Painting with oils

For about a month, I've been painting with oils in my studio. You may know that I am best known for my pastel paintings, but I love working with both mediums for different reasons.

Below you can see detail shots of my two most recent oil paintings. I like the contrast between the first one which is more layers of "dry brush" oil application and the bottom one is very wet oil paint applied with palette knives.




The above detail illustrates the similarities between oil and pastel. My surface is textured with earlier applications of gesso and first paint layers. Then, I drag oil paint on a brush across this texture. (When I paint with oils, I work on several paintings at a time to ensure a drying of most recent layer.)




This painting is done all at one time, with lots of wet paint pushed and pulled across the surface with a couple of my favorite palette knives. It might be finished... I will let it totally dry before deciding. I may glaze over it. (On a side note, I love the way this looks like the surface of moving water... inspired by many hours of river studies!)

Here's a better picture...

Having fun with oil painting

This is a detail shot of my latest oil painting, "Rest". Whether I am working small or on a bigger canvas (this one is 24x30"), I paint with my bare hands as well as brushes!

I use a variety of oil painting brushes, but in addition to adding paint with brushes, I like the subtractive nature of scraping back with 'shaper' tools. I also blend and move paint with my fingers as well as the heal of my hand.

If you look at the light area above the hand in this detail shot, you can see the cast shadow created by oil paint when I scraped back through.




(PS... both of these are quick pics from the easel. I'll post better images soon. Oil paintings are tough to photograph until the surface dries a bit... don't like the glare.)