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Claret Grapes. 3th Classical Oil Paintings Video Workshop

| Contents | Drawing | Imprimatura| 1st Umbra | 2nd Umbra | Dead | 1st Color | 2nd Color | Finishind | Varnishing | Conclusion | Discount | Contents Dear friends, in this work shop well discuss one of the most complicated textures in still life painting, grapes. Well follow all the stages of the Flemish painting style, beginning with drawing, imprimatura, and the umbra layer. Well pay special attention to color layers where the texture is born.
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Drawing First, lets talk about drawing. Naturally, a skilled artist can draw a bunch of grapes without much difficulty. To transfer the drawing to the canvas in the most accurate way, so as not to damage the polished surface of the canvas, we can use a regular inkjet printer, a ball-pen without ink, and a sheet of carbon paper. Having corrected the details, we go over to the imprimatura.
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Imprimatura The word imprimatura has something magical about it. A lot has been said about it by painters and art critics. One of the explanations is this: we need this layer because it is difficult to start painting on a purely white canvas. That is why we try to select a tone very carefully, in order to find the average tonality of the grapes. Obviously, the Old Masters didnt have acrylics. Today, however, we can use acrylic paints: white, black, light ochre, and a little bit of water. Of course, the traditional imprimatura should be painted in oils. But sometimes it is impossible to wait as long as one week for the oil imprimatura to dry. From the point of view of drying, acrylic paints are much safer than any other chemical substances that could be used to speed up oil paint drying. After making sure that the imprimatura is completely dry, we begin our first umbra layer.
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1st Umbra As you may remember from the previous video workshops, each completely dry layer should be wiped and polished with linseed oil. This should be done for two reasons: First, by doing so we lessen the cohesion of paint with the previous dry color layer; and, secondly, a correct method of oil impregnation improves the physical contact of the brush with the canvas. A brush stroke becomes softer, and the surface becomes more receptive.
The white color of the palette is perhaps the best for the umbra layer, as it gives us a better opportunity to see the lightest and most delicate nuances. We use several kolinsky brushes to apply paints and a couple of very soft and fluffy brushes for blending. The thickness of the varnish that we use is very light. An approximate proportion is 9 parts of turpentine and 1 part of damar varnish. The applying technique reminds wet watercolors, when the paper is completely saturated with water and begins to dry, remaining somewhat wet at the same time. In our case, we have an advantage over the watercolors because in comparison with water oil does not evaporate and the surface remains wet for a considerable period of time. As we see, the applying brush is followed by a dry correcting brush, which, in its turn, is followed by a blending brush that is fluffier and bigger. The blending brush takes away unwanted traces from strokes from the surface. This technique of using different brushes will be used in each subsequent layer. If we stick to this method when applying paints, correcting and blending, well be able to achieve the smoothness of the surface that we see in the paintings of the great Flemish masters.
And now a few words about the purpose of the umbra layer. It focuses on the construction, details, and tonality of our picture. The umber layer plays a very important role. Thanks to the umbra layer, the tonality of the pictures by the Flemish masters that have been displayed in museums for centuries, has been preserved best of all. A combination of the white priming, the imprimatura, and umbra creates an excellent tonal foundation for the subsequent layers. We sometimes notice that some pigments have faded because of time, but umbra is not subject to such radical changes caused by the ultraviolet rays. In addition, each subsequent layer serves as a protection from the damaging rays and preserves the tonality of umbra for many centuries. Besides, we should not forget that umbra helps the subsequent layer dry quicker. In 2 or 3 days the first umber layer is practically dry, but make sure that we keep it in the sun for 2 weeks. Now we start working on the next layer by rubbing the dry surface with oil and removing excessive paint and dust with a sharp razor blade.
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2nd Umbra After that we polish the surface, removing any excessive oil so that the canvas has as much oil as it needs. We need only one umbra layer for this painting, but sometimes we break our work into several stages, especially when we paint complex details. If in the first layer we work primarily on the construction and the details, in the second layer we pay more attention to the tonality that we darken in some places. Besides, from layer to layer, we continue correcting the details. In fact, its the details that we pay special attention to in this layer, not to the texture. The more accurately we work on the tonal interaction in the umbra layer, the more attention well be able to pay to work on other tasks in the subsequent layers.
