White, The Most Color Used in Oil Painting

White is the most commonly used colour in oil painting from the earliest stages through to finishing touches and highlighting. However not all whites are the same. Understanding how they perform helps the artist to choose the right white for the painting in progress.
Here are the most common ranges of white. Although some factory offer more specific types.

Titanium White: The most popular modern white. It is the whitest, and the most opaque bright white with exceptional covering power for strong highlights. It can also be used for mixing and is a good all purpose white.

Zinc White: Less opaque slower drying white, used in the later stages of a painting for subtle highlighting, glazing and blending with other colours to create pale tints. It has a blue undertone.

Iridescent White: A mica based pigment which makes a pearlescent white. It is effective when mixed with transparent colours, and used over dark underpainting.

Underpainting White (fast drying): A titanium pigment ground in linseed oil which is recommended for underpainting or extensive layering with white. It dries quickly to a flat, matt, toothy finish. Specially formulated to resist cracking and shrinking in the early stages of painting.

Flake White (The Old Masters White): Based on lead pigment, suitable for all stages of a painting. It's a high performance milky white, noted for its opacity and durable paint film. When mixed with other colours it creates pure clean tints with minimum loss of tonal value. A titanium based formulation which avoids the hazardous lead based Flake White No. 1. It has a lower tinting strength than Titanium White to match Flake White and a similar drying rate to the original. Classified as toxic according to EC legislation and available only in tins for EC countries.

Art Auction Tips

Holding an art auction is an excellent way for non-profits to raise money, for artist-donors to get free publicity, and for bidders to get quality art at reasonable prices. The following pointers will help everyone have a great time and realize their goals at art auction fundraisers, regardless of whether they're buying, selling, or donating.


Tips for artists:

** Career-wise, the best fundraisers for donating are those that support visual arts organizations and attract members of visual arts communities. These are great opportunities to get your art and your name out in front of anywhere from dozens to thousands of people who like art, collect art, and support the visual arts.

** Donate to a non-art related fundraiser only when it's an established art auction or you believe strongly in the organization's goals, and not because anyone promises you career benefits. Donating to a fundraiser that only has a few pieces of art mixed in with lots of other merchandise, or only attracts politicians, environmentalists, or health care professionals, for example, usually does little for your career.

** Before you decide which piece of art to donate, talk to the people conducting the auction and ask what types of art and what price ranges sell best. The more accurately you pinpoint bidders' tastes and budgets with your donation, the better the chances that it attracts attention and sells for a good price.

** Donate a good piece of art. Don't donate the worst, least significant, or most outdated piece you have lying around your studio. You want your donation to reflect positively on your level of generosity as well as on the quality and type of art that you're currently producing.

** Include your bio and contact information with your art. You want to attract and introduce yourself to as many new collectors as possible. People who like your art tend to bid higher when they know something about you, what you've accomplished in your career, and how to reach you if they want to buy or learn more.

** Whether your art auctions silently or live, set the minimum acceptable opening bid and selling prices as low as possible. When you set these dollar amounts too high, you scare bidders away. Remember that many people go to art auction fundraisers looking for bargains. Also remember that having nobody bid on your art reflects poorly on your career.

** If you refuse to sell your art below a certain price, set your opening bid below that price, but tell the people conducting the auction that you'll only sell when that certain price is reached. For example, if you want a selling price of $500, start the bidding at $200. That way, even if the art doesn't sell, it'll at least attract bids. Be aware, though, that insisting on too high a selling price may show that you're more concerned about yourself and how much your art is worth than you are about the goals of the organization selling it.

** If you're a good artist, you have an established track record of shows and sales, and people know it, your art will be bid up to a fair selling price no matter how low you set the opening bid.

** Cooperate with the people conducting the auction and generally do everything within your power to make sure your art sells. The worst possible outcome at this type of event is for your art not to sell.


Tips for bidders:

** Look at all the art. Fundraising art auctions are great places to learn about art and artists you've never seen or heard of before.

