Demo on Stonehenge Oil paper!

First time trying this paper...

This week I decided to do an oil painting demo (full demo available for paid subscribers) on a, new to me, oil painting paper from Legion Paper called ‘Stonehenge’ Oil. I’ve painted quite a bit on Arches ‘Huile’ oil painting paper and was curious about the differences between the two. Although a one hour long study is barely enough time to draw many conclusions, at first go, this paper is very nice. It paints easier with less drag on the brush than the Arches Huile has, and the paint sits up on the paper instead of sinking in as much as it does on the Arches Huile paper. There is a good information page on the paper on Legion Paper’s website. Click this link to go there.

APPLICATIONS:

• Oil Paint

• Oil Pastel

• Acrylic

• Colored Pencil

• Oil Sticks

• Graphite Pencil

New from the studio is this 48”x60” oil painting on linen, ‘In The Shadows’. Large wading birds are some of my favorites in the bird world so painting them from time to time is always on the table.

IN THE SHADOWS ©Marc R. Hanson ‘23

Lastly, I have set up a collection on my website, “Studio Sale” , where I will be posting small paintings, plein air studies, demos, and some older bird illustrations that I did for collector plates many years ago for The Hamilton Collection, through Wild Wings, Inc., my publisher at the time. Take a peek if you’re interested. They’re all unframed, shipping included, and for sale at a 20% discount from their retail price. More images will be added frequently. Below is one of these older illustrations from back in the day. Thank you!

My book for this week is in keeping with the bird theme. Louis Agassiz Fuertes & the singular beauty of birds

I don’t know about where you live, but our woods, marshes and beaches are brightly singing and alive with birds now. When I was in high school, a friend of mine gave me this book in return for helping her get an ‘A’ on an advanced biology class project. It involved a bird, so this is the gift she gave to me. It literally changed my life. I had been infatuated with birds since I was a toddler, but after seeing this, I decided that I wanted to know as much as this man, Louis Agassiz Fuertes did about birds, and I wanted to make it my life’s work to try to render them in as life like a way as he did. What I didn’t know, is that his talent compared to mine was of another world! Similar to my wish to paint like Sorolla… but… Fuertes’ work still gives me joy every time I see it in a book, or in real life. I went to art school to learn ‘how to’ so that I could paint birds better and then spent the next 25 years painting them. His impression on me carried my art that entire time. Tragically, he was killed while crossing a railroad track, like N.C. Wyeth was, at a fairly young age. But he left a treasure trove of field paintings of birds, and other wildlife, most all of which he completed while on various scientific expeditions all over the world in the late 19th & early 20th century, that we can be grateful for today.

Cheers,

Marc