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Painting with Oil Colors

In the spirit of educating a new generation of figurative painters, I will post a few easy to follow instructional content. If you are serious about learning, you should visit the nearest Ateliers, which have been springing up all over the world. In my mind, there should be more of these places.

If you are starting to paint human portraits or figure, you can purchase almost unreasonable number of oil paint. Well, you can, but I suggest starting with 2 basic colors: Ivory Black and Titanium White. With these two basic colors, your focus should be experimenting with the oil colors, thinner, and linseed oil. All these materials are listed below for your convenience.

Note: Instead of the Ivory Black, you can also use earth colors such as Burnt Umber or Burnt Sienna. The following is a sample underpainting.

Demo

One you have the basic material and a few brushes, you want to try drawing a face. Here is a quick oil painting demo on my Instagram Page. If you have questions, feel free to post your question as a comment.

Material Recommendation

  • Titanium White without Zinc – (Williamsburg: PW6-Titanium White) – This pigment is considered completely non-toxic. Titanium became the most commonly used pigment since 1940s. Be mindful that this Winsor Newton Titanium White contains Zinc White, which has been known to be problematic in the recent years.
  • Ivory Black (PBk9-Ivory Black: Lightfastness: Excellent) – Ivory Black is a misleading name since it’s no longer made using Ivory. The ones that are in the market is made from Animal Bones, and is referred to as Bone Black.
  • Linseed Oil – Oil Holland Bleached Linseed oil. From all the linseed oil types I have used, I like this one the best.
  • Gamsol -What is Gamsol? It’s almost an orderless solvent that replaced its hazardous cousins such as Turpentine. When starting to paint, you can use Gamsol to thin the oil paint, similar to how you would use water to think watercolors. This solvent, while it doesn’t smell as bad and advertised as being safer, you should take all the safety measures when using Gamsol.

Happy Painting!

Categories
Awards and Recognitions Exhibitions

The Red Dot Winner Exhibition 2020

The Art Students League of New York Presents an Exhibition of Outstanding Student Works

The Art Students League’s Annual Concours Exhibitions from this past school year includes thousands of artworks. The Red Dot Exhibition celebrates the exceptional accomplishments of students in the tradition of the concours–French word meaning “competition” or “contest”–follows a long-standing French atelier tradition.

It’s a great honor to be placed in such distinguished ranks as those of past red dot honorees for my work “Daedalus & His Wings” which I painted in early 2020 while studying under Janet A. Cook. This painting is a memorable piece, one of the last paintings that was completed before the Covid-19 Pandemic quarantine & social distancing. I look at the painting now, and I keep thinking to myself that we could all use the wings to get out of the maze we are stuck in now. (New to Greek Mythology? Google “Daedalus”.)

Fun Fact: One of the earliest recipients of the red dot award was Georgia O’Keefe who studied under William Merritt Chase in 1908. You can read more about the league here.

For view and read more about the exhibition please follow the links from the Art Students League below.

VIEW THE ART STUDENTS LEAGUE’S ONLINE POST
Date: August 3 − December 1, 2020 (Update: This exhibition has been extended through 31 December 2020)

(Quick Access: please see thumbnail images, artists information, and price list available from the link above)

Daedalus & His Wings, oil painting by Je, a Figurative Artist base in NYC
Daedalus & His Wings, Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 30″, A 2020 Red Dot Winning Figurative Painting from the Art Students League of New York (Model: @FIGMOD13)

Artists in the Exhibition (Including links to my league colleagues who I have connected with via Instagram)

Hikaru Akieda, Walter Altamirano, Miriam Ancis, Gregory Belok, Raissa Berman, Oksana Berzinsh, Anthony Biggs, Laura Bleau, Martine “Tina” Brochard, Val Brochard, Dana-Marie Bullock, Nelsena Burt-Spano, Maria Buyalskaya , Angela Capati-Caruso, Aiko Cascio, Frank Chiodo, Agnes Collins, Bruna D’Alessandro, Yang Dolma, Suzanne Drapeau, Helen Draves, Stephen Durkee, Lilian R.Engel, Douglass Guy, Sam Handler, Yumiko Ichikawa, Arlene Johnston, Megumi Kaizu, Sandra Kamerman, Joanna Karatzas, Patrice Kirkinis, Gus Knowlden, Yumie Kusuda, Johnny Lai, Fejzo Lalaj, Benisse Lester, Christopher Lodin, Margo Magid, Susan Martin, Clementine Martinez, Ava Mcnamee, Roy Mendl, Susan Markowitz Meredith, Antonio Mirabal, Elisabete Monteiro, Edwin Morris, Laurel Nyeboe, Jim Oher, Liz O’Kane, Andrea Packard, Betty Palmer, Dimitri Papathanassiou, Bart Pass, Anna Rabinowitz, Frances Roberts, Audrey Rodriguez, Susan Rosenfeld, Joseph Rossi, D.F. Rothschild, Kostiantyn Rudnichenko, Yasser Sabra, Selva S. Sanjinés, Ellen Singer, Anaïs St. Amant, Dana Sachs, Yuri Tayshete, Nancy Tongue, Gabriela Vargas, Yoko Wakabayashi, Liangzi Wang, Je Wee, Christine Yost, Richie Yuquan, Julie Zeitlin, Yu Zhang, Vladimir Zlotskiy and Yana Zubko.

Yuri Tayshete, Candies on Blue Glass Plate, 2019, Oil on linen, 12″ x 12″