While painting grapes in umbra, we must remember that some spots in this layer, particularly in the shadows, may remain as they are, or may be covered with very thin semi-transparent layers. As a result, we will achieve an optical mixture with burnt umbra that will bring about some warmness in the shadows.
Ladies and gentlemen, the importance of this layer becomes absolutely obvious when we analyze the Flemish masters paintings. That is why I encourage you to work on this layer with all responsibility despite the fact that this layer will be covered with subsequent layers. Lets now observe how we work on the tonalities and specify details. Please remember that in this layer we can only darken.
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Dead The umbra layer has dried well and we are beginning the dead layer. We oil the canvas and the palette, scrape off dust and excessive paint with a razor blade. Then we wipe the canvas to remove excessive oil and begin to make our basic mixtures. For the dead layer we use ivory black, Prussian blue, red ochre, and light ochre. We need to make three or four basic tonal mixtures. The darkest mixture must be lighter than the black paint and the lightest mixture must be
darker than the white paint. Making mixtures requires a certain skill and sharp vision. We must constantly check with the tonality of the umbra layer in order to determine a sufficient amount of mixture so that it could last to the end of our work. We began with three mixtures, but as we can see now the light mixture came out darker as it should be. Thats why well have to make one more mixture that is a bit lighter. But its not a problem at all as it gives us more opportunities for work in the light areas.
When we make enough mixtures, we make several piles on the palette, then clean the palette to make it ready for further work. It seems that for an eight by ten inch painting, like the one we are working on today, the amount of mixtures that we make will be enough for us to complete our work. However, if we paint a larger picture, say 24 by 30 inches or 30 by 40 inches, it is recommended to make mixtures in film containers or store mixtures for the dead layer in special empty tubes that are used for oil paints. When we finish work on the dead layer, there may remain some dead layer mixtures that we can use in the color layers. Well, heres what we have: open white, 4 gray mixtures, light ochre, red ochre and ivory black. Now lets define the purpose of the dead layer. Generally, we make it to develop all half tones and unite them into an integral tonality. According to the laws of classical painting, a half tone is colder and more colorless than the rest of the painting; that is why the dead layer reflects the quality and nature of halftones. We must, therefore, remember that a considerable part of the dead layer in halftones will remain uncovered, or will be covered with semi-transparent color mixtures. The secondary purpose of this layer is to build up paints for color layers, to make them thicker, and to give them more texture. The work on this layer is very complicated and time-consuming. We must constantly compare the number of painted areas and balance them with the uncovered umber. As we can see, the uncovered spots of the umbra layer function as the third brush added to the light and the dark brushes.
I want to stress that the effect we achieve in this layer, when one paint shines from under another, is impossible to achieve in one-layer painting. Now lets talk about the properties of the grape texture. A grape can be viewed as a semi-transparent soft bubble filled with juicy sweet flesh. In isolation, it can remind the texture of a water-drop with all its optical lens properties. But, on the one hand, the pigmentation of the skin and, on the other hand, the delicate powdery film covering the grape changes the perception of the grape as a transparent object. At places, the film is wiped off by human hands or by raindrops. As a result, the surface of the grape has two types of properties: those of a transparent and of a matt object at the same time. Figuratively speaking, a grape is a transparent body dressed in matt clothes with numerous holes that let the light inside, thereby demonstrating its transparent properties. That is why, as we can see, the dead layer does not correspond to the painting of grapes and imitates the cold powdery film on the warm and transparent body. The technique of painting this dual property of the grape surface can be described in the following way. If we imagine a grape totally cleaned from the film, then on the light part we will have a dark surface with a sharp bright highlight. On the shadow side of the surface, well have bright light coming from inside the grape through its semi-transparent flesh. The light on the powdery film- covered side of the grape will have the same properties as any matt object. The darkest spot will be the grapes own shadow; and a lighter spot will be the reflex, still lighter is the half tone. And then comes the light part and the dull highlight. The skillful use of these two properties gives us an opportunity to depict the most complicated structure of the grape. Lets work on the dead layer with utmost precision and accuracy, without paying too much attention to the texture while specifying the details of the construction. The better work we did in the umbra layer, the more umbra spots can be left uncovered in this layer. The use of previous layers in subsequent layers gives the painting its special freshness and richness of color. The most frequent mistake of the beginners in painting grapes is the repetition of the same image. The beauty of grapes is in the fact that each individual grape has its own character and it can be seen as an inimitable treasure. A grape is at places
transparent, other spots are matt, sometimes it is too ripe and sometimes it hasnt ripened yet. It may seem greenish, may be sweet or may be sour, sometimes wrinkled and withered. Lets contrast the friable glossiness of the grape leaf and the juicy resilience of ripe grapes with the cold stone tabletop. Paints wrapped in regular foil can be kept for rather a long time. In the fridge this package can be stored without any damage to the mixture for about 2 months
