Wessel's Art BlogDrawing and Oil Painting Tips and Techniques

ON PAINTING STYLE AND INFLUENCES

2011-10-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

While going to exhibition after exhibition I hear some people comment on my painting style – this is what I search for and in my opinion is that the following helps you to define it:-
1. Firstly it is qualified by how you draw – if it is in great detail and precise then your paintings could be very photogenic or with elaborate detail; if your drawing not in great detail, then your painting would also not be in great detail. If it is just clean lines then your painting will also reflect clean lines and spaces. The uniqueness of your painting could be found in the different way in which you draw.
2. The amount of colors that you use and how you use them – do you use dirty/broken colors by mixing or do you like to use “clean” paint, impasto, etc. This has a direct bearing on the brightness, contrasts, etc. etc. of your painting. Do you use it thick, thin or layers and how do you apply it with oft or bristle brushes or palette knife or other instruments?
3. I believe many will disagree with me that the subject matter that you like to paint influences your style and especially in how you interpret it or what other message you have in your subject matter, how simple or naïve or even complex it might be.
4. The fourth influence on your style of painting is your schooling or “masters” that you respect. One can clearly see some resemblances creeping in over time or there is just something that reminds you of another artist or great master.
5. A last influence is the emotional intelligence of the artist. It is very easy to “read” the personality of the artist or his emotional condition by observing his paintings. Is the artist very happy by nature or is the artist depressed, is he outgoing, does he communicate and have easy exchange with other people? One artist for example very seldom show any human beings in his paintings….Another just paint people – many people together engrossed in some activity or portraits. The emotional intelligence can also then be gleaned from observing the something more and something else in the painting.

The important factor though is to qualify your art style and to grow in it. I think a certain deliberate effort to enforce your own unique style must be made – deliberate effort and to evaluate it: put some works or photos of it next to one another and compare it.
I don’t think you have to adapt in any way if you follow the process of developing and maintaining and growing your own unique style.

In conclusion it is needed for one to from time to time experiment and play and add “new” techniques and influences to your style. Never undermine or compromise creativity and a certain artistic freedom that goes with it even if it does not look like some of your other work. Let it influence you. There are people who would copy a certain artists in subject matter and in process and only later to come back and to do their own work again; but now “influenced” and changed by that exercise. The same could be said for working with another artist or additional training etc. All these can be influences on creativity and your style.

COLOR BALANCE

2011-02-15T06:13:00.000-08:00

A very easy process:
1. Take a photo of your work, download it unto your pc, view it on a viewer(Microsoft Office Picture Manager) "zoomed out" . This way the photo is much smaller and the colors closer to one another and you see an error so much easier.
2. Now correct that error on your painting.
3. Take a photo again and go through the same process again. Repeat the process until you are happy with the color balance.

MARKETING YOUR ART - KEEP ON KNOCKING

2010-11-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about this topic since that is quite a difficult subject for artists and many of us are not top sales or marketing people. The following conclusions :-
1. Study marketing by yourself. Get marketing books and do your own research. Maybe you get a new idea or concept.
2. Keep on knocking on the doors of the commercial galleries. Just go there once in a while and show your work. The day comes that there is an open door.
3. Explore auction houses especially those that auction artworks.
4. Try contemporary galleries for limited time exhibitions either by yourself or with a group.
5. Update your website and all related links.
6. Keep selling your art at your house.
7. Put a price on your artwork - do not let it go cheap. Get the mental picture of a good price fixed in your mind. Identify with it fully. Price some of your work at home accordingly.
8. Be open to ideas from other artists and the related industry.
9. Exhibit regularly with all galleries open to you - be there!
10. Improve your artwork! There is a market for good art. But in improving it be real - do your own work, original and honest art because in the end that will work!

AUTOGRAPHING OR SIGNING YOUR OIL PAINTINGS AND DATING IT.

2010-06-29T07:03:00.001-07:00

Two issues are significant here. The one is how you sign your artwork and the other is if you should date it or not.
Autographing or signing – should you sign it very “professionally” or artistically or hide it? That it blends into your color range? Many questions, but the one you should answer is what are other artists, which are painting similar works as yours, what are they doing? Do you find reason in it?
I think the best option is to blend your artistic signature and date that the worked was completed into the artwork in such a manner that:-
1.It does not draw attention to itself.
2.It does not compete with the focus point or main area of interest of your painting.
3.It still contributes somewhat to the balance of the painting or at least does not skew the balance.
4.But it must still be clearly seen on inspection.
If you should do it differently like contrasting color or bright or very noticeable style etc. however, that is your prerogative.
Some artists only put their initials while others put the whole name and surname and even some only the name. If the style is very significant and can easily be distinguished then that could be done. Some artists also sign their work or index their work at the back of the painting as well as dating it.
As to dating your artwork – the older you are, the more important dating becomes. The problem is that you cannot go back to some work that now hangs in a gallery or in another country or in some unknown house or study. By dating it retrospective exhibition could be managed a little easier at a later age. The verdict? I think it is good to date your work.
Final thought and this is just an artist’s opinion – do you want to leave a legacy of artwork? Properly sign it somewhere and date it – alternatively if you only just want to make a sale then do whatever your artistic mind can come up with. Just be consistent or strive more or less to come to some place of doing it with some reason.Or make some artistic statement!

