Painting
a still life in oil.An
introductory course into painting a still life with oil, focusing on
development of composition and the fundamental tools and techniques
of oil painting. Instructor:
Jeffrey MartinJeffMartin@nau.edu
Painting
a still life in oil.An
introductory course into painting a still life with oil, focusing on
development of composition and the fundamental tools and techniques
of oil painting. Instructor:
Jeffrey Martin
JeffMartin@nau.edu
I
will be adding instructional materials here as I have time available
to do so. Please check back often to see the new lessons, and welcome
to the class.
Week
by week lessons:
( to be added later )
Required
materials and supplies.
A
drawing/sketching pad: Plain paper works, but a with a pad you can
keep and archive easier. 10 x 8 or larger. Pencil works best to
sketch, but if you are comfortable with a pen or marker – feel free
to use them. Paint:A
set of oil paint, these are available
at:http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-oil-colors/http://www.walmart.com/ip/Daler-Rowney-Georgian-Oil-Color-Paint-Set-10pk/17617568I
would like you to get the 200 ml tubes if you are going to work on
the larger canvases, but the small tubes I have linked here will work
for smaller paintings ( 8 x 10 or such )
Standard
colors include: French Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue Genuine (CL),
Viridian, Chromium Oxide Green, Alizarin Crimson Permanent, Burnt
Umber, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Orange (CL), Venetian Red, Cadmium
Red Light (CL), Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Light (CL)
A Palatte for your paint. I use a glass 'cutting board', the smooth side and I paint the rough side white. Other people use glass picture frames, or a sheet of glass ( I have seen dinner plates used pretty often as well). You can purchase a palette that is specific for oil painting, I just choose to save the money and grab something smooth, ceramic (porcelain) or glass from a local thrift or second hand store.
Brushes:A
good brush for oil paint is stiff and similar to house painting
brushes. I actually use house painting brushes, like you would find
at Home Depot, but I work in a large format -- usually 6ft and
larger.http://www.dickblick.com/acrylic/brushes/studentgrade/details/A
glass jar ( I use a coffee can: it is large and the solvents will not
eat through it – a spaghetti sauce jar works very well too ),
larger enough to hold your brushes, and a green scrubbie pad to put
at the bottom. Mineral spririts or turpentine to clean the paint from
your brushes ( soap and water will completely remove the paint once
they are initially cleaned in the mineral spirit/turpentine
solvent.) For those of you with sensitive noses, they also come
odorless.
Canvases:http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-canvas-panels/http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-studio-gallery-1-38-profile-cotton-canvas/You
can find canvases at your local craft store or big-box-discount store
-- I have found them at BigLots!! for an exceptional price. If
there is enough interest I can teach everyone to make their own
canvas stretchers, it is far cheaper for each one, but the initial
price of materials ( canvas rolls, etcetera ) may be too much for the
hobbyist. You
will need something to prop your painting up on while working,
an easel is best for this, but do what you have to. I found easels at
the university surplus, they are cheap and work great. If you
plan on continuing with painting, you may want to invest in a good
one, at least studio quality.
***You
will want some place quiet to work, as in what ever makes you
artistic. I listen to music, and ignore the outside world.
What
is a still life? 
A still life is a compostition of everyday objects that are not alive
and do not move.
From Wikipedia: "A still life (plural still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on). With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture. Still life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted."
Choosing
something that means something to you, something that speaks to you
is very important. Objects that would have been on the dinner table
at your grandmothers house, or objects that speak to you about a
subject. For instance I enjoy the image to the right with fresh
bread, and empty beer bottle and a skull -- it says interesting
things to me. Here are a few links to get you thinking:
http://www.squidoo.com/still-life-oil-paintings-by-nicole-pellegrini
http://www.louvre.fr/en/routes/still-life-painting
I
would suggest getting objects from around the home, and setting them
up in a place that will not be disturbed. Find the best angle, sit
there and do about (10) ten different sketches to find a good
composition.
Sometimes zooming into the image is the best and most dramatic
composition, find a good focal point in your arangement. It is
possible to find images on the internet to paint, although you will
not be able to move around them and find better angles, you are stuck
with what the photographer thinks is best. Google has a few here.
More on composition here.
Choose
your image and sketch about (10) ten different compositions. Please
have this done this week so that we can get painting.
Brushes, how
to choose the right one for the particular job you would like done. I
use a basic brush set, like the ones from Dick
Blick. Often I find myself getting brushes from hardware stores,
because I tend to work on large (6ft by 8ft or 4ft by 12ft) canvases
or panels. A good
brush for oil paint is one that is stiff and or course, made from
natural bristles -- there are very nice synthetic ones available too,
check out what you can find.
Mineral spirits or turpentine can be
found at your local hardware store, and nice air-tight glass jar to
clean your brushes. When you have removed the paint from the brushes
with the mineral spirits in the jar, use dish soap and water to
remove the remaining paint from the bristles -- squeeze out the
remaining water and store the brush bristle side up in a jar or cup,
so that the bristles do not get bent or misshapen.
Underpainting.
(soon)
Developing colors. (soon)
Texture.
(soon)
Finishing -- glazes, and varnishes. (soon)