Near Ross Castle, Killarney
If you visited Ross Castle at Killarney, you probably passed this scene. I thought as a subject for a painting this was more interesting than the usual ‘tourist’ scene of the castle and lakes. The circular shape of the bridge and its reflection has a surreal appearance in this ‘jungle’ like setting. I painted the bridge and boats as smooth regular shapes and everything else as chaotic blobs of paint.
I’m still using the Alkyd fast drying paints and these are way more flexible in a single session painting. Another characteristic of Alkyd is the ability to paint on more absorbent surfaces than you would do with standard oils. This painting is on Daler Oil Painting Paper. I’ve had this for years but found it way too absorbent for oils. The only disadvantage is its mechanical weave not like the organic texture of canvas. The paint layer is thick so very little of the weave is evident in the final painting.
The painting was completed in under 2 hours and I will have the video of the process in a day or two. See you then.
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Love the bridge, sky, trees especially, a bautiful painting, can’t wait to see the video, thank you
Thank you. I hope you enjoy the video.
Another lovely painting! Waiting to see the video. Amazing to watch how your work comes together!
Thanks Susan.
Hi Liam, beautiful painting! I’ve been working on paper these days – perhaps I’ll need to check out Alkyd paint…I like being able to blend and muss with the oil on paper and have liked the slow drying of it…but I’m assuming Alkyd is still much slower to dry than acrylic.
Thanks Alissa. Alkyd paint dries fast, compared to standard oils. The painting is touch dry in 24 hours. But what I like, is in the working. The paint begins to ‘set’ almost immediately. Fresh paint can be overpainted without the colours mixing too much. I find, with standard oils on a non-absorbent surface, the more paint is added the ‘greasier’ the layer becomes. I would say when you paint on unprepared paper, the medium is absorbed and you are getting a similar effect as I am getting with Alkyd on the prepared paper. Alkyd is compatible with standard oils. So you could get a few colours and use them with your normal paint. Just be careful not to put a solid layer of Alkyd over a layer of standard oils. The Alkyd dries so fast it could seal off the under layer and retard the drying of this layer. Its definitely worth trying.
Thank you, I will give it a whirl and see what happens… happy painting!
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