Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick: Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner Made Simple
No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick: Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner Made Simple
No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick: Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner Made Simple
Ebook161 pages1 hour

No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick: Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner Made Simple

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

YOU HAVE JUST purchased your first set of oil colours. Now what? A blank art surface may reflect an uncertainty of what to paint. Where does the beginner begin? Is an easel needed? What about a mahl stick, stretched canvases and a kidney-shaped palette?

The aim of this book is to show that such paraphernalia are not essential. Oil paints can be odourless, clean and the starter kit may comprise just a few items that can be stored in a tool box. Infinite colours can be mixed with several pigments via a few brushes.

This makes oil colours the ideal choice for the beginner who wishes to try a truly versatile art medium. Find basic oil painting exercises aimed at getting that brush moving, even if it means laying each pigment into rectangles to get to know each pigment.
Exercises progress steadily onto shading, mark making and applying glazes. These rudimentary exercises provide the springboard from which to paint a first landscape and more.

The myths of colour theory is dispelled, making dirty colour mixes a thing of the past. Find chapters that explore complementary colours, alla prima, glazing, using a limited palette, working with linseed oil and expressing a jigsaw of marks.

Each chapter concludes with a summarizing bullet point list of what has been covered so far, helping to reinforce what has been learned. As will be seen, oil paints have many surprises in store and can be fun to try out – without the fuss, mess or cost.

Includes a shopping list for the beginner, glossary and hundreds of colour images.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 11, 2014
ISBN9781310391934
No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick: Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner Made Simple
Author

Rachel Shirley

I have practiced oil painting from the age of six and have since been involved in countless projects and commissions. A graduate from Kingston University, Surrey and with a PCET teaching qualification from Warwick University, I have won competitions, taught life drawing and have written several books and many articles on oil painting and teaching art.

Read more from Rachel Shirley

Related to No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick

Related ebooks

Visual Arts For You

View More

Related articles

Related categories

Reviews for No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    No Need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick - Rachel Shirley

    No need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick

    Oil Painting for the Absolute Beginner Made Simple

    Rachel Shirley

    This edition published in 2014 by Rachel Shirley

    Text, photographs and illustrations © Rachel Shirley 2014

    ISBN: 9781310391934

    The Right of Rachel Shirley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 Section 77 and 78. No part of this publication may be republished, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owner. This book is sold subject to the conditions that all designs are copyright and are not for the commercial reproduction without the written permission of the designer and copyright owner. Smashwords Edition License Notice: this ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

    Dedication

    To Harriet and Joseph

    Some of the paintings featured in this book

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Section 1: The Myths & Truths of Oil Painting

    Chapter 1: Fragrance-free Oil Painting

    Chapter 2: Just a Handful of Pigments

    Chapter 3: No need for an Easel or a Mahl Stick

    Chapter 4: Low Cost Knick-knacks for Oil Painting

    Section 2: A First Encounter with Oils

    Chapter 5: Laying Down the Paint

    Chapter 6: A Simple Shading Exercise

    Chapter 7: Red and Blue Makes Brown

    Chapter 8: The Ever Darkening Bands of Spherical Fruit

    Chapter 9: Mark Making

    Section 3: From Brush Marks to Paintings

    Chapter 10: A Composition of Straight Lines

    Chapter 11: Glazing Technique

    Chapter 12: A Painting in Two Layers

    Chapter 13: Shading a Complex Form

    Chapter 14: A Jigsaw of Marks

    Chapter 15: Working with a Limited Palette

    Chapter 16: Building Confidence in Oils

    Section 4: The After Matter

    Glossary

    Paintings Featured within this Book

    Other Books by the Author

    Introduction

    YOU HAVE just purchased your first set of oils. Now what? A blank art surface may reflect an uncertainty of what to paint. Where does the beginner – begin? Is an easel needed? What about a mahl stick, stretched canvases, pots of solvents and brushes?

    The aim of this book is to show that in fact, oil paints can be cheap, odourless and simple to use. Bulky equipment is not needed. In fact the starter kit can comprise just a few items that can easily be stored in a tool box.

    Infinite colours can be mixed with ten pigments or so; just a few brushes are needed to make any mark the artist wishes.

    But oils are also much more than this. They are ideal for experimentation for their versatility. Oils can be applied in washes like watercolour, ladled on thickly like plaster, brushed evenly like emulsion, blended smoothly like an airbrush or scratched into for textured effects – all with just a few art materials.

    Oil painting projects can be simple and convenient, as can be seen in this book. A small room or even a corner will often suffice. This makes oil colours the ideal choice for the prospecting artist who wishes simply to try something different.

    Oils’ many techniques: with just a few art materials, oils can be applied in infinite ways from thin washes and detail to impasto and opaque layers.

    A Most Robust Medium

    Oil paints have been around for some 500 years and for this reason have gone through many innovations regarding quality. Oil paints now have high tinting strength and an endless choice of colours.

    As for cracking? This has never happened to me but as with any art medium, there are dos and don’ts in oils that are simple to apply. Oils are in fact remarkably robust. I have an attic full of oil paintings that look as fresh as the day they were painted. Pigments have great stability and dry to a tough, plastic-like finish. Furthermore, oils can be completely odourless or used without spirits at all.

    Today’s artist need not worry about fugitive pigments of yesterday. Oil pigments have great tinting strength, permanency and dry to a tough finish.

    This book includes oil painting exercises aimed simply to get the beginner painting, even if this means laying each pigment into rectangles. Find basic exercises on darkening colours in stages, shading technique, mark making and applying glazes. These rudimentary exercises provide the springboard from which to paint a first landscape or still life. In this vein, find in depth demos on painting a rapeseed field, colourful fruit, a lake edge, fuchsia heads and a goose.

    Also find in depth chapters on colour theory and the myths of pigments, making dirty colour mixes a thing of the past. Find chapters that explore alla prima, working in layers, using a limited palette, working with linseed oil and expressing a jigsaw of marks. Each chapter concludes with a summarizing bullet point list of what has been covered so far, helping to reinforce for the beginner what has been learned. As will be seen, oil paints have many surprises in store and can be fun to try out. They can also be surprisingly simple.

    So from the beginning, what are oils, what materials does the beginner need and what are the truths beneath the myths?

    Section 1: The Myths & Truths of Oil Painting

    Chapter 1: Fragrance-free Oil Painting

    TRADITIONAL OIL PAINTS, as the name suggests, are oil based, meaning they cannot be thinned or cleaned with water (with the exception of water based oils, explained in a moment). But even then, powerful solvents need not be used for cleaning the brushes and thinning the paint. In fact, the opposite can be true. To understand this, I shall explain some basic facts about oil paints.

    Conventional oil paints consist of powdered pigment suspended in an oil vehicle known as cold-pressed linseed oil. Safflower oil is the vehicle for pale colours, since it is non-yellowing. The blend of pigment and oil results in a buttery consistency to the paint which can be applied in infinite ways.

    Since traditional oils are oil-based, do not dry by evaporation as water-based paints, but by oxidization. This means that the paint dries slowly as it hardens from inside out

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1