Corn Thieves

This painting has kept me occupied over the last few days. It was painted in the traditional way, i.e. layers allowed to dry before the next are applied. I usually paint in a single session in 1 to 2 hours and the painting is small (12″ x 16″ approx). This large size (30″ x 24″) needed several hours, so it was completed in 3 sessions of about 3 hours each. The under layers are painted with Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colours. The final layers were applied with traditional oils and Liquin medium. The colours used were Cadmium Yellow, Indian Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson plus black and white.

Sorry I could not video the process due to time and size restrictions. The method is basically the same as my usual. Loads of transparent under colour applied unmixed with loads of solvent. The entire canvas was covered with colour and while still wet the first stage of the sky and distance were painted. The following day this had dried (because of the Alkyd Colour + Solvent) and the sky and distance were painted to completion. The foreground initially was painted very dark greens and browns over the dry under colours of crimson and ultramarine blue.

I used Liquin to speed up the drying process and to add a bit of substance and flexibility to my paint layer. This is important as this is a stretched canvas which is a very flexible substrate. I normally use ‘solvent only’ on loose canvas which I later laminate onto a rigid board. This is a very stable surface with very little flexing, quite different from the stretched canvas.

See you soon.