Thursday, September 10, 2009

Topsail Drive in the Afternoon-16x20

$790 Framed at Fountainside Gallery
This is the finished painting

Thought y'all would like to see how the painting is started. the small painting is the 8x10 i did yesterday afternoon on site to work out the composition, values, color harmonies etc.
i paint in the shadow colors in cool blues and purples and various muted cool colors. then i paint the shapes in the light with various oranges, yellows, and pinks.
i have found that rubbing my 1/2 and 1/2 OMS and walnut oil magic potion on the gessoe makes the earlier stages of the painting less "dry" and "scrubby".
i'm loving doing these bigger pieces now that i've solved that problem. the potion makes the edges easier to keep looser too. give it a try!

4 comments:

Denise Rose said...

So Mike, when you combine the OMS and walnut oil (who makes that?) together, you are saying you apply it on the gesso before you begin your underpainting in the cool and warm colors? Does it stay kinda "wet" as you are working?

mike rooney studios said...

denise- i make the magic potion with different percentages of walnut oil and OMS. i think the current one thats working good is one third oil to two thirds OMS. i wipe the potion onto the new gessoe and wipe it off. this takes alot of the "drag"off the bare gessoe. this is before i put any paint down. gives it just a tad of slide i like.
dont put too much on or it'll be too slippery and take a long time to dry. you can get walnut oil at any art supply store in the mediums section. i suppose you could use linseed oil too.

Denise Rose said...

Thanks Mike! I think I will give this a try.

Anonymous said...

Mike, I feel dumb asking but what does OMS stand for?
Love your blog, very inspiring to as a new painter.
Thanks, Arlene C.