Oil in the Plural
posted:
It seems like the classic non-artist to artist question has always been, "So, do you paint in oils?"
For year's I got to answer this with a big, "Yes." It put everyone at ease. The person knew a little about what I did, without really knowing anything, and I got to casually move to the other side of whatever party I was at.
This went right through to when I started working with Gina. We did our whole first two shows almost entirely with my parts in oil paint. Problems started to arise, though. The last oil section I did was for Mark Murphy's Dialogue book several years ago.
Gina does all kinds of stuff to get her textures. She considers them all proprietary secrets, but one that I'll let out is she does a lot of sanding. Sanding acrylic sections on the same canvas as wet oil paint adds up to me picking out little bits of paint with the tip of an x-acto. After we shipped it, I went out and bought some Golden Acrylic and vowed to never use oil paint again.
A few days later, Matt Hexemer calls and asks if we'd do a snowboard for Lamar. He liked a square painting we'd done, and really just wanted a tall skinny version of it. We really liked the painting too, so we said yes. The problem was I had done my parts of the square painting in oil and a vow is a vow. So I painted the same elements in acrylic on the new painting. I think I did a pretty good job of getting the same feel.
I was way surprised when I loved acrylic right away. I always hated waiting for layers of oil to dry. I hated that it had to be the last thing on a canvas, and couldn't be drawn, acrylic painted, or screen printed over. Our work has always been about the spontaneity of collaboration, and the oil worked against this.
This story comes up with students from time to time. Some are using oil paint, and it's the right medium for them. Others are using it because they haven't really considered any alternative. I know, because I was taught to use oil paint, and was pretty scared of changing things up when I did. So I usually try and get them to experiment with different materials if the one they're using isn't working for them. It's on my mind right now because I painted a dog last week. I used to paint a bunch of dogs, but have only done a few since switching to acrylic. Comparing the smoothness of the fur was fun. I paint a little more contrasty now, but that has more to do with seeing my work in print than with the material. I like paintings to be a little more punchy on the page, and a little more subtle in person.
The dog is in Gina's studio now to see what she does with it. It's always fun when she passes it back and I get to decide where it goes then.
Oh, switching things up doesn't always work for me. In a fit of glossy-reflection-from-my-scanner hatred I tried switching from acrylic to flashe a few years ago. Wasted a bunch of time before I realized I just couldn't get the gradations to smooth out with that stuff. It sure is wonderfully matte, though. Now I give tubes of it away to students when it seems like the right material for them.
Here's the oil painting, and my very first acrylic painting. They're from '04, '05 ish.
For year's I got to answer this with a big, "Yes." It put everyone at ease. The person knew a little about what I did, without really knowing anything, and I got to casually move to the other side of whatever party I was at.
This went right through to when I started working with Gina. We did our whole first two shows almost entirely with my parts in oil paint. Problems started to arise, though. The last oil section I did was for Mark Murphy's Dialogue book several years ago.
Gina does all kinds of stuff to get her textures. She considers them all proprietary secrets, but one that I'll let out is she does a lot of sanding. Sanding acrylic sections on the same canvas as wet oil paint adds up to me picking out little bits of paint with the tip of an x-acto. After we shipped it, I went out and bought some Golden Acrylic and vowed to never use oil paint again.
A few days later, Matt Hexemer calls and asks if we'd do a snowboard for Lamar. He liked a square painting we'd done, and really just wanted a tall skinny version of it. We really liked the painting too, so we said yes. The problem was I had done my parts of the square painting in oil and a vow is a vow. So I painted the same elements in acrylic on the new painting. I think I did a pretty good job of getting the same feel.
I was way surprised when I loved acrylic right away. I always hated waiting for layers of oil to dry. I hated that it had to be the last thing on a canvas, and couldn't be drawn, acrylic painted, or screen printed over. Our work has always been about the spontaneity of collaboration, and the oil worked against this.
This story comes up with students from time to time. Some are using oil paint, and it's the right medium for them. Others are using it because they haven't really considered any alternative. I know, because I was taught to use oil paint, and was pretty scared of changing things up when I did. So I usually try and get them to experiment with different materials if the one they're using isn't working for them. It's on my mind right now because I painted a dog last week. I used to paint a bunch of dogs, but have only done a few since switching to acrylic. Comparing the smoothness of the fur was fun. I paint a little more contrasty now, but that has more to do with seeing my work in print than with the material. I like paintings to be a little more punchy on the page, and a little more subtle in person.
The dog is in Gina's studio now to see what she does with it. It's always fun when she passes it back and I get to decide where it goes then.
Oh, switching things up doesn't always work for me. In a fit of glossy-reflection-from-my-scanner hatred I tried switching from acrylic to flashe a few years ago. Wasted a bunch of time before I realized I just couldn't get the gradations to smooth out with that stuff. It sure is wonderfully matte, though. Now I give tubes of it away to students when it seems like the right material for them.
Here's the oil painting, and my very first acrylic painting. They're from '04, '05 ish.