PRICING YOUR ARTWORK

2010-03-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

The pricing of your works are really up to you. That’s the fact – you choose your price!
But you must remember that a good marketing person can sell your work for much higher amounts. However for you to be a serious artist and to avoid later problems with resale values or with "investors" and galleries, it is better that you determine your price. Whatever somebody else then sell it for has nothing to do with you. If works are overpriced and sold by a good salesperson and later are sold again and the price are significantly less, you as an artist get a bad reputation and it will influence your sales.
So how do you price your artwork?
The starting point is twice what it would have cost you to frame it. As your art style and quality of your work increase and you begin to sell more then increase it to two and a half or three times the framing price and later on raise it again. You will get a feel for your price! Beware though of cheap thin plastic frames - rather frame it properly! If a work does not need a frame but can hang as a board or canvass just like that ask yourself what it would have cost you to frame it and start with that.
If one work is of a much greater artistic value than some of your other work because it is just a better work, ask your price and motivate it that way! You are the artist - you ask your price! Sometimes the price can simply be doubled and your sales can increase if you have started with less rather than more!
It is always better to see your art being sold again by the original buyer for higher prices than lower. This way you get a good reputation and your work could enter certain markets as investment art! That is the ideal! This is why you must determine it carefully if you are a serious artist! You don't want to upset old customers and collectors!
Price your work carefully and be consistent and treat your customer with integrity!

VALUE OF THUMBNAIL DRAWING

2010-02-18T02:20:00.000-08:00

The thumbnail drawing is made on very inexpensive paper and the drawing is made very roughly emphasizing the tonal values only in three – areas of white, dark and medium scale. Many of these drawings can be made so that one can find the ideal composition as well as the basic tonal values. The maximum size of the drawing is about 5cm by 10 cm but can be smaller. I choose this size because it easily fits on A4 ordinary printing paper and clipboard and therefore easy to handle out of doors. I also very roughly scale the drawing so that I can transfer the outline to my canvass or board.
The value of the thumbnail is simply this – if it works on this small scale in three tones and it makes sense, then it will work on a larger scale. Once it is transferred to my larger canvass, I work very intuitively and make further adjustments but I always have my reference material in the drawing and the actual photo. I have deliberately not just transferred a photo to my canvass – I first draw and already prepare my mind on problem areas when I am going to actually paint it.

HOW TO DEVELOP OR WHAT QUALIFIES YOUR ART STYLE

2009-12-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

Because of my interest in oil painting in particular I have tried many methods over the years and finally came to a method of painting and only then I could see a sense of style coming out of my work. I thought of all the factors that influence style and made the following very simplistic list
1. Concentrate on a favorite medium.
2. Concentrate on a favorite theme.
3. Consistent execution - sameness of art pieces.
4. Favorite color palette.
5. Level of intellectual content and emotional intelligence is the same or slightly different.
6. Progression is in a clear and distinctive direction.
7. A favorite surface or some even has a favorite size.
8. External factors like extravagant framing or simplistic framing - ideally a painting style is separate from framing style.
9. Sameness of working methods ensures sameness of execution with regards to brushstrokes, binders, etc. etc.
10. Same source or reference material - working from a live model or in situ or "en plein air" is quite different than working in a studio with sketches and drawings made from source material.

METHOD OF THE MASTERS

2009-07-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Read a book on Van Eyck the Dutch painter. Very impressed with his attitude. 'As best I can' was his motto. Apart from that the classical method of seven layers was followewd. First they did a drawing - the actual size of painting or smaller. On transferring it to the canvas or board, they did it in great detail with ink. Then the whole canvas or board was given a wash with an olive green or brown sienna like layer mixed from various colours. After this they completed the first layer in a gray scale. Then a second gray scale followed. Then the first colour layer. Then the second colour layer. The third colour layer followed.And finally the highlights and thicker paint followed. Between each layer the painting was allowed to dry and before a new layer was started a dry onion was rubbed all over the painting. Then a thin layer of painting mixture was painted over and the next layer painted into this layer. This secured a good binding. The method of painting from thin to thick was strictly followed but it was done in such a way that previous layers shone through each new layer. So it was done very, very thinly. Various mixtures and formulas of painting mixtures existed at the time. The thing that impressed me is the shine and the good craftmanship. It is very good art. Love to do an art piece following this rigid method.

ON DOING SERIES

2009-07-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

When doing a series of paintings one should firstly carefully plan the series. As I have discovered one should 1. Establish the concept out of your sourcematerial. You should have a feeling or passion for it- Write the concept down. 2. Establish the number for the series and start drawings. 3. Aquire enough surfaces to do the series simultaneously. 4. Now only start painting the series. Each painting must be halted so that the other in the same series should "catch up" first. The reason for not completing one fully is that your series might fastly differ in colour or emotional content and it might not stand as a series. 5. My subject matter, size, composition style, as well as manner of execution are more or less the same for all the paintings in the series. 6. The challenging parts are the drawings - redo it if they do dot not tie in with one another. 7. The last challenge is the unique qualifying element for each in the series - alike yet different! The concept must also be true to each painting in the series. That is the challenge!

