very short order.

I could go into more detail, but Ross is the Master and all you need to do to see for yourself is search his name on youtube.  He explains it by doing far better than I ever could by telling.  He's also very relaxing to watch and if you've had a bad day at work or just need to decompress a bit, he's the perfect antidote for 21st Century stress.

So what did I do after that trip to the art store?  Much to my surprise I not only attempted but actually completed an oil painting!  Then another.  And another.

Keep in mind, these are really just practice canvases that I'm using to learn the techniques.  In some cases, I've sacrificed the layout of piece in order to try a new idea or method.  What's really remarkable here is that each one takes just an hour or two, rather than the days and weeks that I have always associated with painting in oil.

This is my first attempt.

 

After this, I did four more that basically ended up wrecked as I tried different brushes, techniques, paint and ideas.  Nothing worth looking at in the end.

This is my sixth piece.

Then my seventh.  My first go at a seascape. 

Then I got brave and tried a black canvas.

And this was last weekend's effort.

I plan on keeping this up.  I think I'm getting the hang of it and unlike the painstaking efforts Mom used to go through for weeks at a time on a painting, these are each an afternoon or an evening's work.  I'm no Bob Ross, so a painting in 25 minutes is more than I'm likely to ever manage, but to finish a painting in a single sitting is simply amazing to me.  Plus, there's no law that says I can't go back and touch one up later if I see something I can improve.

Not quite sure what I plan to do with it in the end but it's a nice way to spend a couple of hours on the weekend and the bonus is I wind up with something to show for it. 

Even if I have no idea what to do with all these paintings...