tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post3057201778368312659..comments2023-07-03T04:25:54.358-07:00Comments on Art Babel: The Sustainable StudioNew York Cityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05807506312905707802noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-20069013256250072452011-03-24T06:06:04.129-07:002011-03-24T06:06:04.129-07:00Hi...I think you meant Blanc de Meudon (whiting).....Hi...I think you meant Blanc de Meudon (whiting)...Calcite (the main ingredient of whiting) is just a magical substance! <br /><br /><br />Cheers...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-23189887845133554592010-11-23T08:22:50.922-08:002010-11-23T08:22:50.922-08:00Some real good information! Thanks!Some real good information! Thanks!adebanjihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12832505675979297771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-3644284824488551392010-10-15T00:38:30.444-07:002010-10-15T00:38:30.444-07:00Hi Matt,
Oh, it's not a problem. Please feel f...Hi Matt,<br />Oh, it's not a problem. Please feel free.<br /><br />Thank you for sharing your information on chalk!<br /><br />Indeed, I also completely cover my ground opaquely and use a full range from trasparency to impasto, especially glazing on top of the opaque and impasto layers, but perhaps the difference in our approaches is there are some areas in my painting that I may sand (dry or wet) or scrape down with a palette knife, removing paint to reveal previous layers. And sometimes the ground is only covered by a translucent or semi-opaque layer. Another reason I, personally, think about this, is that it subtly effects my choices of color through my working process (I don't use Munsel, but instead develop a relative color system for each painting) and further, as the painting ages, the layers of paint become more transparent and the ground will ever so slightly effect the image.<br /><br />As far as cool over warm, vice versa, we're on exactly the same page.New York Cityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05807506312905707802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-5051451859724791662010-10-14T10:22:01.855-07:002010-10-14T10:22:01.855-07:00Richard,
Thanks a lot for your answer regarding ...Richard, <br /><br />Thanks a lot for your answer regarding ground color. <br /><br />Pardon me for diverging further from the topic of your article, but I find this to be very interesting to talk about, and thus I can't stop myself from going on talking about it.<br /><br />I tend to cover my canvas opaquely, in many layers, so the color of my ground has little, if any, impact on the final appearance. My choice of ground color is partly based on aesthetic preference; I simply like how my brownish transparent drawing looks like against such a ground.<br /><br />The "Warm over cool" (and vice versa) element of painting can of course be handled with controlling the actual temperature of your color, such as blue over orange, or green over red. But also, and this is how I tend to work it, is by using dark colours over light (which will produce a warmish effect) and scumbling light color over dark, which would then produce a coolish effect, such in for example cool/neutral halftones.<br /><br />As for chalk; in my experience you can use pretty much any chalk available for making your ground. Go to your local framer, who most likely will have a few different chalks you could surely have a small quantity of for testing at home.<br />There is one type of chalk which is very finely ground and has a very white color (maybe it's Bologna chalk?). This one I don't feel is particularly well suited for making your own ground (it requires too much oil) but it is perfect for using as an additive to your paints in order to give them more body, or if ground in linseed oil, which makes for a wonderful putty-medium for making opaque colours more transparent.<br /><br />Ok, I'll shut up now Richard. :)<br /><br />The best,<br /><br />// MattMatthttp://www.sammekull.senoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-73227889771861452162010-10-14T04:48:09.741-07:002010-10-14T04:48:09.741-07:00Matt,
Well, when I want to focus more on turning t...Matt,<br />Well, when I want to focus more on turning the form in flesh, I will often choose to make my ground a neutral-ish warm green. When you layer warmer earth pigments on top it's very easy to get a great breadth of temperature and hue shift which really emphasizes the volume. Also, it has some nice surface effects, warm pigment scumbled or glazed over a cool ground can create a nice opalescent shimmering.<br /><br />If I'm looking more for compositional effects (that is I choose to compress the volume of the form a little in order to make the masses read more as shapes), then I will often use a warmer red brown, almost a somewhat neutral orange. This works especially well if I'm going to be doing a lot scraping and sanding as the warm ground comes through and emphasizes the glow of the light. This ground is also great if I'm planning for the painting to be very cool. A good rule of thumb is warm over cool and cool over warm. (Of course rules are meant to be just helpful guidelines and can be broken to great effect if you understand how they work.)<br /><br />If I'm not sure what my plan is (which is very often) I'll usually use the reddish brown grey ground that you're speaking of. It can go in both directions and is very versatile.<br /><br />It's just another means of exploration. <br /><br />Hi Griffith, <br />About the ground.<br /><br />http://www.amien.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84<br /><br />According to these people, precipitated chalk looks like it would be the same thing as Blanc De Meudon (Spanish Whiting) and I found a US supplier here<br /><br />http://www.danielsmith.com/Item--i-284-900-025<br /><br />It looks like its synthetic though so I'm not sureNew York Cityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05807506312905707802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-74675999156927769222010-10-11T21:27:24.284-07:002010-10-11T21:27:24.284-07:00great info.
one question, though: where do you ge...great info.<br /><br />one question, though: where do you get blanc de meudon in the u.s.? you don't happen to know a non-french term for it, do you?Griffithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01145480929628512363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-50784743038973247462010-10-07T21:52:06.312-07:002010-10-07T21:52:06.312-07:00That's interesting Richard. Care to comment on...That's interesting Richard. Care to comment on your choice of ground color in relation with your choice of motif?<br /><br />I myself have always used some sort of variant of red-brownish gray, but more out of habit than anything else.Matthttp://www.sammekull.senoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-78676148410262375562010-10-07T10:36:52.739-07:002010-10-07T10:36:52.739-07:00Thanks, I'll have to get the Bomford book.
