Corner Field

Frosty weather at last. The recent mild weather with heavy rain has left flood water in the most unusual places, as in this corner. The colours in the landscape will change. The icy dew on the grass, now a silver sheen, will start the sepia colouring process.

I’m still using the same 3 colours I used in the previous painting (Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Cobalt Blue). Some of the paints I use are Alkyd colours. They are quick drying oils and are mixable with standard oils. In traditional oil painting, that is painting in layers and allowing the layer to dry before applying the next, they are good as base layers. As final layers over standard oils they can lead to problems as they dry quickly sealing off the slower paint and retarding the drying.

I don’t paint in layers and the standard oils and Alkyd paints are thoroughly mixed or blended in a single layer so, hopefully, I won’t have problems with flaking after a few years. The use of Alkyd paint allows me to paint fine lines ‘wet on wet’, difficult with standard oil colours.

I’m often asked how I manage to do those fine lines onto a wet underpainting and this is part of how its done. I also do not use a medium, only solvent and this evaporates quickly leaving the underpainting, with its Alkyd content, almost ‘tacky’.

The painting is 12″ x 9″. I used 3 colours (plus black and white), 3 brushes (a large filbert, a medium flat, and an fine liner) and solvent only.

Here’s the painting process, see you soon.