8/31/2008

"Essence" Nude Sketch of a Very Pale Model


7" x 9", "Essence" on "Sand" Canson Paper,
SOLD
This sketch was done in a technique called
"Peinture a l'essence" that was commonly used
by Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. I think I may
have mentioned this previously a few months
back. To do this, you have to soak the oil out of
the paint on blotters or paper towels overnight.
Then, you transfer the paint to a paletter, and
use it, without adding any medium (this is very
important), but just diluting with solvent ("essence")
means "solvent" in French). This enables you to paint
right on any paper, without preparing it with a ground,
such as gesso, rabbit skin glue, or shellac.
The effect is a very mat one, and sometimes people
think these paintings are pastels. Toulouse-Lautrec's
famouse paintings on cardboard in the National
Gallery were all done this way. And, while they are
more than one hundred years old, there is still no
oil stain around the images.
I am going to be teaching a workshop in this soon.
Thanks for visiting today.

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