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1st Color Layer Now we are beginning the first color layer. The smooth lighting that I need for filming our work makes it difficult to see the canvas texture. Nevertheless, take at look at the surface of the canvas: it looks different. Lets take our paints from the fridge and place them on the palette: yellow cadmium medium, flake white, cadmium red, permanent madder deep, umbra, ivory black, and Prussian blue. Now, very carefully, using our dead layer mixtures, we begin the delicate work on the colors. Obviously, we cant avoid using such active paints as cadmium red and permanent madder deep. Generally, mixtures of these paints will be used in the darkest areas of the grapes. Now, lets try the lighter tonalities. The lightest dead mixture leads to some ultramarine hue, thereby bringing the neutralblue color of the powdery surface closer to the color of the red grapes. Id like to attract your attention to the fact that the amount of the color mixture is very small, in comparison with the dead mixture, and on the palette they look grayish. But as soon as we apply them to the canvas, their real color begins to emerge due to the two auxiliary layers: the umbra layer and the dead layer. As you can see, we stick to the principle of three brushes: the applying brush, the correcting brush, and the blending brush. We began this painting with the umbra layer. To make it, we used only one paint: burnt umbra. Besides other technical advantages, this method is very instrumental in one more way: in terms of creativity. The thing is that the most difficult step in painting is to correctly begin it. By intentionally limiting our choice of media, we thereby rid ourselves of the problem of choosing a paint and our attention is focused on more important issues. In the dead layer, we made our media a bit more complex. We used four different tonalities. But as we did the essential constructive work in the umbra layer, we were free to accomplish more complicated
tonal and even color-related tasks. Perhaps you would agree with me that the dead layer would be much more difficult to make with twelve pigments. In the color layers we can use much more paints, but their number should be limited to the minimum, too. It is advisable to use only one yellow, one blue, one red paint, etc. The Old Masters used about the same minimal number of paints. They didnt have cadmium yellow or cadmium red, but for ecological reasons the production of a number of pigments, such as lead yellow and lead white, has been practically discontinued. Thats why we have to select materials that are available in this century. Ideally, it would be better to make pigments by ourselves, finding appropriate stones, flowers, bugs, etc, and then grinding then into pigments, as the Old Masters did. However, nowadays this might probably be done by researchers, and not by artists themselves. Thats why we must learn to select the best of what is offered by art supplies stores. Without doubt, we must give credit to those who are trying to regenerate the Old Masters recipes and produce paints that are similar to pigments used in the epoch of the late Renaissance, the peak of oil painting mastery. But lets go back to our painting. Please note how carefully the little sharp brush embeds the color into the dead layer, trying to achieve a correspondence with the tonality of the dead layer. We continue to blend some details and begin to add some texture to the leaf. But working on the details, we must remember that this is also an intermediate layer. In it, we prepare the surfaces for final highlights that will define the texture of the material. In other words, even if we paint the sharpest elements, we must leave room for final strokes in terms of tonality and color. Further layers will be lighter and more colorful. Id like to remind you the main rule of applying paints when working in the multiplayer technique. Paints in each next layer are lighter and more colorful than in the preceding layer and they cover a smaller area. The thickness of the color layer gradually increases, which means that each following color layer is thicker that the previous. And, on the contrary, in the shadows, we should try to make the color layers as thin as possible. This is true regarding all layers, from beginning to end, from our first layer to the finishing layers. As far as the change in intensity and tonality of paints in shadows is concerned, it should also become more colorful, but darker than the previous layer. The area of the surface to be painted in shadows decreases from layer to layer by about a half. We have already enumerated the characteristics of the routine work, in other words, the process of paint application, but fortunately, this knowledge does not limit the artist in his or her creative potential, because each texture needs an individual approach. The Great Masters left us some of their recipes, either in manuscripts or as evidenced by their canvases. The texture of burgundy grapes that we are painting today also has some specific nuances. Their main peculiarity is that each grape differs from the others to a greater extent than the grapes in a bunch of green grapes. We can see significant differences in color between little young grapes with their green unripe tint; ripe, full of golden nectar ones, and heavy overripe burgundy grapes. As we deal with such a wide spectrum of different colors and tints, we sometimes have to violate strict canons in our painting techniques by decreasing or increasing the number of layers. We decrease the number of layers when we skip the logical order in our work and give the texture those characteristics that we have seen in the first color layers, or on the contrary, we feel that we need some extra preparation to convey this or that effect. In some cases we can also add one more intermediate layer. Anyway, this color layer is about to be finished because further work is impossible. We have given the main characteristics of color and found the location of the powdery film. Figuratively speaking, we have defined the main characters of our story: 3-4 grapes in the foreground. Later, they will be brought to perfection and will become the center of the composition. I would like to stress that when painting grapes, it is absolutely vital to avoid monotony and repetition of one grape image in another. Each grape is a separate event and has its own identity.