ON PENCIL DRAWING

2009-07-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Draw with AM today. I have done the same drawing now three times. The first time from a photo that I have taken on A4 size. The second time on A2 size where I have divided the drawing into large blocks - trying to analyze the underlying structure. Today's drawing was completed from memory on A2 size - remembering the areas that influenced me and also now freely adapting the drawing in areas where the photo did not fit in a nice flow. Now I am trying to create the same flow or rhythm throughout the drawing by refining or removing or simplifying certain areas. I also worked a bit on the tonal values as a preparatory study for a painting. Maybe will do another drawing - more detailed comparing again with the reality and correcting some shapes that might be too distorted. AM's view is that I should consider studying German expressionist's like Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and others in my drawing and painting style since my art is now moving in a definite direction.

OIL PAINTING SURFACE

2009-07-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Painted with my friend AM and just worked on a masonite board that I sanded down slightly because I have used it previously. Previously painted surfaces are very nice to paint on. While I was painting AM saw some of the previous painting and the texture it left behind. And her comment? Leave the nice stuff that's already there and add the rest of your composition without throwing away everything - sometimes leave a whole piece like in a outline or silhouetted background. She also suggested that one can scrape/sand down again and get a nice overall effect that is very different especially on smaller boards. I am still busy with it but a textured surface like that is very nice to work on - the feel is better than canvass or newly prepared boards

AMERICAN ARTIST

2009-07-08T03:33:00.001-07:00

Joined the online art forum of American Artist on www.myamericanartist.com and commented on some blog entries. The entry that I really like is "En Plein Air: A Conversation With Clyde Aspevig" - an amazing American artist. His working methods and style is exceptional. I cannot copy the interview but it is good stuff.

ON EXHIBITIONS

2009-07-08T03:32:00.001-07:00

Went to an exihibition at the Pretoria Art Museum. Looked at some drawings in different mediums from Croatia. Some very good and well executed and some almost childish but what is clear, is that this country went through some difficult times and it is clearly shown in their art. The rest of the museum and an area I allways liked is the South African masters - I allways study what they did. Good stuff. Pierneef, Sekotto, Preller, Pemba and others.

FINISHING OIL PAINTINGS

2009-07-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

The Free Sate Farm painting is nearing completion - it is done in lines and dots (like big pixles). Decided to take a photo and to digitally enhance or just look at it on a photo. Since I loaded it I noted that the colour key is too bright at certain places. Must include more dots and lines and tone it down in some areas.

REFLECT ON ART PLANS

2009-07-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

Rewrote my website and thinking of the past year and reflecting on my art and my plans for 2009. Wanna learn more from AM, exhibit my work, paint at a higher level and make some money...mmmmm

COMPOSITION AND PHOTOGRAPHY

2009-07-06T23:34:00.000-07:00

Discussed the whole idea of composition and interesting spaces and forms in paintings. JDB says students should just take photos for a year every day - it will correct your view automatically with regards to composition. Maybe a good camera is a good investment?

REFLECT ON ART PROGRESS

2009-07-06T02:07:00.000-07:00

Summarize my experience with regards to my art with AM. She and I came to the following conclusions - 1. Work on the composition - find the sweet spot and don't let something else steal that attention. 2. Keep in one consistent style throughout the painting - restrict brush strokes to only a few. 3. Paint on a more professional surface - start a new series on a better surface. 4. Break monotonous lines and make every little area interesting. 5. Drama - seek some sense of mood or drama especially in clouds - communicate feeling or mood. 6. Trees - each have a personality or character of their own - make them so - study them. 7. Exhibition date commits oneself to finishing a serie or a body of work that is presentable - commit to an exhibition

GREAT ARTISTS

2009-07-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

I like the following artists and study their lives, methods etc. For what reason? Simple - I like their stuff and most of them were born near my birthday...although I do not believe in fortune telling. Well they are Diego Velasques, Paul Gauguin, Millais, Thomas Sully, Courbett and Constable. Some common traits amongst them but quite diverse artist. Nevertheless interesting.

ARTISTS'S BLOCK

2009-07-03T03:45:00.000-07:00

Thought my discussion with RR and the subsequent research I have done on an artist's "block" i.e. if you just cannot paint draw, create whatever; what should you do? Ok, my solutions - 1. In oil painting you work with some variables:- your palette, your brushes, surface, and sources. Change some of the variable! 2.Do a self-portrait - you to look at something familiar very intensely and then reinvent it in a new way! 3. Copy a great master as an exercise. Somebody you like. Learn his techniques! Steal from the rich!!! Maybe something different that you are not used to. 4. Paint with another artist - push yourself into another level!