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New journey

Oiled and on

It took me ages to finally dare and give the oil painting a try. I am still not certain about many things and especially about how to accept the enormous drying time and get used to the idea the painting has to wait at least a year to get varnished (yes, I'd like my oil to be thick I suppose, and for me not varnished = not finished).

But I will find out. I am happy I am trying. I love to learn. I suppose I will need to study the process and techniques from scratch again. Glad I have some great books and great teachers on YouTube. And I will not stop with acrylics, I don't think I will. Acrylic is a great medium and I still have lots of tubes with it to use.

So I started with some small studies in oil colours on well-gessoed acid-free cardboard. Unusual feeling your paint doesn't dry out on your palette within an hour; I still can use it the next day, and the day after. Happy with that. I love the viscosity of the paint as I am trying to paint alla prima. So happy with that, too. Great it almost doesn't smell, and I don't need to use solvents or turpentine as I started with Cobra, the water mixable oil colours. So happy I can clean my brushes just with water.

The first study is a copy of my still-life Blue Jar that was sold last year. By copying a recent painting I wanted to learn the difference in the process between acrylic and oil paints. I was rather satisfied with the result.
Then I tried to paint a street view of our village, and I understood there must be a totally different approach in painting the trees and the sky wet in wet rather than in layers. And today I've painted another small still life with lemons and oranges. I liked the process again, learning to use a dry brush to soften the edges. Well, I think I'll go on this journey for a while now.

And yes, still using my very same limited palette of five pigments, but now in oil.

So these are my first small oil studies. Perhaps soon a larger painting in my gallery.





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