26 Comments

Excellent!! Really enjoyed it.

Expand full comment

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

Expand full comment

Thank you! Really enjoyed this and learned a lot! I want to try those oils...

Expand full comment

Lovely- thank you.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Marc, it was great seeing your process from beginning to end. I particularly appreciated your comments on brushes. It’s amazing the difference they can make in a stroke. Lovely painting.

Expand full comment

Really loved this demo, thank you! I’m new to oils and learned a lot watching and painting along on a small version straight onto unprimed watercolor paper. Not ideal but it was handy and I learned a ton from you. Thanks!

Expand full comment

Hey Julie! Thank you. I’m glad the video gave you some information you can use. Interesting to know that you painted along. Great idea. I’m sure you know, but if you’re doing more than just studying and practicing, you should treat the watercolor paper with an acrylic matte medium or acrylic gesso to protect it from the oil. Or use one of the oil painting papers I mentioned. But for your study only, you’re good doing that. I appreciate the feedback.

Expand full comment

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it. I really love your paintings. I'm struggling with oil so far and find acrylics and gouache, ink and watercolor so much more freeing, but I really want to add it to my repertoire. Painting along helped! Thanks for being a generous teacher, Marc :)

Expand full comment

Thank you, Bruce. Your thoughts have been part of my conversation in some of these posts over the last year. To put it kindly, I had become tired of of how long oil paint takes to dry! I think I mentioned that although I don't think of age (who's kidding who right?) I do have a sense that time is more important to me now. The drying time required by oil paints sort of put me off of them and onto more work in acrylic, gouache, etc., because I could stay focused on my "idea". Not having to set a painting aside while sections dry means that I can stay in the stream of the idea, not hit a detour, which happens to me while waiting for paint to dry. So, acrylic and gouache are the perfect antidote to that for me. I don't feel like I need the oils to be significant in my creative endeavors, other than as a medium, the oils offer a different process to the end result. I also often feel like switching from one to the other always adds something to the others. I paint a lot differently in oils now than before I was working more often with acrylics. They're little things, but I notice them and attribute the changes to the differences between mediums and their use, and what that brings to my work as a whole.

A suggestion might be to try using Winsor Newton Griffon Alkyd white as your white. It's very quick drying and that might give you a bridge between your work with the water based media, and oils. To really speed things up, you can also add something like Galkyd medium to the mix. If I'm outside painting in oils, I mix the WN quick drying white 50/50 with titanium white to slow it down. There's an alchemy to all this and having it work for you, that you will discover as you work with it all.

I mention that because what usually gets people in trouble with oil paints is the timing of paint application. If you're more used to quick drying acrylics and gouache, you're probably unintentionally rushing the process with oils paints... they reaaaaalllll slow. LOL Speeding up the drying time might help you stay out of trouble with them it that is your issue. I have no idea, but that's something to consider. Cheers, Bruse!

Expand full comment

Thank you so much Marc! I think that paper

and paint would also be great to do portrait studies in life class.

Please keep up your beautiful work.

Expand full comment

Once again THANKS for the insight into your working methods. I especially like the use of the palette knives. The camera viewpoint was nice too. It brought me back to when i would watch over the shoulder of one of my mentors along with the conversational feedback. Great job!!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Steven. That’s what I’d like, an over the shoulder view for y’all. Glad it’s feeling like that.

Expand full comment

Thank you very much, lovely painting with excellent commentary.

I also loved many of the paintings on your site!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Kathy!

Expand full comment

Geez that was nice.

Expand full comment

I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking a look.

Expand full comment

Marc, could you tell me what paper you use to paint with oils. And what ,if any, preparation is necessary for the paper in order to use oil paint.

Your work is beautiful!

Thank you,

Sandra Colquitt

scolqportraits@gmail.com

Expand full comment

Thank you Sandra. Arches Huile oil painting paper. No prep needed. It’s ready to paint on out of the pad or sheet. I did another demo here using Stonehenge Legion oil painting paper also. Same type but has a different feel.

Expand full comment

I was knocked out over this painting “quiet Zone. Then I saw how big (or tiny )it is and it really blew me away! Thank you so much for the video. I appreciate you so much.

Expand full comment

Thank you Kitt. I’m thrilled that you enjoyed the video. Cheers!

Expand full comment

You should get Cobra to put together a set of the colors you use! I love Susan Woolgar too! How do you frame these oils? Thanks for sharing!

Expand full comment

Ha! My problem is that I’m

Not very faithful to any one product or palette. Although, the palette in the demo is a pretty standard one for me.

These can be framed without glass. Mount archival to an acid free substrate, 8-ply rag or hardboard that has been sealed with varnish, then frame like a regular oil painting. On larger pieces I have mounted to a birch ply cradled panel that has been sealed with a polyurethane varnish, mounted using either acrylic medium or an archival glue.

Expand full comment

Thank you, helpful as usual!

Expand full comment

Beauty is a gift.

Expand full comment

I enjoyed the video!

Expand full comment

Thank you!

Expand full comment