I thought I should create a separate page for explaining my painting technique, and the creative process in general that is involved when I start planning a painting.

I’ve explained my technique before in some of my older posts. Nevertheless, I don’t expect any newcomers to plough their way through all of them in search of scattered parsels of information.

Getting inspired

Usually I paint only during holidays, because then it doesn’t feel like it’s draining the precious time that I need for work and studies. Moreover, I can’t even come up with any ideas when I’m busy and stressed out.

I’m often inspired by faces I see on tv, magazines, whatever. Anyone I can google and whose pictures I can easily find, and who has an interesting face.

From this you may gather that I like to paint portraits, to the point of being boring and totally predictable. When I was younger, I liked to paint only animals, mostly horses and birds. I’m not sure why I don’t find animals interesting anymore - it’s that elusive “human factor” that seems to be missing. Furthermore, humans are much more challenging to depict I think.

When I’ve found pictures of an adequate size, I paste them together in a Paint file and print out in black and white. Wasting the precious ink of the university printers. *Evil laughter*

Above you can see Avril Lavigne, Samantha Morton, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, and some other people whose names I’ve forgotten.

One thing these people have in common is that they are real people. I need a model who exists, because my imagination is limited. Moreover, they are generally beautiful, usually in an original way. I don’t find “too beautiful” people very interesting.

Sometimes I find my victims from among people I know personally, sometimes from online websites. If I’ve painted a private person whom I don’t know personally, I won’t of course mention their name or show the original photo that I used as a model.

Sketchwork

I use the printed-out pictures as models when I first sketch a face on canvas with a pencil. for the same purpose I sometimes I use black paint thinned with water, so that it’s almost like water colour. If I’ve drawn or painted a person before, I don’t need to use a pencil anymore in order to get the features and proportions right. Instead, I just quickly sketch them out with a brush.

I like brushes better than pencils anyway, because you can create either thin or thicker lines, whatever you choose. Pencils are for careful drawing, which is not my thing. The sketches above demonstrate well how quickly and restlessly I tend to work.

Oil colours for the win

I use water soluble oil colours, exclusively. Usually Van Gogh, because that’s what’s available at my favourite shop. I have old-fashioned oil colours as well, and the paraphernalia needed to work them properly, but I haven’t used them yet. Reason? I’m too lazy and too impatient to learn how to use them.

I love oil colours because they are so rich in pigment and give such vivid, strong colours. They are very easy to work with as well. You can use thick or thin coats, you can do the thick-over-lean thing, or whatever you want. They’re just plain fabulous.

The paint doesn’t dry very fast, so you can keep on correcting and developing your painting over several days, or even longer. On the other hand, water soluble oils dry somewhat faster so you can create a painting that will be ready for transporting in only a few days.

Colour craze

When I’m done with the sketching, it’s time to bring in the colour. Here is my “palette”, which I hardly ever clean (I’m that lazy):

I try to keep at least my palette knife clean, but it gets dirty every single time anyway. Kitchen paper is essential in wiping the brushes, and whatever needs cleaning.

I used to plan carefully what colours I’m going to use, but since I almost always ended up using something different, I decided to skip that step in the process.

One thing that strongly characterizes my painting style is that I don’t use local colours at all. I’ve tried to, but I can’t bring myself to use them.

For me, there’s no interest in replicating what I see in the real world, as far as the colours are concerned. I do go for realism in terms of form, light, and pretty much everything else but colours. I’m not sure why, but I find local colours extremely boring.

I’m only interested in finding interesting, stimulating, and beautiful combinations of different colours. I’m concerned with how the colours work together, not how they behave in the outside world.

I suppose this is a reflection of my introspective personality in general - I use colours to express my feelings and thoughts. Using local colour could not mediate them perfectly, since I’m so removed from reality most of the time. In addition, I simply love bright, non-realistic colours.

Surfaces

I paint mostly on canvas cardboards, because they are available at Suomalainen Kirjakauppa. I haven’t yet tried regular canvas boards, so I don’t know if they are any different.

Occasionally I use plywood boards if I get hold of them. They’re perfect for finishing a painting in one sitting, because the paint is partly absorbed into the wood. My hunch is, though, that the paint will probably peel over time because the wood soaks up the oil, not the pigment. I like them anyway.

This is the easel that I use. It’s actually a pack-up-and-go version, perfect for taking with you outside and painting wherever you want. I always paint at home, though. It’s still handy for stuffing my paint tubes and sketches inside, as you can see from the photo.

Working the colours

Even if I’ve used a pencil for the sketch, I replicate it with black paint before anything else. Then I dab in some nice colour, blending it a little with the black outlines.

Here I used preussian blue instead of black - it’s just as dramatic and strong as a colour. I recommend any dark colours for sketching. After blue, I simply added white, blending it with the contours so that it became a bluish hue. This one I never finished, so I’ll probably paint it over one of these days.

From thereforth, I just keep adding colour and blending it the way I see fit. I use only two or three colours at the most. I like using only one or two, and using black and white to create effects of light and form.

Often I prefer to leave the dark outlines partly unblended, because it makes for a more dramatic look. I’m very fond of the linear painting style, which inter alia Axel Gallen-Kallela used, especially in his Kalevala-inspired paintings.

I used to wonder why I liked his painting style so much. Then I realised that it was the painting technique where you leave the outlines and contours of an object intact, unblended with the main colours. More recently, though, I’ve found myself slipping into a more “blendy” style.

Technique - what technique?

Due to my restless, impatient nature, I haven’t learned any “traditional” techniques for oil painting. I’m aware of the thick over lean principle, but I defy it every time. Too complicated for my taste.

I always paint the alla prima way. It means that I don’t let the coats of paint dry before I add more. I like to finish my paintings in one sitting, which usually takes no longer than five hours or so.

The point is that I don’t know how to continue a painting as soon as the older coats of paint have dried. The paint has to be wet, so I know how it behaves and how the colours blend when I add more different colours.

They say that the alla prima technique is a difficult one. I wouldn’t know really, since it’s the only way for me. I find it hard to continue paintings for longer than a few days, because I lose interest that fast. The most usual way of painting with oil colours, building up colours and light effects by adding thin coats of paint little by little, is much more time consuming.

Naturally there are effects you can’t get from oil colours with alla prima. I am not utilising oil colours to their full potential. Ever a wishful thinker, however, I believe I will one day sit down and learn some other techniques, as well.