Traditional media requires a lot of effort. It’s because of my laziness that I first became interested in digital media – I loved the immediacy and disposability of it – but digital doesn’t provide that feeling of having physically created something. Until recently it had been a decade since I had attempted oil painting, so I decided to try my hand at it again, not really knowing what I was doing.
I bought a starter kit of student-level oil paints, an oil pad and some brushes, and delved into it. To give me some confidence with the feeling of the paint I followed a youtube video (actually for acrylics) and continued from there with some studies of images I found in some old copies of Vogue. I hadn’t intended to keep the studies but I liked how they turned out and wanted to have some reminders in my home that I once could be bothered to physically paint…
Dress: Helmut Lang
Traditional media requires a lot of effort. It’s because of my laziness that I first became interested in digital media – I loved the immediacy and disposability of it – but digital doesn’t provide that feeling of having physically created something. Until recently it had been a decade since I had attempted oil painting, so I decided to try my hand at it again, not really knowing what I was doing.
I bought a starter kit of student-level oil paints, an oil pad and some brushes, and delved into it. To give me some confidence with the feeling of the paint I followed a youtube video (actually for acrylics) and continued from there with some studies of images I found in some old copies of Vogue. I hadn’t intended to keep the studies but I liked how they turned out and wanted to have some reminders in my home that I once could be bothered to physically paint…
Dress: Helmut Lang
After the paintings were left to dry for a few months, I needed to varnish them. Oil paint is such an old medium but that doesn’t mean there aren’t modern updates to the process – I used a varnish straight from a spray can. Advice on whether to frame the paintings behind glass or not is conflicting so as an experiment I’ve left one out of the glass.
I used Georgian Oil Paint, a sheet of perspex as a palette, a Winsor & Newton table easel, various brushes including surprisingly good cheap brush set, and I painted on A4 Oil Paper. I didn’t like the old turpentine method so I read up and decided to use Zest It instead. I finished with spray varnish.
One problem I’ve always had is that my work is too tight and needs to be more loose and gestural. It’s a lot harder than it sounds! I tend to get stuck looking at a tiny detail and forget the bigger picture. Another thing is that I’ve always preferred to work small over large, but I’m hoping to change this soon – I bought a large easel and now I’m just waiting for the inspiration to come, so watch this space!
Your work is stunning
Thank you <3