** Don't automatically assume that all art is bargain priced. Find out about artists whose art you like before you bid. The best way to do this is to preview the art ahead of time or get a list of artist donors. That way, you're prepared to bid wisely.

** Make sure that you're getting a quality current example of an artist's work. Unfortunately, some artists donate low-end, oddball, or problem pieces that they can't sell and want to get rid of.

** Be generous. You're attending the auction to support the organization selling the art. Going a bit over budget is not so bad when those few extra dollars go to a good cause.

** Artists often attend fundraising art auctions and position themselves in the vicinity of their art. Keep your eye out for opportunities to meet artists and learn about their art.

** Go easy on the wine. Nothing is worse than finding out the next morning that you've paid too much for a piece of art that you can't stand to look at.


Tips for organizations conducting art auction fundraisers:

** Publish submission guidelines for artist donors. Include pointers on what types of art sell the best, what price ranges bidders like to buy in, and how artists can best present themselves and their art.

** Tell artists how the auction is promoted, how they benefit from the publicity, and how many people come to see their art.

** Urge artists to set minimum bid and selling prices as low as possible.

** Publish a sale catalogue that includes basic information about each artist and work of art that's for sale. Mail it out to attendees as soon as they pay for their tickets. The better you promote the event, the better quality art, artists, and bidders you attract.

** Choose a venue with plenty of room, good ventilation, and adequate display space. Contented bidders are active bidders.

** The admission price to the auction should include complimentary refreshments.

** Make sure that the most active bidders get preferred seating.

** Hire an auctioneer with experience doing fundraising auctions. Get names and contact information from other non-profits that have held successful charity auctions. Fundraisers are not like ordinary auctions where you want to move merchandise as fast as possible to bidders looking for bargains. A skilled charity event auctioneer can make a huge difference in the bottom line.

** Your auctioneer should have a sense of humor, be able to excite an audience, encourage competition among bidders, spend time presenting and describing each item, and convince bidders into being extra generous on behalf of the causes that your organization represents.

** Make sure the auctioneer has notes describing each work of art. Well-described art sells for more money than poorly described art.

** Display each piece of art as prominently as possible. The better the art looks in its surroundings, the higher bidders bid. This is especially true for live auction items. Use quality easels, white gloves, cascading velvet backdrops, pinpoint spotlights, and so on.

** Make sure bidders can find out about any artist whose art they want to bid on. The more informed bidders are and the more comfortable they feel about bidding, the higher they tend to bid.

Important Things To Remember When Using Pallet

1. Having a clean organized palette is an essential part of good painting. If you are just starting out with oil painting, these tips will help you get a good start.

2. You should have the right kind of palette to start off with. Your palette should be non-porous to prevent absorption of oil from the paint. Palettes come in a variety of different materials from glass to wood. My personal preference is the BOB ROSS Clear Palette. I have found this palette the easiest to clean and best for mixing colors.

3. When you are first starting out, it may be a good idea to start with a fairly limited palette of colors. If you purchase every color under the sun, you may find yourself mixing too many different colors, which will result in a muddy painting. Start off slow in the beginning, then add more colors as you become more experienced. Color choices for a limited palette vary from artist to artist. Here are the colors of my palette: Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Orange, Phthalo Blue, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Red Medium, Phthalo Green, Titanium White, Ivory Black. I recommend purchasing 1.25 oz tubes of all colors except Titanium White. Purchase a larger tube of Titanium White, as you will be using more of this color.

4. First, you should get into the habit of laying out your colors the same way every time you paint. This is just good practice and keeps the painting process flowing nicely. Arrange your colors along the edges of your palette leaving a lot of room in the center for mixing.

5. Don't be afraid to squeeze out a good amount of paint, especially your whites. You will be more productive if you aren't continuously stopping to squeeze out more paint.

6. Make certain to include all of the colors you think you will need to complete that session of painting as well. Again, this will make you more productive.

7. When adding paint to the palette, I have found that squeezing the paint out in long lines, as opposed to puddles, keeps my colors cleaner. When you have puddles of paint, they tend to get soiled by other colors when mixing. With a long line of paint, you can just take paint from the end as needed and not dirty the rest. Keep some rags or paper towels handy for wiping your palette knife clean.

