Demo: Royal Talens 'Cobra' water miscible oils
'Quiet Zone' - 1 hour and 5 minutes long
For this demonstration I decided to work with water miscible oil paints for a change. There are a number of different makers of this class of paint. I’ve tried four of them over the years. The two that I like most are Holbein Aqua Duo and Royal Talens Cobra. Both are readily available at most art supply stores like Blick and online. The others that I’ve painted with like Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils and Grumbacher Max Water Mixable Oils, seem to be slightly less pigmented than Holbein and Royal Talens versions. But, it’s been a long time since I used the others and they may have improved. Daniel Smith and Lukas are the other two makers of them that I know of, but I have not painted with either of these two brands.
I won’t go into all of the details about the paints here. You can look at the links above for all of the information you’ll need if you're interested in trying them out. I think I covered most of the bases about how I use them in the video. But if you have any questions, please post them here for me to reply to, and for others to also view. I appreciate the private mail questions, but those only help out the person asking. Questions posted here helps out anyone reading this post. Thank you!
I mentioned this painting in the video as an example illustrating painting the large lit part of the cloud before painting the rest of the sky around it. After that, there was some back and forth, but because of the power of that shape, I wanted to get it down right away. It’s the focus of the painting, so that made sense to me. This piece will be available in my Big Cartel gallery, Observations.
The artist I talked about in the demo video was Susan Woolgar. She’s on Instagram… @susanwoolgar. In my discussion during the demo I talked about that balance of reality and the abstraction of reality in painting the natural world, or any subject really. I feel like she has found a beautiful balance between the two, one that speaks about and respects the color, texture, design and randomness of the natural world, but at the same time is almost non-objective in many cases. It’s not a forced “Hey, I’m going to paint an abstract painting and then explain what it’s about.”. Her work is obviously about the natural world, nothing needs explaining, but most of what is there is abstracted. A beautiful balance.
Lastly, I wanted to thank everyone who picked up a little painting after my last post about my gallery, Observations, on Big Cartel. Your collecting my paintings is hugely appreciated. Thank you!!!
Keep those brushes wet!
Cheers,
Marc
HAPPY EARTH DAY!
We took a trip to Cumberland Island and did some kayaking in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge earlier in the month. We wanted to experience them while we still have a chance to considering the pressure that they’re facing. If you would like to paddle in a 6’ wide canal in the middle of a floating bog with large alligators laying on the edges of the bog about a paddles length, away, this might be a place to visit. Or ride a bike, or wander through the ancient maritime forest and onto the expansive dunes of Cumberland Island. Both of these wonderlands are in peril, their existence as unique national treasures under pressure from big business and their political allies. Visit and work to save, a mantra worth your time. Okefenokee World Heritage Bid - Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge UNESCO, Save Cumberland Island, Our Georgia Coast, and One Hundred Miles, are a few organizations working to do just that.
Excellent!! Really enjoyed it.
Loved this demo
I’ve been using COBRA paints more often
Especially learned from the subtle amounts of paint puddles and bending the color and temperatures