This was the first time creating a painting only with oils for me and my god did I struggle, made mistakes and learned. I didn't have liquid white to use as a foundation for the canvas and decided to mix my own medium - soft titanium white oil paint with screen printing medium - that was my first mistake as I didn't use enough white which meant that the painting started off quite dark and the canvas was not wet enough. Second mistake: For some reason I thought Bob was cleaning his brushes in water (complete nonsense) and was a wreck when the water wet brush hit the canvas and started moving the oils around. Third mistake was using way too much paint - I think it will take years for my artwork to fully dry. Fourth mistake was working with acrylics on top of oils and not the other way around when I was desperately trying to create highlights.
I don't dislike the final result and I am proud for persevering and not throwing the towel after the water incident. But I was really struggling. Not sure if someone can give me some advice but: I really struggled creating highlights - whenever I went with lighter colour on top of the darker background the colours would mix and become murky or the bottom colour would get picked up by the brush. Is there something I did wrong/ Is there a way to prevent that - did I simply use too much colour? Other question: Some of my oils (specifically on the left) started bleeding and I don't know why. Could that have been caused by the water? So many questions.
Comments
Good job powering thru. I think it looks pretty. Are you using water based oil paints? If not dont mix oil and water. If you are you can clean up with water. Dont use it to thin. You sort of can, but it'll get you in trouble. Unless youre doing under painting, stay away from acrylics. Bob uses odorless mineral spirits... like they sell at the hardware store. Mineral spirits are a health hazard so i clean my brushes outside. You can make liquid white by mixing oil with white.... maybe a couple drops of mineral spirits. I think bobs liquid white has a tiny bit of damar in it - gives it shine. If you buy oil for mixing at the grocery store, restrict yourself to safflower oil or walnut. Most food oils dont dry, they rot. You can also buy linseed oil at the hardware store but it is much impure and yellower so i dont recommend. Hope that helps!
If you haven't already, check out the getting started section on this site: https://www.twoinchbrush.com/getting-started
I think the mountains look really great and I like the trees on the left a lot too! It definitely has your signature style. Glad you pushed through this, was definitely worth it for the outcome!
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The amount of paint gives it an interesting texture that I like. It'll definitely take long to dry, but the texture in the mountain and sky might be worth it. Great learning experience.