8. It's a good idea to continuously wipe your palette clean during the painting process. There is nothing more frustrating then trying to remove dried up oil paint. Keep some alcohol handy so that you can keep the mixing area of your palette clean.

Music: Stimulant for Many Painters

Many painters listen to music while painting. Somehow music builds their mood and stimulate the senses. Some painters even say that the paintings they make while listening to music are richer and can express what they feel better.

This picture on the left is from Artists Network, a work done by Jaimie Cordero of Pinecrest, Florida.

"I created my response while listening to Classical music. Music definitely affects my mood, so typically I paint while listening to jazz, meditative "spa" or "yoga" music, or to my Classical Music collection from India. However, this time I wanted a more active experience and decided to play a variety of Classical music pieces that are complex. I poured the first layer of washes, and while it was still damp, I dropped blobs of mixed yellow—which ended up looking like out-of-focus spots of sunlight. When I felt I needed to even out the warn and cool sides, I sprayed Red Rose Deep. I then direct-painted negative shapes around the palm fronds, varying the warmth, depth, and values as I moved across the painting. As a result, the painting has many layers of color and shape, and gradual transitions of cool, deep passages to warm, bright passages. Thus, Transitions (watercolor on paper, 30 x 22) reflects what I heard and felt. What a great exercise!"

Another statement came from Robert Marshall, the writer of A Separate Reality

I was a painter for many years before I began to write. I now do both. I’ve noticed that, although some writers listen to music while they work, many prefer silence. Painters always have the radio on. Some listen to Bach, some to rap, some to NPR. I know a conceptual artist who listens only to Country Western. Maybe because I started as a painter, the silence in which many writers work is incomprehensible to me. It makes me wonder if I’m not pure enough, if I lack the courage to face the void. I need music, although the music I need when I write is quieter than the music I listen to in the studio. My novel, A Separate Reality, was written largely to Schubert lieder. I am also now more poorly informed about world affairs, since I hear Brian Lehrer less often.

I think this points to a different kind of energy in the process. Writing is quiet, internal. It often makes me sad. Painting is more physical. You use your body more. And, for me, this is sometimes almost unbearably energizing. I can, in the studio, experience a kind of frenzy. In Scorcese’s section of New York Stories, Nick Nolte, playing an nth generation abstract expressionist, flings the paint around while listening to Procol Harem. But I think this frenzy is there for “quiet” painters too (I am one). This has to do with the fact that visual artists (most of them) make objects. Objects that can easily be ruined by one wrong move. A sentence can be rewritten, deleted. A mark can sometimes be erased. Invariably, though, a trace is left. Casual readings of Walter Benjamin aside, in the real world of artists in their studios, there is always only one copy of a painting. There is no backup disk. I know that books are objects too (especially once published). But the real book is internal, in the mind.

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Oil Painting Tips for Beginners

Start your oil paintings with an acrylic underpainting - When you start an oil painting using oils, it can take some time for that initial layer to dry. Starting your painting with an acrylic underpainting however is a wonderful time saver as acrylic paint dries quickly and oil paint can be applied over the acrylic.

Make certain you have good lighting - I didn't realize how important good lighting was until I painted outdoors for the first time. Good lighting brings out the color and also lessens the strain on your eyes. If you can, paint in a place that gets plenty of natural sunlight. If you cannot afford this luxury, purchase a good indoor light. Check out http://www.ottlite.com/ for a great selection of lighting products.

Make sure you have good ventilation - If you are using materials like oil painting thinners and cleaners in your studio; make sure you have good ventilation. Some of these chemicals can be quite toxic so use caution when working with these products. Consider using a water miscible paint like Grumbacher Max Oil Paints. Max Oils can be diluted with water thereby eliminating the need for solvents.

Fat over lean - Follow this rule and you will reduce the chance of your paint cracking. Each layer of your oil painting should have a higher oil content then the ones below it.

To create the illusion of distance in your paintings paint receding objects with cooler less intense color. Objects that advance are warmer and more intense.

