Tuesday 27 March 2012

Towards Tynemouth

Managed to produce a small landscape piece yesterday. The view is one I see regularly when painting with my friend who was the subject of the portrait posted last time. He had loaned me some water mixable oils and I was quite keen to give them a try out.

The first thing I noticed was that they were very good for preparing an underpainting and drawing as, diluted with water, they are easy to put on and dry quickly. After that they perform just like my regular oil paints. I'll be interested to see how the finished picture dries.

As to the painting itself I'm a little disappointed in that I've not managed to create sufficient drama and the only way to have done that would be to have created my own lighting plan. Never mind the next one will either take advantage of the current sunshine or be based on something with a little more contrast. I've decided that I enjoy a wide range of values in my pieces.

Towards Tynemouth - Oil on canvas 12" x 10"

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mick, I had some of those water mixables, but gave them away as I didn't like them much. This has the look of a soft watercolour, even though it's oil. I think it's important to record from nature, but as artists we have the liberty to interpret what we see in any way...otherwise I guess we could just take a photo. Why not use this as a 'study' and create a studio piece based on it, but changing the values to create more drama? Maybe in regular oils so you can clearly see the nuances of both products. I'm out tomorrow plein airing...first time this year…wish me luck!

Caroline Simmill said...

Hi Mick, I second what Maggie says you could use this as a study for another oil painting where you can create your own drama. Nice sky!

Ray Maclachlan Art said...

I think you explained what needs to be done Mick. It's all up to you. Look forward to the result.

Unknown said...

Maggie - Once again thanks a lot for the sound advice. When outside I find it difficult to impose an artistic interpretation on what I have before me at the time. The range of decision making required to do that are best left to the studio after some considered preparation or at least that is how it is for me. My oils often have a water-colour feel about them, another little glitch in the search for style. I am intending giving the water based oils a good testing against my usual stuff.

Unknown said...

Caroline - Thanks. Your suggestion about using it as a study is well taken and hopefully I'll develop it with a bit of drama.

Unknown said...

Ray - Thanks for calling in and providing a bit of support.

Peter Ward said...

That looks fine Mick, perhaps a little more variation in the colours but I`m not an oil painter so what do I know.
We all go through periods of introspection and I'm told even the best artists have their ups and downs. Keep painting (a bit more often)!

Unknown said...

Peter - Cheers. Your last exhortation is my current ambition.