Yes...Thanks, I'll have to get the Bomford book.<br />Yes, I do tint my ground - sometimes a warm middle tone, sometimes cool depending on the what I want to do with the painting.New York Cityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05807506312905707802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-42495696030790701572010-10-07T08:30:52.976-07:002010-10-07T08:30:52.976-07:00Hi Richard,
I know this particular article may no...Hi Richard,<br /><br />I know this particular article may not have been a fair indicator of how good you are with words, but I have read most of your articles here on AB and threads at FB, and I think it's quite obvious that you are a good writer, which combined with an interesting intellect makes for good reading.<br /><br />I have that De Wetering book, and yes it is an amazing piece of work. I also recommend a "lite" version of it published by The National Gallery (UK) called Art in the making, written by David Bomford and others. If you don't already have it I strongly recommend you buy it.<br /><br />If I may ask, your ground: do you not add any pigment (paint) to the mixture, just chalk and oil?<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />// Mattmatthttp://www.sammekull.senoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-73027680586111457982010-10-07T04:11:23.578-07:002010-10-07T04:11:23.578-07:00Hi Matt,
Well, thank you, but I don't think t...Hi Matt,<br /><br />Well, thank you, but I don't think this is my best writing. I wrote it hastily because I wanted to get the information down and get back to painting. <br /><br />Thanks for your addition. Indeed, you're right. Before I studied with Odd, I was using yellow ochre, burnt sienna, a range of umbers -including green umber, and ivory black. And of course, at NYAA I used a lot of Cremnitz white. I still use flesh ochre quite often (love it) and sometimes kaput mortem if I really need to push the violet. But seeing the way Odd uses yellow brown got me hooked. And I also noticed that mars black makes a much better blue and dries faster than ivory or vine. So, I had to make some concessions with my earth pigment rule. <br /><br />You're also absolutely right about the toxicity of many of the old master's pigments. Many of them seemed to live quite a long time, but they also didn't have as many environmental toxins that they were exposed to every day like we are. But looking at such limited palettes as Frans Hals and Anders Zorn, I find that these toxic pigments are often unnecessary and if they are, can be used strategically in small quantities at the end and to great effect (which appears to be your working habit as well). Most of Rembrandt's palette consisted of earth pigments also, and he only used a few toxic pigments in small quantities as I just mentioned. There's a great book on his materials and methods that I love, perhaps you already have it. If not, I highly suggest it.<br />"Rembrandt - Painter at Work"<br />http://www.amazon.com/Rembrandt-Painter-Ernst-van-Wetering/dp/0520258843/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1286449605&sr=8-5<br /><br />I might be around next year and it would be great to meet.New York Cityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05807506312905707802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6652275538457823708.post-86911642152255063552010-10-06T10:18:55.012-07:002010-10-06T10:18:55.012-07:00Richard, again a very interesting article coming f...Richard, again a very interesting article coming from your writing hand. One thing though; you state you use nothing but earth pigments, which is not entirely correct is it. Yellow brown is not a natural earth pigment (it's a mixture of three synthetic pigments), neither is Venetian red or Oxide black to be picky, both of which are synthetically manufactured pigments. However, they both meet the qualities you describe in your article. As we both primarily paint the figure, we seldom find a need for any stronger, more chromatic pigments than what we can get from our beloved earths.<br />I use only earths, natural earths from Old Holland: Yellow ochre, red ochre, brown ochres, occasionally an umber and Ivory black (I have never been much a fan of Mars black all though I am fully aware of it's advantageous characteristics. Sometimes I use vine black as well, which is ground charcoal.<br /><br />If I do need to augment my earths, I have e a few to choose from, again all from Old Holland. To boost my red I can use Flesh ochre (basically a red earth on steroids), Scheveningen red light and Madder lake deep. To augment my yellow mixtures I choose from Yellow Brown, Scheveningen Yellow medium or Indian yellow.<br />None of the above are toxic and all of them are permanent.<br />But having said that, I'll do 98% of my painting with the natural earths plus black and white.<br /><br />As for whites, well we park our cars in the same garage. I have been a long time user and lover of OH Cremnitz white, and I think it's by far the best white out there. But lately I have been working with Sennelier's titanium, and just as you say it possesses lovely possibilities. So, once my stock of Cremnitz is done with, I'll probably make the switch to titanium permanently.<br />I use Swedish linen and make the ground myself, Swedish linseed oil and chalk forms the base of that.<br /><br />As for medium, I don't really use it, but if I feel I want to change the character of my paint I usually add a little linseed oil, or some chalk ground in linseed oil which I have made and pre-tubed for convenience.<br /><br />Lint free cloths, absorbent paper towels (the ones made for wiping little fragile baby-bottoms are the best) and that's about it. I clean my brushes first in linseed oil and then in soap. <br /><br />I hope I get a chance to meet you some day, maybe in Stavern next year?<br /><br />// MattAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com