In case I haven't shared this with you often enough I paint with oils. I love the feel of oil paints, it's endless variety and the richness of it's texture and colours.
There are many disadvantages however, not least the fact that it take ages to dry and can do serious damage to your clothes, but for me they are all outweighed by the wonderful sumptuousness of my all time fave medium.
So in the spirit of spreading the word to all you artists out there here are a few tips I hope will make life easier.
- Because I don't paint super big I rarely buy the large tubes of paint. For me it's false economy as they dry out, mainly due to my inability to put the caps back on.
- This valuable tip I learnt at a workshop of Martin Kinnear at the Norfolk Painting School and my beautiful soft hands have thanked him ever since. Use Baby Oil to clean your hands. It's amazing what it takes off.
- Never ever wear your best clothes for painting. Not even underwear.
- Don't let your brushes dry out, clean after every session. This is good practice for an awful lot of things in life.
- I've found that if I cover the paint squeezed out onto my palette, but not used, with cling film then put it into the freezer it lasts for ages.
- The oil painters mantra might be "fat over lean". I was taught this at art school and it means paint thinly first, then get thicker, that way the paint won't crack.
- There are transparent colours and non transparent colours. As a general rule it's best to use transparent colour on the canvas first.
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| © Mary Kemp Lindisfarne Oil on board 6" x 6" |
There are countless books out there about how to paint in oils and I consume them with a passion. I'm particularly fond of Painting Clouds and Skies by Mo Teeuw, and Colour and Light in Oils by Nicholas Verrall.
Oh and did I mention my website?www.marykemp.co.uk where you can see so many more of my paintings!
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