If you are feeling uninspired don't get discouraged. Try taking a walk outside, breath in the air, look around at the beautiful earth God created. Try playing music while you are painting. You will be surprised how music can affect your painting. Visit a museum or local gallery. Viewing other works of art can really get your creative juices flowing.

When holding your brush avoid holding your brush like a pencil too close to the bristles. Oil brushes are made long for a reason so that you can paint further away from the canvas. Practice holding the brush toward the middle and end of the handle.

Maintain a clean organized working environment - Get yourself into the habit of keeping your work area clean and organized. Have an abundant supply of rags or paper towels nearby. Get a few glass jars for storing mediums, solvents and your used brushes while painting.

Brush Selection and Care - You should probably invest in a good set of brushes. Cheap brushes are not recommended as they shed their bristles quite easily while painting. I prefer working with Hog Hair brushes, but oil painters also use sable and synthetic sable. Avoid nylon brushes, as these are better suited for acrylic paint. My brushes include a variety of flats sizes #3, #6, #8, #12, a #4 fan, and a few small rounds for detail work. Selections vary from artist to artist, depending on painting style usually, but the above mentioned work fine for me. Take excellent care of your brushes. This is very important, especially if you have an expensive set of brushes. You may want to do a search online for more in depth brush care instructions. If you do not clean and store your brushes properly, you will ruin them, simple as that. Use a quality brush cleaner and preserver that you can purchase online or at your local art store.

About the author:
Ralph Serpe is Webmaster and Cofounder of Creative Spotlite - http://www.creativespotlite.com, a free educational art and craft community.

Alberto Vargas (1896-1982): Brings Beauty to All Women

To many, the name of Vargas is synonymous with female sensuality of grace and beauty of the American woman. Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chavez was born in Peru’s second largest city, Arequipa. He is famous for his surreal portraits of women. He always painted women realistically, the way he actually saw them. He got his eyes for beauty from his father Max, who was a famous photographer in South America, with studios in Arequipa and in the Bolivian capital, La Paz. As a child, Alberto Vargas ventured early into his creative art. From the age of seven to nearly fourteen, he produced a large number of surprisingly accomplished caricatures. At the age of fourteen, his mother, Margarita, decided she wanted Alberto and his brother Max to study in Europe. So Alberto began his formal education in Swiss city of Zurich. He was to study languages and photography and his brother banking. Once in Europe, Alberto was mesmerized by the art galleries and museums. In the Louvre in Paris he was transfixed for hours by the work of French painters such as Ingres, and it was there that he decided he would rather be a painter than a photographer. Alberto also constantly practiced drawing the human body by himself. Alberto was to serve an apprenticeship with the Julien Studios in Geneva before moving to England to finish his education at the Sarony Court Photographers in London.

But in 1916, the course of the First World War prompted him to interrupt his education, and he fled Europe. Planning to return to Peru, he was held over in New York City waiting for a ship to take him home.He took a walk through the city on a glorious summer day with the bells tolling for noon and he fell in love immediately with the America Girl. Alberto believed until the very day he died that American women were the most beautiful in the world.
“All of a sudden the doors opened and out poured these girls. Oh my gosh, so many beautiful girls. So right then and there I decided I had to stay”.
In 1939,Alberto received his American citizenship.

Vargas’s timing was perfect. The artistic environment was invigorating, fast-paced and exciting. It was the Jazz Age, and flappers and art deco were the vogue. Alberto worked hard, retouching negatives and drawing hats for a living. He was developing his unique skill in water-color, oil and pastels. He knew, however, that one day he was going to be a great artist.


His famous quote was: “What is more beautiful than a beautiful girl?”

Basic Preparation for Sumi-e Painting

The materials you will need for sumi-e can be purchased at most stores specializing in Oriental goods or from art shops. Prices will vary, depending on the store and on the quality of the items.

