Watch this video on YouTube Making Vine Black Oil Paint (and Drawing Charcoal) — The Alchemical Journey Series — by Damian Osborne 1 | What is vine black? 2 | Other names and methods of producing a charcoal black 3 | How does vine black oil paint compare with other black pigments? 4 | How do you make homemade vine charcoal for drawing? 5 | What will you need to make vine black oil paint? 6 | How do you make vine black oil paint? 7 | What are some examples of vine black being used by the Old…
Making Bone Black Oil Paint
Watch this video on YouTube Making Bone Black Oil Paint — The Alchemical Journey Series — by Damian Osborne 1 | What is bone black pigment? 2 | How long does bone black oil paint take to dry? 3 | When was bone black first used? 4 | Bone black vs ivory black 5 | How does bone black oil paint compare with other black pigments? 6 | What does bone black symbolise? 7 | What equipment will you need to make bone black oil paint? 8 | How do you make bone black oil paint? 9 | What…
Why I Love Realistic Figurative Paintings
Why I Love Realistic Figurative Paintings by Damian Osborne Realistic figurative painting has always fascinated me. When I look back through my old art history books and remember which artists and paintings were my favourites as a young, budding artist, figurative oil paintings felt especially vivacious, expressive, inspirational and powerful. And perhaps the genre of realistic figurative painting will always captivate me. For the language of the body speaks to us in an instinctive, primal way. As humans, we divine meanings and feelings through poses, postures and expressions that spoken words can not convey. Perhaps it’s because we…
Final Stages of a Portrait Painting
Watch this video on YouTube Final Stages of a Portrait Painting — Nigredo by Damian Osborne 1 | What pigments will I need for painting a portrait? 2 | Should you add chalk to your oil paint? 3 | How do you mix colours for the Verdaccio? 4 | How many stages do you need for a portrait painting in oils? Here are the final stages of a self-portrait painting I called ‘Nigredo’ (or the crucifixion). Using my own oil paints, I show a quick summary of the various stages of the portrait, beginning with the Verdaccio.…
Making Your Own Refined Linseed Oil
Watch this video on YouTube Making Your Own Refined Linseed Oil (Like the Old Masters) by Damian Osborne 1 | Linseed oil and yellowing 2 | Why make your own refined linseed oil? 3 | The salt and sand linseed oil refining process 4 | What you’ll need for refining linseed oil with the salt and sand method: 5 | How to refine linseed oil with the salt and sand method: 6 | What is the difference between cold-pressed, heat-bodied, sun-bleached, stand, and burnt-plate linseed oil for oil painting? Making your own refined linseed oil as a medium for…
How to Create More Meaningful Art — Part 2
How to Create More Meaningful Art — Part 2 by Damian Osborne 7 | Recording and painting your feelings — keeping a journal 8 | Get deep — explore your shadows 9 | Read soul-enriching books — the works of the visionaries and great thinkers 10 | Spend time communicating with nature 11 | Be comfortable with being alone 12 | Think about what is most precious to you In case you missed it, this is a continuation from How to Create More Meaningful Art — Part 1 on habits I’ve been trying to stick…
Making Your Own Canvas Panels for Oil Painting
Watch this video on YouTube Making Your Own Canvas Panels for Oil Painting by Damian Osborne Making your own canvas panels is a great cost-saver when it comes to being a painter. This is how I make mine with my own homemade primer. Before the invention of oil painting on sailcloth canvas, artists during and before the Renaissance Period commonly painted on solid wooden panels. These were carefully selected pieces of hardwood, and painstakingly sized with hide glues and primed with gypsum or lead-based primers, in preparation for egg tempera or oil painting. Today, making your own canvas panels…
Best Ideas for Oil Painting Every Painter Should Try
Watch this video on YouTube Best Ideas for Oil Painting Every Painter Should Try by Damian Osborne So, you’re wondering what you should paint? Here are some of my personal favourite ideas for oil painting: 1 | Landscape painting 2 | Seascape painting 3 | Still life painting 4 | Figure painting 5 | Self-portrait painting 6 | Painting portraits of your friends and family 7 | Painting animals 8 | Dreams, fantasy, mythological, allegorical and imaginary painting Throughout the history of painting, artists have found inspiration for their art from these universal and personal subjects. What were…
Final Stages of a Figurative Painting – Painting the Figure – Part 4
