Winter Beeches
This small painting (12″x9″) was supposed to be a ‘dry brush’ painting. It was, until the Yellow Ochre was introduced into the paint mixes. This was a new tube of paint and the paint was excessively oily in the tube. Without me adding any medium there was already too much to follow the ‘dry brush’ route. So a change of method to ‘wet’ was necessary. As it turned out, about 25% of the tube was medium which oozed out as a clear oily material. Apart from only 75% of the tube containing paint there is a more serious issue with this oily material. The paint would have been too saturated to be used if more medium had been added. I was OK as the rest of the painting had no medium added and this dissipated the excessive medium.
Its a good idea to allow paint, if its like what I described, to stand on a sheet of paper before its used. The paper will absorb the medium/oil and will be seen as an ever expanding circle of oil. Apart from wanting the paint dryer, for example to use as a ‘dry brush’ paint, the medium in the paint in the tube contains drying retarders to extend the shelf life of the tube. This will also extend the drying time of the paint on the canvas.
I will have the video of the painting in a day or two, see you then.
PictureS 
Nice! I really like the dry brush effect of those trees receding into the background. The light on the path, too, has that weak winter heat feeling. Yummy russet leaves…brilliant.
Thank you Pierr.
What a nice scene. The trees are magnificent and the rugged country lane looks like a divine place to pass the time. Just a quick question (and I apologize if you answered this before and I haven’t discovered it yet) Do these magnificent locale’s exist or do they spring entirely from your imagination?
Its a little bit of both. I find the real world, like in a photograph, lacks the ‘little something’ which draws a viewer into the work. For example, a tree as captured in a photograph is instantly recognised as a tree, and just a tree. If I copy this image precisely on canvas that’s all it will be, just a tree. However, if I ‘construct’ this living thing, it will still be recognised as a tree but it will have a ‘statement’ (intentional or otherwise) which conveys a lot more than the photo does. Sometimes a person, who is familiar with my haunts, viewing a painting will recognise the scene, even though I didn’t intentionally paint this particular scene. Very peculiar. Its like the spirit of the place is there. I am beginning to think that the logical side of the brain processes a photograph, and the emotional side, a painting. I don’t know if this answers the question, real or imaginary? The simple answer is, yes and no. 🙂
I like. 🙂
Thank you.
It’s wonderful. J’aime beaucoup votre travail et vos videos sont très bien réalisées.Bravo !
Thank you Michele, I’m delighted you think so.
Looks lovely! Dry brush can be so effective – you are showing us how!
Thank you Adam.
Beautiful painting and useful tips – this happens to me when I can only afford student quality paints but not always – seems that sometimes there is a bad batch. I’m with you completely in your answer to Terry (Mobius Faith) …
Thanks John.
Most welcome William…
Gorgeous as usual Liam. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us.
You are welcome Beatrix.
Thank you for sharing this useful information about oils in tubes.
You’re welcome.