First pass at oil painting

First layer of oil sketch with 2 colors (burnt sienna & ultramarine blue), 12 x 16 inches

I’m feeling a little sheepish about posting this wonky off kilter portrait but it’s today’s sketch….so here it is. I had the canvas on an easel at too much of an angle I think — her face seems distorted in the photo and it wasn’t when I was painting it.

Having not used oils for 20 years, I didn’t quite know how to start so I grabbed a photo of someone dear to me, squeezed out some burnt sienna and ultramarine blue on my palette and started drawing with a brush and thinned paint. I was trying to avoid turpentine, using Galkyd and Gamsol (alkyd medium and odorless mineral spirits — OMS — by Gamblin which is supposed to be less toxic than others). First I tried paint diluted with 50/50 Galkyd and Gamsol but it still seemed too rich for a first layer so I started using just the Gamsol thinner and that didn’t work too well–it started dissolving the paint around it. (Oil paint has to be painted lean to fat — the first layers need to not have too much oil in them or subsequent layers won’t adhere properly.)

I loved the way it felt to work with oil — to be able to sort of sculpt with paint and have it slide around nicely. Now I need to wait for this to dry and then I can go in and fix the drawing and then start on skin tones. It’s interesting feeling like a beginner again…I’ve forgotten so much of the little I knew about oil painting but hopefully that little will return and the knowledge and skills I’ve developed with watercolor and drawing will be helpful.

Fortunately it was a warm evening tonight, even though it’s raining, so I could leave my windows and door to my studio open while using the OMS. The stuff didn’t smell, but now I have a weird metallic taste in my mouth which means there was something toxic in the air and which means I won’t be leaving a container of OMS open while I work again.