1. Brush.
There are many kinds of fude (sumi-e brushes). You will need just one brush. Its bristles made from deer, goat, or boar hair, should be about 1 5/8 inches long with a diameter of about 3/8 inches (or about 40mm by 10mm). New brushes often contain starch in their bristles to stiffen and protect them during shipment. Soften the brush by pressing it repeatedly with light pressure onto a small water-filled plate until the starch runs off. After use, rinse the brush thoroughly with clear water.

2. Suzuri.
Suzuri (ink stone) are carved from stone and have a well to hold water and a flat surface on which the sumi (ink) stick is ground or rubbed to produce ink. Suzuri comes in many different shapes and sizes. After use, clean the suzuri thoroughly with running water. Old, dried sumi on the suzuri is very hard to remove and will interfere with the even rubbing of the sumi stick.

3. Sumi stick.
Sumi sticks are made from powdered carbon of burnt pine or lamp black, plus a binding agent. When a sumi stick is rubbed back and forth with a small amount of water on the level surface of the suzuri, small carbon particles come off the stick and dissolve in the water to produce ink. Four different “black” shades are available: black-black and black-brown (used for winter or rocky, mountainous scenes) and black-blue and black-purple (for gentle springtime scenes). You can use any of these shades, but the black-blue sumi will probably show your work off best in the beginning.

4. Paper and cloth.
Sumi-e is best done on kind of paper that will absorb moisture from the wet brush as you paint. Any kind of paper with this characteristic will do, and even ordinary newspaper can be used for practicing. Flat sheets of gasenshi (often called “rice paper” in the West but actually made from plant fibers) are particularly well suited for sumi-e. Gasenshi can be purchased at the store where you buy your other materials.

A cloth, preferably a piece of felt, may be placed under the paper to absorb excessive moisture.
Sumi-e paper is very delicate and should be stored flat in its wrapper. Paper in rolls is sometimes available, but you may need to use a weight to hold the paper, preventing it from curling while you work.

5. Small dish and bowl.
You will need a small dish in which to make medium-color ink. A small double-welled bowl filled with water can be used to wash and moisten your brush.


PREPARATION
Lay out the sumi-e materials on a desk or table as shown in the photograph. Pour clean water into the well of the suzuri and into the small bowl until they are each about three-quarters full.

Making ink
Hold the sumi stick vertically against the suzuri’s surface. Dip its lower end into the well of the suzuri and draw some of the water up onto the suzuri’s level surface. Carefully and with even strokes—but without too much pressure—rub the sumi stick over the surface, back and forth. Keep the sumi stick perpendicular; rubbing at an angle will cause carbon particles to come off the stick unevenly and will result in poor ink. Five to ten seconds should give you good sumi. You will be applying sumi to your brush directly from suzuri’s level surface; when the sumi has been used up, just repeat the above process to make more.

The depth of color is the result of the amount of water you use and the length of time you rub the sumi stick. As you gain experience you will know the thickness of the ink you need, that will differ according to the object you want to paint and the effect you want to create.
You will often need sumi of medium color to paint light lines or to change the brush with different sumi shades. To make medium-color sumi, use the tip of your brush to transfer small amount of dark sumi from the suzuri to the small dish, the dilute the ink with a few drops of water from your wet brush and mix until the desired tone of color is obtained.

Applying sumi to the brush
Never apply sumi to a dry brush. Dip the brush in water and gently swab its bristles against the edge of the bowl to prevent dripping. If you need to use only the tip of the brush to paint a fine line, remove more water from the brush. This will make the bristles firmer, giving better support and control as you paint.
You may charge the brush with dark sumi only, with medium-color sumi only, or with the combination of the two. When a brush is charged with two tones of ink plus water, the ink tones and water overlap and blend together on the paper to give the painted line the appearance of depth. Western artist add depth using fine shading techniques; but the sumi-e artist can get the same effect with a single stroke of the brush.

To prepare this “three-shaded” brush (water can thought of as one shade), draw the wet brush through the medium-color sumi you have prepared in the small dish; let the medium-color sumi evenly saturate two-thirds of the brush from the tip up. Then draw the brush through the dark sumi on the level surface of the suzuri, but this time let the sumi saturate only the lower third of the bristles. The result will be a brush charged, from the tip up, with one-third dark sumi, one-third medium-color sumi, and one-third water.

