Art Tip #121

What's Your Favorite Support?

In my post Set for Success, I talked a little about using good materials.   Most students give little thought to what they paint on.  I can't count the number of times that a student will pull out a canvas & say, "I got this on sale at Michael's for $5".  Yep, got it! At the starting point, we already have added an obstacle to the process.  The type of support you paint on is as important as quality paints & brushes.  Maybe more so.  It's like preparing a wonderful, gourmet meal only serve it on paper plates.  There are so many types of supports to choose. Cotton canvas, board or linen, stretched or mounted on board?  It's personal preference whether you like a rough, slightly rough or smooth.  I'm starting to sound kinda kinky! :)   Okay, back on track.   

Take some time & try different supports to see what you like.  Maybe painting on board works or a rough textured canvas or linen floats your boat.  But just using what's on sale isn't the way to create your best, possible work.  Painting on inexpensive support and then wondering why your brushstrokes are showing up or your paint seems to be absorbed into the canvas? Putting obstacles in your way only makes for some frustrating painting time.  

Here are some of my favorite supports:

Raymar Panels - Raymar has several types of canvas or linen that are mounted on MDF. They offer sample packages so that you can try different canvas & linen to see what suits you.  They rock.

Gessobord Panels  - Ampersand panels have a smooth surface & fun to paint on.

Stretched Linen -  Odessa Russian Linen - great support to paint on.

Art Tip #117

Sargent Knows Best

Students want to their paintings to have pretty brushwork.  I teach students to first learn to make their paintings read from a distance and then spend a lifetime perfecting how it looks up close. Value is the key.  Painting detail can give you a sense that you've capture the subject but without the correct values, your painting will be flat and uninviting.  If you don't catch a viewer's eye from a distance, they won't get close enough to enjoy the brushwork.

John Singer Sargent was the first painter to inspire me & I seek out his work for guidance. Viewing his paintings in person, I'm always struck at how he disguises detail with a few strokes of the brush. As wonderful as his brushwork is, it's value that carries a painting.   No matter how beautiful the strokes or color, if the values aren't correct, then it will fail. In JSS's painting "Head Study of a Capri Girl" from a distance, you think that the earrings would be described in detail until you are a few inches away from the painting.  In fact, it's 2 to 3 very well placed, value correct strokes.   I'm drawn to those beautiful strokes for the earrings but realize that if the values of the entire painting aren't correct...the earrings won't matter.

Those who watched Sargent painting in his studio were reminded of his habit of stepping backwards after almost every stroke of the brush on the canvas, and the tracks of his paces so worn on the carpet that it suggested a sheep run through the heather.   

In stepping back, JSS was mainly judging the how his painting read, not his brushwork.

                                   

My goal is to paint the "essence" of my subject, not the exactness of it. Value allows me that. Stepping back helps you judge how little you can get away with and still convey it.