Wednesday, May 07, 2008

First laying in of oil...over Casein underpainting

















Did not have a lot of time this afternoon, but began
laying oil in over the casein underpainting, and the
casein took it well, without any lifting of casein
pigment. I was quite pleased with that.

This appears quite abstract at this point...you can
see that hints of red come thru causing color
vibration, which Edgar Payne speaks a good deal about
in his book, "Composition of Outdoor Painting"

I will work the painting more to a completion I am
happy with...but my main initial curiosity is now
complete seeing that oil is received well over the
underpainting...

3 comments:

Dianne Mize said...

Larry, I'm following this experiment with interest. Talk a little bit about whether the casein absorbs the oil as you go, how easy the oil is to push and that sort of thing. This looks to be a keeper!

Larry Seiler said...

The paint might drag a little, Dianne...more than perhaps what some folks might be accustomed, but for myself not hardly noticeable since I'm used to painting over a ground that I add #FFFF pumice to for grit and absorbancy of my paint.

Otherwise, I haven't noticed really any difference in how the oil is going on.

I was admittedly tentative at first, just lightly apply some copal medium to the paint surface have expecting to see some milky paint lift up or something, but none at all.

After the first few minutes of expecting such, I then just dove right in.

It was suggested on Wetcanvas that this practice might not be best done on watercolor paper that is not first sized or primed before painting casein. The thought being the oil would work its way thru the casein and affect the support layer.

I painted this one on gesso/primed hardboard anyway, so no issue in regard to that concern for me here.

Hope that answers your questions...

take care, thanks

Dianne Mize said...

Thanks, Larry. You answered what I was wondering about very well.