Oil Painting Techniques

This is an interview conducted with Trev Goodwin. Trev has been painting for 45 years, and has works commissioned and paintings in galleries coutrywide.

Trev doesn't have a 45 foot studio, with special lighting most of his painting is done in the kitchen or the conservatory.

Question:
When i am starting a painting, I get confused even by where I should start with a canvas! How do I prepare my canvas?

Answer:
Everyone thinks of oil painting techniques as only applicable to the act of applying paint, drawing or glazing, yet many people ignore the fundamental act of

Your canvas is the base for your whole painting, it is almost as important as the paints, color and subject you choose. A good canvas, prepared correctly, will form as much a part of the picture as anything you put on it. The canvas can provided structure and grain, color and finish.

There is also the issue of deciding how large or small your painting should be. Personally I tend to paint most of my paintings at 28" x 36". This is a good size for me. I would always be tempted to go for something around this size unless you are looking for a specific angle on the painting. For example if you want to highlight a particular element of a drawing then a small canvas might be ok.

Small canvasses are also useful when you are planning for larger paintings, you can do quick "oil sketches" on a small canvas to see how it will work, and then work them up to your final painting.

There are fine, medium and course grades of canvas, I personally use medium this seems to suit my needs. Even though I use medium I can still manage to paint fine detail and I paint a lot of portraits.

Most ready- made canvas’s state that they are ready primed but I still put a few coats of water-based primer on and rub down in between coats with fine sandpaper.

When I need very large canvasses say 78" x 48" I make my own using 11/2 " x 11/2 " timber framing, on this size I always put in a couple of centre braces. When I have stretched and squared the canvas I usually put flat metal L brackets on each corner for strength.

Raw canvas needs to be primed well, a lot of artists use rabbit glue size, I personally use water based acrylic primer/undercoat available from decorating trade shops.

The first coat I mix to the consistency of milk, this coat should hardly be seen when it is applied, I paint it on so thin because I want the primer to wrap around every fibre of the canvas, making a good tooth (grip) for the other coats to follow.

I then build up with thicker coats, not to thick as we do not want the paint to just lie on the surface of canvas but to attach itself to the former coat of paint. I was a master decorator for many years and experience taught me a few thinner coats are better than one thick coat of paint.

Have a look around in unusual places for canvasses everyone knows you can buy them from art shops, but I recently bought ten from a well known household store, for $5 each.

Great value and decent quality, certainly good enough for most hobby uses.

Many new artists will start by using canvas boards, these are definitely easy to pick up, and a good way to get started. They are expensive however, probably a small board will cost you in the region of $15, for which you could probably make three large canvasses.

Question:
How do you stretch the canvas to the timber framing? Then how do you attach it to the timber?

Answer:
You will need a pair of stretching pliers they cost about £12.00 but will last you for many years, and a good hand stapler will make life considerably easier.

First of all lay you canvas on the floor, place you frame on top and cut to size allowing four inches all round.

Start by attaching to one side working from the middle to each corner, turn over to the opposite side and this is where you need the pliers, grip the canvas with the pliers and stretch the canvas using the frame as a lever.

Once this is as taut as you can get it staple. once again from the middle working to the each corner.

After you have finished this all the way round, on the shortest end tuck the canvas to form a neat lap and finish with a couple of staples, trim canvas access with a stanley knife.

Question:
You talked about priming the canvas, why is this important? I just want to get started!!

Answer:
Priming your canvas is highly important because the materials you will be using contain solvents, or you will be using solvents to thin or mix glazes. These solvents by their very nature will attack and burn materials.

If you apply some turpentine to a canvas square you will eventually see little burn marks and holes all the way through. This is what will happen to your canvasses if you are not careful. I have examples of my canvas mistakes on video in the youtube classes.

Spending 100 hours on a painting to see it ruined is heart rendering, don't let it happen to you, good applications of primer will prevent this.

Question:
Ok, so we are all primed up and ready to go what next?

Answer:
Next you will want to get rid of that bright, white canvas you have primed. Almost all artists start with a base coat. This base coat will usually consist of an earth tone, reds, browns, ochres, maybe even blues.

This primer should be painted with a large brush, a piece of kitchen roll and acrylic paint.

Water your paint down and brush it across the canvas, don't worry about the unevenness of the paint, it will be painted over anyway. Use the kitchen roll to wipe off excess drips and to move paint around.

Once you are done with this, this should give you a great base to start your painting!