Artists & Illustrators - UK (2020-04)

Makingaquickoil sketchof an Old Master painting not only helps you understand

techniques,but alsoteaches you a lot about yourself, as SARA LEE ROBERTS explains

the Masters

Sketching

LEFT AND DETAIL

BELOW Eugène

Delacroix, Henri

IV Conferring the

Regency upon

Marie de Medici

(After Rubens),

oil on canvas,

1834, 89x116cm

OPPOSITE PAGE

Peter Paul Rubens,

The Consignment

of the Regency, oil

on canvas, 1621-

’25, 394x295cm

IN DEPTH

W

hen making quick oil

sketches “after” the

Masters, it is important to

understand that the purpose is not to

make a perfect copy. This article will

not show you how to make copies

using the same techniques as the

Masters. This is a deliberate decision

• by using modern oil colours and not
  using the complex layering technique
  used by many of the Masters, it is
  impossible to make a copy that would
  be indistinguishable from the original.
  I am not even going to give you
  a list of suggested colours or types
  of brushes. This is because I want
  you, at all times, to take the
  suggestions as an approach rather
  than as a manual.
  I assume that you have worked with
  oil paint and have your own preferred
  brushes. Obviously, it is sensible to
  have a range of colours to work with:
  some reds, blues, yellows, whites,
  browns and blacks. The approach to
  making quick oil sketches is similar
  to that of making thumbnail sketches.
  You start off looking first at the
  underlying form of the composition
  rather than at the details.
  When looking through the images
  that are available to me, I have
  chosen paintings that suit my needs,
  looking for subjects and/or
  compositions that will be beneficial
  to me in my journey as an artist.
  Sometimes I have chosen to work
  from a portrait as I am interested in
  making contemporary portraits and
  learning from those made in the past
  seems to me to be a good idea.

At other times I have chosen to

work from subjects that I know will

challenge me, as it is only through

overcoming obstacles and challenges

that we can develop as artists.

It is for you to decide which

paintings you would like to work from.

I suggest that you settle down at your

computer and spend time just looking

at websites of museums and make a

list of paintings that you like. If you

choose to work from the same ones

as I have, do not expect your results

to look like mine. Copying my style is

not the point of this article. As you will

see, copying actually forces you to

see in what way you are different from

the original artist.

One of the benefits of spending

time trawling through the thousands