When painting a thin line, you can saturate less of the brush with sumi; but the medium and dark shades of sumi on the brush should always be kept in the ratio of two to one. When using a dark or medium shade alone, apply only as much sumi to the brush as you need.

Sumi-e -->Beauty of Tranquility in Mind

The Japanese word sumi-e is made up of the words for “black ink” (sumi) and “picture” (e). So, what is called Sumi-e is the Oriental art form in which pictures are painted with black ink. But to be sumi-e, a black-ink painting must be alive with the power to stir the hearts and emotions of all who see it.

To bring the painting to live, every line and every dot within it must live too. And the lines that are said to live in sumi-e are the lines that remain after everything unnecessary to the subject has been excluded from its portrayal. Sumi-e, in other words, communicates the essence of nature. Knowing how to paint andso remove from your subject everything but its life and essence is perhaps the most important thing to learn this art. The real meaning of sumi-e can be found in beauty of condensed and distilled forms.

Sumi-e was brought to Japan by Zen priests, so it is full of the spirit of Zen. For in sumi-e, as in Zen, nothing is wasted and the world is expressed in a language reduced to the farthest, most essential limits. In Zen, what expresses reality may be a single word after hours of meditation. In sumi-e, it is a few bold strokes on a pure white paper.

When making a sumi-e painting, it is like a meditation. As one takes up the brush, one by one, the thought that normally occupy the mind grows still and disappears. The hand move naturally, unconsciously, as doing the painting. Gradually, the same object that is seen with mind’s eyes takes shape on the paper. This is a painting that truly lives.

If your painting seems somehow harsh or ineffective, you need only the wish to make it more beautiful to get better results the next time you paint. But, if you practice with the idea “I want to become good at sumi-e.” then you will probably not improve very much at all. For just thinking in terms of good or bad is a sure sign that you are already far away from the spirit of sumi-e which, like Zen saying: ”Become as nothing!” You must free your mind from ambition and desire, then your paintings will sparkle with life and will draw people to feel the many moods of nature.

*picture is a sumi-e painting by artist Hiroki Murata.

About Hiroki Murata

At first glance, Hiroki Murata’s paintings resemble black-and-white photographs. In fact, his work evolved from the long tradition of Nihon-Ga (Japanese painting) and sumi-e. Hiroki Murata (b. 1968) resides in Chiba, near Tokyo, Japan. He studied Nihon-Ga under Japanese master, Ikuo Hirayama, at the prestigious Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. His early works capture the energy of the large metropolis, using vibrant colors juxtaposed against an orderly and simple overall design. A notable hallmark of Murata’s paintings is a high level of sophistication, subtlety and meticulous attention to details, reflecting artist’s long disciplined training in Nihon-Ga.

In 2001, Murata traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to paint. The setting couldn’t be more different from Tokyo. Wandering among the side streets and surrounding country, he was struck by the rustic beauty of the land, and most of all, by the quiet luminosity of the light. He wanted to capture not just the landscape, but the powerful feelings that seem to permeate this land. Upon returning to Japan, he proceeded to develop a revolutionary painting style. In the next few years, he moved away from the subtle Nihon-Ga style and experimented with the power and impact of black sumi ink on paper.

This new medium requires different approaches and techniques. When sumi ink penetrates into paper, it permanently occupies the spaces between paper fibers. Once absorbed, it cannot be displaced or diluted by adding more water. This characteristic of sumi-e is very different from that of oil painting, where layers of pigments can be added to cover previous brush strokes. In this regard, painting with sumi ink is somewhat analogous to dyeing fabrics. In the current body of work, Murata captured the nuance of natural light, using only black ink. He painted with broad washes of ink while selectively blocking ink from being absorbed into specific areas. He developed techniques that allowed him to create extraordinary scenes - like back-lit subjects against a bright background - which were normally very difficult to render by traditional sumi-e techniques. With the current direction, the artist has opened entirely new avenues to approach contemporary sumi-e.