From the earliest times, the darkest shades of natural brown earths, known as Umbers, have been a part of the artists’ palette. Ranging in tones from the greener Raw Umbers, which produce a range of neutrals when mixed with white, to the warmer, dark chocolate notes of Burnt Umbers, which create tans and tawny beiges … Weiterlesen

  Changes are difficult. As much as you want decisions to be based on facts and facts alone, there is still a wrestling that can happen. Paints, and especially color, escape being easily tied down to just quantifiable clean choices. Rather, one can be caught having to choose between love and lightfastness, between beauty and … Weiterlesen

Editor’s Note: Added April 26, 2022 For some time, our recommendation for artists using oils over acrylic has been to work over harder, matte acrylic surfaces and avoid working on softer gels and gloss products. Our intention was to optimize the level of adhesion that would be achieved on a toothier surface as well as … Weiterlesen

“Do you like oil paint?” It’s a seemingly, almost deceptively simple question, and one that I use at the start of almost every Williamsburg lecture and demo. It’s adapted from an anecdote in The Writing Life by Annie Dillard, where a young student, wanting to know if they could become a writer, is asked: “do … Weiterlesen

From the very beginning, oil painters have used mediums to extend, modify, tweak and transform their paint in one way or another. These have run the gamut from the simple use of solvents when creating an initial wash to much more complex concoctions and recipes that involve the blending of various oils, resins, balsams, and … Weiterlesen

Recently we set about testing a variety of solutions for what has been a constant problem: preventing a can of paint from forming a skin, especially when stored for months or even years at a time. Plastic wrap pressed against the surface definitely worked, but also created a mess when being removed, while anti-skinning sprays … Weiterlesen