Blog

Many people who see my work say the pieces have a light within.  I credit this to a technique I learned from local Columbus painter, Erica Ott.  She learned the process from Gregory Pelizzari, the professor of Atelier Neo-Medici.

The process is time-consuming and requires patience.  An 8’ x 8’ piece can take me 60-75 hours, about a month on the calendar.  The featured piece, Upcoming Tide, took 2-3 hours a day for 23 days = about 57 hours.  Thankfully, because the glazes are very thin and mixed with Liquin, I can work on the piece every day without waiting longer for paint to dry.

Note on Materials: Transparent to semi-transparent oil paints are recommended. Rembrandt Oil Paints are finely-grained and meet the transparency requirements for this process.  I like to paint on smooth surfaces like wood or aluminum panels, or linen canvases.

The Process

The painting is built in layers.  A complete pencil drawing is done first.  Then It's followed by a transparent pink stain called the veil.  After that, various saturations of white glaze.  Paint raw umber next on the dark areas, then white highlights, then multiple color glazes. I often paint multiple layers of whites, darks, and colors to obtain the contrast and saturation I want.  Most areas get eight to twelve layers before the piece is complete.  

It might sound boring but not for me.  I get into a zone and only once in a while do I groan about glazing the same thing yet again.  It's a search for a perfection that I won't know until it arrives.

Below are the steps I followed for Incoming Tide.

The Drawing

Complete a full pencil drawing with all its lights and darks, highlights, and shadows.  This should be as complete a black, white, and gray version as if it was meant to be a finished drawing. Use a workable, spray fixative to set the pencil. 

The Veil

Mix Liquitex Fluid Matte Medium and acrylic red oxide until it looks Pepto-Bismol pink. Paint a thin coat over the entire piece.

White

Paint all areas of the piece with some concentration of titanium white and Liquin.  

Areas of lightest value - 90% Liquin and 10% paint

Areas of darkest value -  70% Liquin and 30% paint

Areas of mid-value - Somewhere in the middle

The photo shows both the the white overcoat and the start of an application of dark base color.

Darks

Choose a base color for your darks.  Burnt Umber is often used.  Rembrandt paints has a Sepia color that works well.   For natural elements like plants, beaches, rocks, etc., I sometimes use raw umber.  Paint the dark and shadowed areas with varying dilutions of base color and Liquin.  You might need to paint a several layers over successive days to get the darks as deep as required.

White Highlights

Work back into the light areas.  Paint one or more thin layers of white over the areas of lightest value.

Color

Once you have completed the lights and darks, you should only need to apply thin glazings of color over the lights and darks.  I generally mix paints to get custom-color glazes.  You can also mix colors of glazing on the canvas in successive days like glazing today's yellow over yesterday's blue.

Colors for this piece:

• Sand, very thin glazes of cadmium yellow, cadmium red-light, and a touch of raw umber

• Shadows, thin glazes of ultramarine were applied over the sand and foam

• Lava rock, the darkest areas were glazed with burnt sienna and ultramarine blue

• Algae, cadmium yellow and ultramarine

I hope this provides readers with a deeper understanding of how a 17th century painting technique can apply to a contemporary work.