Painting Rocks in Oil by Albert Handell
Painting Rocks in Oil by Albert Handell
Painting knives, glazes, scumbling and more give these landscapes their textural contrast and strength. Read on to discover five key techniques.
By Albert Handell
Painting rocks and other natural subjects, for me, is a matter of contrasts and harmonized similarities. Contrasts can consist of lights and darks, large and small areas, and sharp edges, lost edges and all edges in-between. Then there are the textural contrasts of the paint itself and the manner in which it’s applied. These textural contrasts add dimension to a painting and please the eye.
Thin to Thick to Thin Again
To a large extent, when painting rocks, I achieve textural contrasts in my oil paintings by progressing from thin washes to thicker applications to final thin layers. Here’s a more detailed description of my process:
- I begin my oils with transparent color washes, using either Martin F. Weber Turpenoid or Gamblin Gamsol as my diluting medium. With Nos. 10 and 12 Richeson Signature bristle egbert (cat’s tongue) brushes, I apply these washes with broad strokes and a sense of abandon, varying from light to dark and warm to cool colors.
- After establishing this transparent underpainting, I address the center of interest, usually the most eye-catching area. Using flats and brights, I apply colors from dark to light, paying attention to proportion, placement, relative local color, value relationships and lost and found edges. I don’t rush to leave the center of interest but paint it very close to its finish, if not its actual finish. Then I paint from my center of interest out, relating everything to what I’ve already established.
- At this point, I start working with a painting knife, which allows me to apply paint thickly, as if with a trowel or, by turning the knife to its side, to create the most delicate and sharpest of lines.
- Eventually, I want to marry the initial transparent color washes with the added applications of opaque paint. To harmonize them, I apply opaque colors of the exact same value as the transparent colors. I firmly believe in selective finishing, so I don’t complete all areas of the painting to the same degree of intensity.
Technique: Semi-Opaque Scumbling
Standing by Amicalola Falls, in Dawson County, Ga., I was taken aback by the rainbows formed by sunlight on the sprayed mist. Back in the studio, I wondered how to paint the effect I’d seen. I started experimenting with a semi-opaque scumbling technique.
With large brushes, I applied transparent paint mixtures to the entire surface. The rich greens at the upper right set off the grays, mauves and warmer tones of the cascading falls. With more opaque paint I began the falls, then added the movement of the water swirling around the rocks. When the surface was completely dry, I tackled the rainbow. I quickly learned that less was more. Yet even when I painted as lightly as possible, the rainbow looked artificial. It lacked luminosity and appeared to be pasted onto the surface of the painting.
I repainted the area of the rock face beneath the rainbow so I could try again. This time I added a little Liquin to Naples yellow, “beating” the two components together until the paint was semi-opaque. I scumbled (scrubbed paint thinly over a dry underlayer) this mixture on the rocks on the right so that the stone showed through as if under a veil or mist. Then I lightly repainted the colors of the rainbow (below), bringing A Misty Moment at Amicalola Falls to resolution.
Technique: Using Painting Knives
The center of interest of Simply Granite is the variety of strong grays in the granite on East Beach of St. Simons Island, Ga. I like the sense of weight in these arbitrarily piled rocks. A trace of shrubbery sets off the rough-hewn texture of the stone. To achieve the effect of lace-like branches, I loaded the edge of a painting knife with bright yellow and swiped on the color
The variety of strokes possible with a painting knife is amazing, and there are many different types and shapes of knives available. I used an Italian-made Che Son 844 knife to paint the shrubbery (the Richeson 814 knife would also work well). This particular application of knife painting has a beautiful, spontaneous effect — but it does take a lot of practice. If you’re interested in working with painting knives, be prepared for a lot of experimentation.
Technique: Glazed to Perfection
Sometimes a glaze (thin, transparent application of paint used to build up color) saves the day, as it did for Chamisa, above. I had painted the sky transparently with titanium white and light, off-gray mixtures, which gave that area a luminous quality. For the lower parts of the canvas I painted transparently and then with a combination of painting-knife strokes and brushwork. I left areas untouched so the transparent colors of the underpainting would show through to the very end. The color of the mountain behind the adobes, however, needed to be intensified.
Rather than repaint the mountains, I decided to glaze them, using a mixture of ultramarine blue and Winsor & Newton Liquin on the right and cobalt violet light mixed with Liquin on the left. To keep the colors clean, I used two brushes. The glaze gave the painting a wonderful richness of color.
Technique: Transparent Underpainting
When painting rocks, I apply the transparent colors of my underpaintings broadly, with abandon, and keep the edges soft to lend a sense of atmosphere. These energetic brushstrokes can be special all on their own. Leaving them untouched adds freshness and visual variety to the finished painting. Such is the case with First Runoff, above, an example of transparent colors used in an underpainting and then largely left alone.
For the woods at the top of the painting, I brushed in the underpainting with mixtures of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. When I wanted the area warmer, I used more burnt sienna. To make the area cooler, I used more ultramarine blue. Below these mysterious woods are the lighter colors of the rocks. For these I used a light gray mixed with yellow ochre (warm) or Holbein violet gray (cool). The lower rocks are darker and cooler, so I used a darker gray mixed with ultramarine blue and raw umber.
Technique: Transparent Applications
The intense white of the calcium carbonate of a rock ledge became the center of interest for Rock Ledge (above and at the top of this article). I painted much of this piece transparently but applied the paint in several ways. For the dark background of the woods, I brushed on ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and viridian green with a sense of abandon.
For the sky holes and the few suggestions of leaves, I used a painting knife. To achieve the glow of the calcium carbonate, I applied thinned-out white and opaque white mixed with Gamblin Gamsol. Initially, I scrubbed on these colors transparently with large bristle egbert brushes, which allowed for wonderful luminosity.
I painted the bottom third of the rock ledge opaquely at first, then with thin glazes of ultramarine blue and cobalt violet light. To finish, I re-established the dark, sharp accents underneath the flat stone at the top of the white rock ledge with the edge of my painting knife. With transparent paint applied variously with brushes and a painting knife, I achieved a variety of textural effects.
Clean Color Solutions
- Three Brushes: Dirty brushes lead to muddy colors. If you have a favorite brush or brushes, purchase three of each. Use one of the three brushes for light areas, like the sky. Keep the second brush for very dark areas of shadows and cast shadows. Use the third brush for mid-values. This way you’ll have cleaner brushes — and cleaner colors — for different areas of the painting.
- Large Palette: I use a large (34×38) glass palette. This lets me mix my dark tones in an area separate from my light tones and my midtones in a third separate area. When I modify my colors, I can keep them clean and unmuddied.
The Artist’s Toolkit
- SURFACE: Claessens #66 Belgium linen
- PAINT: Winsor & Newton titanium white, Naples yellow, cadmium yellow light, cadmium orange, cadmium red light, permanent alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, raw sienna, cobalt blue, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, viridian blue, ivory black and raw umber; Holbein violet gray and monochrome tint cool
- BRUSHES: Nos. 10 and 12 Richeson Signature series 9629 bristle egberts (elongated filberts, also called “cat’s tongues”) to apply background transparent colors; Nos. 4, 6, 8 and 10 Richeson Chelveston flats and brights to apply opaque colors for subsequent stages of the painting
- MEDIUMS: Martin F. Weber Turpenoid or Gamblin Gamsol for initial session; Winsor & Newton Liquin, used sparingly, for subsequent sessions
- OTHER: Nos. 810 and 826 Che Son painting knives; 34×38 glass palette
Comments
Post a Comment