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| "Still Some Left" 6x12 Oil Available This was one of those paintings I made when I just wanted to paint. Didn't want to think about the technical -- just wanted to paint. Do you feel that way sometimes? |
Many of my plein air painting workshop students come from technical professions: surgeons, physicists, engineers and the like. They enjoy learning about pigments and binders, about gesso and size, about relative color temperature. But I also get students who could care less about all that. They just want to paint.
And there's nothing at all wrong with that.
I like to tell students that painting can be as technical as you want it to be. One thing I like about oil painting is that over a few hundred years, the basics haven't really changed. Yellow ochre is still yellow ochre. A sable round is still a sable round. Canvas is still canvas. You can squeeze out some paint, pick up a brush, and go to it.
But I do think you become a better painter—and more satisfied with one's craft—if you do learn some of the technical whys and wherefores. Like, paint fat over lean to avoid cracking of the paint film. Size your cotton canvas before applying gesso to avoid rotting your substrate. Paint under cool north light to force to yourself to make warmer color choices, making for a more appealing painting.
Somedays, of course, I don't want to think about any of this. I, too, just want to paint.
My all-level workshops cover just enough of the technical to enable you to get a satisfactory result. But if you'd like to learn more about the techy side of things, look into one of my Private Painting Intensives. These are one-on-one and fully customized to your needs.
