Grays and Whites

I'm having a problem with my whites. I don't have a consistent white formula that I use while painting, instead I mix a new batch every time I sit down, and most of the time I use a very haphazard method of using a little of this, a mess of that, whatever looks good, etc. I'm looking for a color that is off-white, but not too yellow or blue. It's really hard to find that perfect color.

So I've been experimenting a bit with the whites and grays that I use when I paint in oils. The above are two of my favorite whites. I think I have mentioned Archival Fast-Drying White before, I really like it and use it for almost all of my mixing. For a gray horse, though, I'm trying out Archival's Tinting White. I bought this a while ago and didn't use it because I thought it would take too long to dry. But guess what? It's not too bad! It's slightly off-white, with a pearly sheen, and the consistency is really soft and buttery, which I like. Here's a little comparison of them, with a buff titanium I've been using to show how different that color can be:

I've been adding just a touch of the Buff Titan to the Tinting White, and then a smidgen of a gray mix to use for my grays. 

Now on to the grays. I also have a problem with my grays getting a little too blue for my taste. I used to use Burnt Umber and Mars Black, with a touch of a yellow ochre, but lately I've been mixing equal parts of Raw Umber and Van Dyke Brown plus a touch of Mars Black. Today I made this little chart of different mixes to see what worked best. I was surprised to see that I liked the mix with the two browns and Ivory Black. I usually equate Ivory Black with blue, but it looks pretty good to me. Mars Black is a stronger tinting color than Ivory Black, so maybe that's why.

You can click on the grays for a larger photo.

So, what do you think? Do you have a favorite "recipe"? I would love to hear what other artists use for their whites and grays when they paint in oils.

A Naples Yellow Comparison

Naples yellow is one of those great "horse-y" colors, but I have found that it really varies from one manufacturer to another. Each company seems to use different mixtures of pigments to make their color, and it can range from a bright yellow to a subtle neutral. I've been cycling through tubes to see what manufacturer I like best, so here's a few that I've tried lately.

I like Rembrandt paints in general because they are very smooth and relatively cheap (plus their tube is 40ml vs 37ml for most standard tubes). However, some of their colors tend to be garish, and also they tend to use more oil so I have started steering away from them a little bit.

The first color on the left is Rembrandt Naples Yellow Light. As you can see, the tube is almost full because I didn't like this color. It's too light for my taste, and it almost has a greenish cast to it. The color to the right of it is Naples Yellow Deep. This one is better, and I have used it on models, but it's still too yellow and falls into the garish category for me. It can always be modulated by another color, but I'd rather not take the extra time when one color will do.

Next is Sennelier Naples Yellow Deep. I really like this color and use it all the time. It's a nice neutral yellow, and the consistency is buttery without too much oil. I don't use a lot of Sennelier colors because I had a really bad experience with a stringy tube of paint from them once, but this is one color that I will definitely buy again.

Finally, there is Winsor & Newton Naples Yellow. This is slightly more yellow than the Sennelier, but it's still a very nice color. The problem I have with it is that it has lead carbonate in it. I didn't realize this when I ordered it online. I don't like using paint with lead in it, not because of the toxicity so much, but because the lead makes the paint heavy and difficult to brush out. It's a weird feeling and doesn't work well with the lighter synthetic brushes, it needs a good stiff brush to work best.

There are still a few other brands left that I'd like to try, but I need to use up the Sennelier first. It lasts a long time!

Weekly Update

It's problem-solving day for me today!

Previously I had said that I thought Jezebel's tailbone was a little too long, so I dremelled it down and re-sculpted it and the result came out exactly the same (see top photo). I thought that was funny.  In the second photo I have Photoshopped some of the tail out, I think the second photo looks more realistic as far as the length of the tailbone, though the top photo has overall more balance. I would love to hear others' feedback. Disregard the weird lines on the second photo's tail, that is my poor Photoshop attempt at the clone tool.

