http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistApril 2021 49
PRACTICAL
Next month: how to prepare and present
your finished oil paintings for display by adding
a home-made frame.still life. It’s a useful way to learn about
value and tone at its widest spectrum of
light and dark. Caravaggio is one of the
most notable painters who used this
method and it’s worth having a look at
his work.
Making corrections
One of the many benefits of painting
with oils is that you have the ability to
correct problematic passages of work as
you progress. Not that I’m advocating
fiddling around with areas all over the
painting, you should never get to that
stage. Often you will get a build-up of
thick unmanageable paint that you just
can’t do anything with, generally in the
foreground region, but skies can also
have a tendency to be overworked.
The easiest and quickest method
is to scrape off any excess paint with
a painting or palette knife, which
will generally leave a ghost image
underneath that can be left or removed
entirely with white spirit. For larger
areas that have become too difficult
to work over, and which could include
the bulk of your painting, the top layer
can be removed with a process known
as tonking. To do this, place a sheet
of absorbent paper, such a newsprint,
over the work and gently rub the surface
of the paper – you should find that a
whole layer of top paint lifts off.
If you follow the tried and tested
methods of building up a painting using
either the direct or indirect approach,
none of this should be necessary,
but inevitably issues will occur at
some point, but which can be easily
addressed with little or no detriment to
your painting.Alan Bickley
studied fine art and graphic design
at Stafford College of Art and spent
many years as a designer and
editorial artist in the newspaper
industry. He has won many awards in
The Artist Open painting competitions
and is a regular contributor to the
PaintersOnline e-newsletter*. Alan’s
more recent work can be seen here:
http://www.painters-online.co.uk/artists/
alanbickley*To receive Painters-Online e-newsletters,
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http://www.painters-online.co.uk/registerp Valletta Harbour, oil on board,16 3 20in (40.5 3 51cm).
I painted this using a selection of painting knives in two studio sessions, working from my
plein-air sketchbook studies
TA