Let us remember that when we eat grapes, it is not all the same to us which grape we eat first: we always try to find the most beautiful and ripe one.
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2nd Color Layer After the painting has dried well, we begin the second color layer. You can see that the surface is not even, in some places it is glossy, in some other places there is too much oil or too little oil; thats why we wipe the canvas with oil and scrape it with a palette knife. Due to this scale we can see how much of light and dark colors we have got. We begin with the sharpest brush. This is not pure open white, this is the lightest gray mixture, plus cadmium yellow and some red. We reinforce the color. Yellow becomes more intensely yellow, and burgundy also becomes more intense. But the area of coverage decreases. The blending brush follows in all cases. This layer is also considered to be an intermediate one, but here we will go deeper into texture, correcting main color characteristics. The color and the tint of water drops on the grapes reveal the surface of the grape skin clean from any powdery coat. A drop of water on the surface almost immediately dissolves the layer of this coat, and through it we begin to see the real color of the grape skin. In shadowed parts, as well as in the light, we must establish differences in color and tone between the coat and the body of the grape.
As we can see, this coat is opaque and the grapes themselves are transparent, but on the shadowed side, this coat will be a bit darker than the body of the grapes themselves. If we bite or cut these grapes, we will see the warm color of the flesh. This is what brings about this yellow sunny richness of the grape color in shadows. The description of these techniques reminds empiric speculations rather than definite instructions. But thanks to them we have a better opportunity to perceive the texture of the grapes and their transparency. Unfortunately, in the Old Masters manuscripts we cannot always find instructions that will satisfy us completely. At the first glance, manuscripts by Vasari, Armenini, Chenini seem rather complicated, and some quotations can be understood only when we come to our own logical conclusions, as if the Old Masters guidance with their manuscripts through many centuries. For example, this is what I have found in the manuscript written by the Dutch artist De Mayern regarding our burgundy grapes as he describes his work with purple: Work with purple, paragraph 10C: purple for the darkest parts is composed of smalt and red varnish. In order to make it dry, add some oil to it with lead oxide or mix your smalt with some water. When it gets dry, add some of your paint. This will make it dry well without changing. Shade with smalt and varnish and if necessary, in the deepest shadows, with a bit of black. Smalt and varnish are rather dark. Make the colors adding a bit of open white. Purple can also be made from ashy-grey and varnish. You can add some cinnabar and yellow ochre to these colors as you wish. Obviously, the quotation from De Mayern cannot serve as an instruction for painting grapes. But as we also use burgundy hues, it proves that we havent made any mistakes. Plainly speaking, the Old Masters treaties lead us to the conclusion that they were mostly concerned with the technical aspect of creating pigments, their interaction, and counteraction. Fortunately, artists of that epoch were surrounded by people who wanted to write down what they saw in the artists studio. There are numerous manuscripts that were transferred from one artist to another and grew in size through added notes. These notes were made sporadically as if the new owner added only things that he found valuable. Lets return to our grapes. The grape skin we are painting was probably damaged by a bird. The juicy flesh of the grape is visible and has dried a little, but it hasnt turned into a brown scar yet. We are working with two brushes: a dark one and a light one with subsequent blending. We have finished painting all essential colors and we even began working on the details in some places. Now the painting must dry well so that we can begin the final texture layer.
