Rich, thick, creamy, and sometimes messy.

Today I taught an oil sampler at Swintons Art supply. I love showing people interested in trying out oils for the first time. They always impress me with what the colours they mix and they create in such a short time given.

 I start with an overview of the materials and process then we get right into mixing paint. I could teach an entire course on colour mixing, and I count away the hours in the joy of mixing colours. Warm and cool, high chroma and all the values in between. I just love colour so much, and when its oil its so rich, thick, creamy and bordering on delicious enough to eat. But don't eat it!

I give a quick demo of how to prep the support, plan the composition and apply the paint. This time at the end I had some wow factor when I completely scraped the finished painting away, destroying it completely. After all, paint is cheap.

The participants select a reference image and undertake painting it all a prima. At the end of the class they have their first piece to take home, I'd say thats an amazing way to spend a Sunday.

They try different brushes, mediums and even get some practice with the palette knife.

There are many stages to oil painting, and often you have to wait for it to dry so you can work with layering and glazes as it tend to get "muddy" the more you work it. It is a bit of a difficult medium to handle your first experience with it.

What keeps me going is there is so many interesting things you can do with paint, an infinite amount of ways you can do it and there is never a shortage of ideas to explore.

I painted this icon as a gift to a friend. recently I clear coated it with a thick layer of Pour on epoxy resin. Having no previous experience with it, it was a risk. There were too many bubbles on the uneven surface so I had to borrow a sander from my best friend who helped me take it down, get rid of the imperfections and smooth it out. Lesson learned. I reapplied a new coat of thick clear epoxy resin. This time to remove the bubbles I used a hair dryer on it which caused the bubbles to rise to the surface and pop. The end result took it to the next level. I decided it looked so good I'd flip the bill and get it framed. Swintons has some groupons for custom framing worth getting. I got a frame worth $560 for a mere fraction of the cost. A frame really helps set off the work, I can't wait to see it when its done!

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Did I mention I have booth N01 in Artist Alley at the Calgary Comic expo April 16-19?!
Come by and say hello if you are checking out the show!
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