Beginning Oil Paint | Summer Plans
As the semester for my classes end (and finals are days away) I’ve found time in between studying to pick up something new: oil painting! I’ve wanted to try it since I started painting, and I’m so happy to be learning now. Because of my summer plans, which will be discussed later, I’ve realized I need to dedicate a lot of effort to getting a basic grasp over the medium. And so, on a bright Sunday, I went on an expedition with my mom to our nearest Blick, which is still quite far away. We learned 20 minutes from it, that they’re closed on Sundays. The next day though, my grandfather drove me 9 AM to get in just as Blick’s doors were opening. It was a dream in there, and I left with a recipe nearly as long as my arm (no, seriously. I didn’t get an extreme amount, they just had a bunch of extra text for each item). At home I immediately got to work on my first oil painting. Okay, the first hour I was home was spent stressing about proper safety precautions and how the heck I’m supposed to use Gamsol. I still don’t fully understand linseed oil, so I’ve just used a container of Gamsol. I began painting by redoing one of my favorite watercolor paintings I made (1), but with oil (2). I don’t have even the most basic of oil painting theory in my head yet, so I just did what felt right. The drying process was a shock to me, but I’ve found I like it a lot. I think I’m still muddying up my canvas from blending my colors together, but I learned a lot from it right off the bat. As it was drying I started an 18x24 canvas, because my biggest qualm with watercolor is the near impossibility of working both large, and in watercolor. I am very excited to work on large canvases. It took a while for me to choose my subject, because now that I’m not limited by some of watercolors clear weaknesses, I should be able to paint whatever I want (I think I was just blind-sighted by my joy of working in oil paint). It’s technically true, but I don’t have the technical skill or understanding of art to try to paint ANYTHING. I ended up choosing to study my very favorite painting in the world, ‘Arrival of the Normandy Train’ by Claude Monet. Monet’s work at the Gare Saint Lazard is the most influential body of work for me, and I’ve had an obsession with painting train stations since. In addition to the subject matter, it’s a good first painting choice from a sentimental point of view, because it was the first study I did when I began watercolor. I worked on it over the course of 2 mornings at maybe 4 and a half hours total. I’m going to continue to do studies like this because I’m learning so much this way, and I enjoy the process a lot. This weekend I’ll also be attending an oil painting class locally to learn more, but from experts. I’ll make the most of it and extract as much information as I can.
The most exciting news though, is a VERY exciting course I’ll be taking this summer. The class is a 3 week intensive pre-college program at an art school, so I will have lots of time to immerse myself completely in art making. That will be all for now, I plan a follow-up blog post sometime next week, but it’s finals season so it may be a bit later.
This photo was taken in yellow light, and forever remember online with this tint. One of my favorite paintings I’ve made, and I lost all of my favorite parts from it on the oil painting.
My first study! Done early on when I was learning watercolor.
As I say in the text below Monet’s version, the colors I used on the foreground are very different in my book, from the original. Something else to be noted is my painting has been extended outwards slightly because I used a long canvas.
Monet’s painting. I was surprised to see this image online, because although I’ve seen it plenty of times before, it’s so different from the one I painted from! My image of it was in a book titled ‘Manet Monet and the Gare Saint Lazare’ with very different colors printed. My painting feels very flat and lifeless, while this is full of energy. You can almost breath this painting! I already want to redo my painting, I’m reinvigorated with energy from of all the things I’m noticing in this larger image. I’ll wait a couple months though.
It’s like a new painting. So cool! I also see it completely differently with the image blown up on a screen.
