Milena Posing in a cold light in class

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Oil on Canson Paper, 10" x 13"

This semi-clothed nude study was done very
quickly in an interesting technique that was used
very often by both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
It is know as peinture a l'essence, which literally
means, "painting with solvent". If you notice, a lot
of Lautrec's paintings were done on cardboard.
Well, this is how he did that.

To use this technique, the oil paint has to be placed
on blotter paper or paper towels overnight to soak
out all of the oil from the paint. The next morning
(or the day after that...), the paint is transferred onto
a palette and can be used to paint on bare, unprepared
paper, diluted only with turps or paint thinner. No medium
is used, of course, because that would defeat the purpose
of having removed the oil in the first place. It is really fun,
and great for gestural figure painting! You should try it!