Beth Hansen-Buth's
Fantasy Art Techniques
The
first thing I have to say is that painting is frustrating and
difficult work. If it weren't then everyone would be doing their own
paintings for themselves. I am an oil painter. During my quest for
the perfect medium to express myself artistically I tried acrylics,
watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, photography, digital painting,
3D computer modeling, and polymer clay sculpting all with some success.
Yet something about oil painting stuck in my bones and so here I am
once again, an oil painter. I enjoy the process, the materials, and
the final results. I use coarse language sometimes under my breath,
sometimes very loudly, during the making of a painting. I am endlessly
finding and correcting mistakes and making new ones that I may or
may not find before the painting is complete. But I just love what
I can do with them! Thick, thin, glazed in layers transparently to
acheive luminous skin tone...it's the medium for me.
Most of the following notes on materials and techniques
are what I was able to absorb studying still life and portaiture September
through December of the year 2000 at master painter Jeff Hurinenko's
Flemish/Dutch classes in St. Paul, MN. Most, but not all that is.
I've been soaking up info from other artists through books, meeting
and speaking with them, and just looking at paintings. Then there's
my own brush mileage.
~ Materials I Use ~
I used to paint almost exclusively with sable brushes
on a smooth hardboard surface, but have found that bristle brushes
of a good quality work wonders, saving the expensive sables to do
only the finest details in the finishing stage. I like some brushstrokes
once in a while.
Oil Paint Colors
There's a HUGE difference in quality between student
or hobby grade oil paints and the professional oil paints. I only
use the professional grade oils, the colors go farther and are more
intense, giving me consistent results when mixing. My Standard Pallette
of Colors:
Zinc White for mixing with colors/Titanium White for
highlights
Cadmium Yellow Medium (or Middle)
Additional colors I have found useful, but aren't
always on my pallette: Raw Sienna, Venetian Red, Prussian Blue, Cobalt
Violet, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Pale, and Cadmium-Barium Red Deep.
My new favorite brand is the M. Graham Oil color,
because it doesn't require a solvent for thinning or cleaning, just
walnut oil. So I now have a solvent-free studio for oil painting!
If you don't mind using odorless paint thinner, Mussinni
has damar varnish mixed into the formula and is excellent for glazing.
Old Holland oils have the highest density of pigment, and it's the
oldest paint manufacturing company in the world. Established in 1664,
Old Holland oils were used by the Dutch masters Vermeer, Van Ruysdael,
Van Gogh and others.
Mediums
By eliminating the need for solvent, I've switched to
M. Graham Walnut Oil for my medium. In the past I used Liquin to speed
drying time.
Bristle Brushes
Natural bristle brushes (no sythetic blends please!), at least two
of each of the following in the filbert shape:
Sizes - 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8
and at least one:
size 10 and 12 and medium fan brush
Filberts give the finest control, without unsightly square edge strokes
that bristles have. I highly recommend the Robert Simmons series 42
Signet brushes as they are tapered to a soft oval shape. The Isabey
brand filberts are also quite excellent, slightly rounder and are
a bit softer bristle.
Sable Brushes
Again, synthetic blends will let you down, as they actually
cut the paint you are trying to apply so delicately. I try to have
at least one of each kolinsky sable in good condition available to
me:
Filbert sizes - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8
Round sizes - 1, 2, 3, 8
Filberts for detailed shading and blending, and rounds
for extra fine details, line work, and adding my signature.
Painting Surfaces
Over the years I've used many different surfaces, my
current favorite is either stretched canvas or linen. I have also
had success using hardboard with gesso brushed onto it or the commercial
Gessoboard. Both linen and boards offer a superior texture for delicate
glazing. Before Gessoboard, I would spend hours hand priming masonite
to acheive the eggshell surface texture similar to cold-pressed watercolor
paper. I save an enourmous amount of time buying it already done!
~ My Painting Method ~
My painting technique is what's known as an indirect
method. I paint in a series of translucent layers to acheive the color
and tone that I want. Soon, I hope to have a chance to photograph
a painting in progress so you can see what I'm talking about.
Step #1 ~ Imprematura
This is the first phase of any oil painting that I do,
I get rid of the white surface. I mix a combination of zinc white
& raw umber acrylic thinned with water until I get a neutral parchment
shade, similar to the background color on this website. I use my largest
filbert bristle brush and apply it to the linen or board, covering
it completely, softening the brushstrokes with a fan brush as I go.
The toned board or canvas is set it aside for a few hours to dry completely.
Step #2 ~ Bistre
This is where the drawing and composition begins. Once
upon a time, I would do a detailed drawing in pencil, trace it, and
then transfer the oulines to the prepared surface with pencil and
then begin finding my shadow shapes. Now I sketch directly in with
my paint, I'm using Burnt Umber, a dark warm brown tone thinned with
water when I work woth acrylics, or walnut oils when I work with oils.
I work with a #4 filbert bristle brush with very thin paint to find
my shapes and composition. Once things become more defined I start
finding details with my sable filberts and rounds, still working very
thinly, only adding the color transparently. If I'm lucky, I can complete
this phase in a day or two. Shadows are blocked in at this phase in
transparent washes. When I'm satisfied with the amount of detail,
I set the painting aside to dry for at least 5 days if I did this
stage in oils.
Step #3 ~ Grissaille
Once
the bistre has dried sufficiently so it won't lift, I go in with Burnt
Umber, again thinned with walnut oil, and start refining the darker
details further. Then I add Zinc white to the light side (never in
the shadows) and I mix it with raw umber to acheive the middle and
light tones. I'm now working with the paint either straight out of
the tube or only slightly thinned with walnut oil, so it has a consistency
of room temperature butter. This is the fun phase, where the painting
really comes to life all in shades of brown! Because I'm spending
more time with details and refining tones, this takes more time than
the bistre phase. I usually spend at least two to three painting sessions
working on the grissaille, gradually building up the lights, but saving
the final highlights for later, in the final color phase.
Now I am itching to add color so badly it makes me absolutely
crazy, but because I've been using thicker paint, I HAVE to allow
it to dry before glazing on the color, or it just sinks in and turns
to mud. This is why I work on several paintings at a time, all in
different stages. So I always have something different to work on
and come at the painting at the right time with fresh eyes.
P.S. on steps 1-3: Lately I've been experimenting
with acrylics so I don't have the long wait. Old
Shroom #3 pictured above is an example of an acrylic underpainting.
Step #4 ~ Mid-tone Color
This is where I knock back all the contrast that I've
created with the monochromatic underpainting. Seriously. I have a
wonderful brown toned painting that looks almost finished, and I go
and take the middle tones for everything, glaze it on as thinly as
possible without adding any walnut oil, do some basic tonal refining
in areas and then set it aside to dry. Again. But at least I know
where I'm going with the colors.
Step #5 ~ Refining Color
Because the last layer was very thin, I can usually
start in again in 3-5 days. Now I go in and start refining my highlights,
shadows, midtones, and tighten up the details and edges. Colors are
brighter, and now I find the areas of reflected light in the shadows.
This is the longest phase of the painting, and the most tedius, working
with small sable brushes. Blend, refine, blend, refine....set aside
to dry for a week or so...blend, refine, blend, refine....and repeat
till done.