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Finishind Two weeks later we resume our work. We use the same palette that we used in the previous color layers. The bright light green paint is composed of Prussian blue and cadmium yellow. The dark blue mixture that we use in the shadows is composed of Prussian blue, cadmium yellow, black, and burnt umbra. It is very important to follow the anatomy of the leaf at least in a small area. Veins, painted well, in at least one square inch will give the viewer a good idea about the whole leaf. On the side of the deepest shadow we can see warm reflections. Please note that warm red and orange colors on the green leaf emphasize its greenness. Drops of water are an inherent component of the Old Masters paintings. Water drops are light and independent, they give an air of freshness and sparkling to any still life. Besides water drops have another important function. Many artists used them to balance the composition and even to cover some drawbacks in the texture. Briefly, paint more water drops and ignore the realistic artists criticism. Many of them express their criticism because they cant paint them. If you havent seen my first video-workshop, I will briefly tell you about the technique of painting water drops. A water drop is a transparent sphere with the properties of a lens. That is why on the light side we see a dark sphere with a sharp bright highlight, and on the side of the shadow we see a bright spherical projection of that highlight. The geometry of the drops shadow is made as all shadows in the painting in terms of a single source of light. Now lets start working on the texture of our stone tabletop. It is an exciting creative process. In order not to distract the viewer from the brightness and festive air of our grapes, we will not make the tabletop of brightly colored marble and will be satisfied with a granite slab. It has practically no color, but there are many delicate nuances in it.
While painting stone, a very good effect can be achieved by the use of a palette knife. We sprinkle some water drops and make wet highlights. By the way, the mixture we use in the highlights on the grapes and on water drops is the same. It is made of open white, cadmium yellow, with a little red, the color of the supposed source of light, for example, the sun, with a cold layer around it that suggests the reflection of the blue sky. A light blue hue on the leaves in the background creates a feeling of the air perspective. And, once again, stick to the fundamental rule: a light brush in light areas is followed by a dark brush in the shadows with subsequent blending. We are coming to the end of our demonstration of painting grapes. I would like to say that comprehensive artistic education of a painter suggests the mastery in painting of a wide range of textures. This, however, does not diminish the importance of knowing the foundations of painting, composition, proportion, and perspective. Texture, however, has the utmost importance. It is the ability of an artist to depict texture that determines the appreciation of his artwork. The dominance of the realistic painting in the 20th century led to rather a haughty attitude to texture for obvious reasons. The simple truth is that contemporary realism does not have the skill to depict texture. More precisely, that skill exists, but in the forms that are very distant from the classical painting. The grape texture that we discussed in this workshop is one of the most complicated textures. It is a real test of the artists maturity. It also provides excellent training and unfailing success in the future. Now some final strokes. This element in the green leaf, as I mentioned before, emphasizes its greenness. And finally, the artists signature which, as any other component of the painting, must be an inherent part of the composition. The still life seems to be completed, but it lacks something. I forgot to make my second signature, a little ant. The word ant coincides with the root of my last name, Antonov.
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Varnishing Before varnishing the painting, it must stay in the studio away from sunrays not less than 6 months. In our case it stayed in the studio a bit more than a one year, and now its time to varnish it. As we can see, its surface is far from homogenious. There are some faded places and areas with some excessive varnish or oil. Now we have the last opportunity to remove dust. We use a soft elastic sponge in order not to damage the surface. A brush should be soft, preferably kolinsky. This, however, is a synthetic brush. The damar varnish should be rather thick, like a very thin honey. The varnish should be pretty heavy and
shouldnt flow. The painting should be kept in the horizontal position at least 24 hours.
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Conclusion In conclusion, lets review the steps of painting red grapes. We begin with painting grapes on the smooth primed canvas. Than we use acrylic paints to make the imprimatura. It is followed by the first umbra layer in which we define the construction and make the details of our subjects. After that layer has dried well, we make the second umbra layer whose purpose is to make the final tonal solutions. We work on colors and tonality in the dead layer. The color layer is self-explanatory. We begin working on the color of the surface. I would like to emphasize once more: the work on each subsequent layer must begin only after the previous layer has dried well. The second color layer specifies colors and prepares the surface for working on the texture. And finally the third color layer finishes our work: we make final details of the texture, highlights, and the signature. We varnish the painting after drying it for 6 months.
| Contents | Drawing | Imprimatura| 1st Umbra | 2nd Umbra | Dead | 1st Color | 2nd Color | Finishind | Varnishing | Conclusion | Discount | Top
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Claret Grapes. 3th Classical Oil Paintings Video Workshop

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