Here's the Apple Techie I've been working on. This is another example of a problem I'm trying to solve. Generally, I will do 3-4 layers of oil paint, let that dry, then spray it with Dull Cote to see what the effect will be. When I do this, I almost always find streaky areas, causing me to go back in with oils and repeat the whole process again. This is one of the things that takes a long time, fixing these little areas that don't look as blended as I want them to be. Here's a closeup of the leg to show you an example of the streaky area (right above the knee).

I don't know, maybe it doesn't look that streaky, but it bugs me and I just have to go back and paint over it. I almost feel like I have OCD sometimes! Part of the problem might be because of the transparency of the paint and/or the medium that I use that causes more transparency, thus requiring more layers. It could possibly be the lighting too. I haven't had good results when I've tried painting in thicker layers, so until I can figure it out, I will just have to slog through with this slow, time-consuming way.

I have been given the opportunity to paint a couple of Brigitte Eberl's Sushi resins that were cast for Tom Bainbridge, I thought I'd post a couple of photos of her at different angles since most of Tom's angles are straight on. The casting on her was superb, what a relief to get an Eberl that will be easy to prep! One will be painted for Tom and the other I will paint for sale. She is really nice, beautifully proportioned and she has a sweet, type-y look. I'm not sure what color I'm going to paint mine, I'm open to suggestions! I was thinking of possibly a rose grey, or maybe a pinto. I just don't know yet.


Okay, next week I'll have more progress shots.

I Discover the Obvious

I have read and heard over and over that you need to wait a bit before sculpting into apoxie, but somehow "a bit" means "30 seconds" to me. I tear into it almost immediately, and I think that is part of my problem with it. I need to be more patient.

So while I was convalescing last week due to illness, I slapped some apoxie on my sample horse and started fooling around with it, checking how it felt at 5 minute increments. The part on the photo that I circled is the first 5 minutes, and sure enough, I hated the way it felt. It slithered around and wasn't very cooperative. I found the best "feeling" time was after 30-45 minutes. Then I could gently work with it and it didn't slither, and if I was careful it didn't tear. So I must remember to be patient when I use this stuff.

Not much else to show this week. Alvaro doesn't look a lot different, but I have worked on his head a bit and added more dark color to his body. I'll be going back and forth like this for a long time.

Sum of All Parts

Some of you who read this blog may know that I have some insecurities about how slowly I paint. It's a source of great frustration for me, because I love using oils, but my technique is such that it takes an inordinately long time to get anything finished. I often see other artists who can finish 5 or more pieces to every one of mine, and it makes me feel like I'm moving in slow motion or underwater. I definitely would be the tortoise in the "tortoise and hare" story, that's for sure. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even part of the hobby because I'm not always out there with something new every few weeks.

But I have discovered something that may help me speed up a little bit. I like to use alkyd mediums when I paint, which have a moderate drying effect, but they don't work the same way as cobalt or japan driers do (supposedly they are a more flexible film not prone to cracking). So I did a little experiment with three of the mediums:

Winsor & Newton Liquin Original, Daniel Smith Oil Painting Medium, and Liquin Fine Detail. I used Rembrandt's Permanent Red Light for this experiment because it seems to stay wet on my palette for weeks at a time, and I mixed about 15% medium with paint. The results were interesting. Liquin Original and DS Painting Medium were pretty much dry to the touch after 24 hours, but Liquin Fine Detail had a tacky feeling to it. It took a couple of days before the Fine Detail medium felt more dry. And wouldn't you know it? That is the medium that I was using to paint my models with! So I have switched over to Liquin Original (which I LOVE) and I'm much happier with the drying times now. I plan on having a more thorough review of the mediums in a future post.

Another thing I am trying to do is to paint only part of the model in each session. For instance, I have divided it up into underside, body, head, mane/tail, legs, so that each day I can concentrate on one part of the model while the rest of it dries. That way I can keep painting on each piece every day. I don't know if this actually makes anything speedier, but it feels like it to me.

I have a bunch of pictures to share, but I guess they can wait 'til the next post since I've run on with this one.