Silverpoint Head with Highlighting

6" x 8", Silverpoint on prepared, grounded

hotpress watercolor paper,

Bid Here

This is a silverpoint drawing, it was drawn

on a piece of paper that I prepared with a

ground made of a small amount of Liquitex

gesso mixed with a small amount of white

Gouache paint and then colored with cyan

and green watercolor paint. The ground is

applied with a wide, soft watercolor brush

and allowed to dry. It can be sanded if

it is too rough. You can also use straight

gesso, casein, or gouache as grounds. The

problem with gouache is that it remains

reactive to water.

It is easy to do a silverpoint drawing. All

you need is an architect's technical lead holder,

a piece of 18 guage silver wire, some masking

tape, and some very fine sand paper. You cut

a piece of silver wire about one inch long, and

wrap some tape around it so it won't wiggle

around in the lead holder. Then you place it

in the lead holder and retract the metal
"petals" that hold the lead in, and make sure

the silver doesn't wiggle.

Then, you sand the point until it is round.

This is very important, so that you won't just

rip lines in the ground. The abrasive ground

causes a little bit of silver to come off of the

wire each time you make a stroke, and

voila, you have a silverpoint drawing.

The highlighting was done with a very fine

#00 round liner-type watercolor brush and

some white gouache (often referred to as

"body color" in descriptions of old drawings).

This is really fun. You ought to try it. The silver

will oxidize over time, turning browner. If you

paint some egg yolk over it lightly, this will

accelerate the oxidation.

Thanks for visiting today.

Italian Villa Sunrise

4" x 5 1/2" , Oil over Acrylic on Board,

$100.00 SOLD

This is another version of a painting that I did

many years ago, based on a black and white

photograph I found in Italy. It is partly real,

and mostly made up.

A glaze of ultramarine blue over a thin black

acrylic sketch was the inspiration for the

"sunrise". From there it was fairly easy to imagine

what colors would be there if the sun were shining

from below...the red roof just catching the light, and

the statue catching full sun. I wish I were there now...

When I lived there I could go to the student cafeteria,

the Mensa, and get lunch or dinner for 50 cents. Those

days are long gone. I haven't been back since 1973.

But I've not lost the inspiration to still make pictures

of the place. There is no other place like it.

Back Pose of Nude Female Posing in Life Class

Oil on gessoed linen canas, 12" x 16" $100.00

SOLD

This figure sketch was done in a combination of

three colors of paint that worked remarkably well

for the skin tones of this model: Van Dyke Brown,

Burnt Umber, and Winsor Newton Naples Yellow.

I stress Winsor Newton Naples Yellow, because I

feel that it is one of the few companies that manu-

factures a true Naples Yellow color. Also, notice

this is painted on a gessoed linen that has first been

toned with gray. That is one of the reasons that it

works so well.

Gray tends to take on the complement

of whatever color is placed against it. It's called

"optical grays", and in this case, it's picking up the

orange that is suggested by the mixture of the burnt

umber (a very orangey brown) and the Naples Yellow.

The medium that I used was Liquin. I also "oiled up" my

canvas (put an extremely thin layer of Liquin on the

surface) before I started painting, to make the paint

glide while I was sketching. Because Liquin dries com-

pletely in 24 hours, you don't have to worry about the

"fat over lean" rule. I know this is true. I've been doing

it for 30 years. This kind of painting is really fun.

Now I could use this painting for a grisaille underpainting

if I want, and go over it with transparent and opaque color, or,

I could just leave it as is. Painting is great, isn't it?

Thanks for visiting today.

Head of Herakles Chiaramonti

Oil Pastel over Charcoal on White Paper, 10" x 11" $100.00
SOLD

I just felt like taking a small break from oil painting today
and working with my oil pastels. To do this I did charocal
drawing of Herakles first on white drawing paper. I got his
curls, and beard, and head ornamet and features all taken
care of, sort of like an underpainting. Then, I sprayed the
heck out of the drawing with fixative.

Next I took my Sennelier oil pastels, because I know them
to be bit transluscent. Using the lighter colors, plus some
blues, I went over my charcoal drawing, not trying to cover
it up so much, but to augment it. This was a fairly new experience
except for the other small athlete a few posts back. I like this
techniques, which I discovered by experiementing, and plan
on doing more with it.

Contrary to general knowledge, you can same your money.
You do not need to buy fixative for oil pastels. They dry, just
like oil paints. I know, I have pieces that are years old. I never
fixed them. They are dry. Period.