Watch this video on YouTube Final Stages of a Figurative Painting Painting the Figure – Part 4 by Damian Osborne Figurative painting has become the main ‘body’ of my work. This painting is part of my Siren Series, where I depict a female figure in isolation before the sea. If you missed the last blog, I started working on painting the skin tone. In this chapter, I complete this figurative painting with several stages of glazing. What are two different techniques for figurative oil painting? Artists who paint the figure in oils can usually be divided into…
Painting the Skin Tone – Painting the Figure – Part 3
Watch this video on YouTube Painting the Skin Tone Painting the Figure – Part 3 by Damian Osborne There are many styles, colour palettes and methods artists present and past used for painting the skin tone, and of course it won’t do to just mix a universal ‘flesh colour’. Although I like to study as much of the old masters and their palettes as I can, as well as living artists’ methods, colour mixing is pretty intuitive for me; I’m thinking more in terms of colour temperature and value than following someone else’s method, rules, or anything else.…
Painting the Figure – Part 1
Watch this video on YouTube Painting the Figure – Part 1 by Damian Osborne This painting is actually part of my Siren Series. I have broken up this figure painting demo into 4 parts. So stay tuned for explanations of the various stages. How do you start a figure painting with charcoal? Vine charcoal is the best medium for starting a figure painting because it’s easy to wipe away and make corrections to your drawing. It is also perfect for drawing on canvas. Unlike graphite, it is soft, and does not create the typical graphite sheen that…
Where Do Artists Find Inspiration?
Watch this video on YouTube Where Do Artists Find Inspiration? On finding inspiration as an artist; some art musings and studio soliloquies. by Damian Osborne While working on this painting of my wife, I decided to talk about where artists find inspiration and the methods I use to overcome artist’s block. Well, this is where I get my inspiration from. Check out the video above to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff while I’m working on this portrait. Where do artists find inspiration? • From your own life • Being in nature • Looking at other art…
What’s the Point of Art?
Watch this video on YouTube What’s the Point of Art Anyway? (A Painting is NOT Just a Picture) by Damian Osborne In this two-part blog and video series on ‘A Painting is NOT Just a Picture’, I delve a little into my own personal take on what makes art good and the resurgence of representational art, why art is so hard, why art is so important, and basically, what’s the point of art? Because a painting is NOT just a picture hanging on the wall. Art is so much more vital to our lives and our society than…
Painting the Flesh Tone
Watch this video on YouTube Painting the Flesh Tone by Damian Osborne After the verdaccio and going over the figure with terre verte, it’s time to start painting the flesh tone. I guess this is where it starts feeling like the real painting business is beginning to happen, with the underpainting stage complete. Now we are starting to work with a bit more with local colour. But I try not to fall into the trap of thinking one layer is less or more important than another. What is the best colour for painting the flesh in oils?…
Painting the Figure with Terre Verte
Watch this video on YouTube Painting the Figure with Terre Verte by Damian Osborne What is Terre Verte? Terre Verte, or ‘Green Earth’, was commonly used from Medieval Times and through the Renaissance for the underpainting of flesh tones. The Romans used this pigment on their wall paintings even before then. The green is complimentary to the warm reds and pinks of the flesh and makes the skin appear more natural. The pigment is made from iron silicates and the most famous was mined in Verona, Italy. It’s a transparent, non-toxic pigment with a low-tinting strength and high…
Painting the Verdaccio
Watch this video on YouTube Painting the Verdaccio by Damian Osborne What is the verdaccio? Verdaccio is an Italian term for the greenish-hued underpaintings common to Early Renaissance Italian art. The root word ‘verde’ means green. In English we would say ‘verdant’. Back in the Middle Ages, when religious frescos and egg tempera paintings were mainstream, artists commonly applied a verdaccio layer as an underpainting. After painting the imprimatura and brunaille as I mentioned before, they knew that a cool, greenish tone in the underpainting would cause the flesh in their subjects to appear more realistic in the…
Painting the Traditional Way – Part 1
Painting the Traditional Way – Part 1 by Damian Osborne When painting the traditional way, the most important thing to consider is that patience, finesse and forethought should be part of every stage of the painting. Cutting corners jeopardizes the whole, as well as your reputation as an artist. There are actually many ways to paint and I don’t always follow a set path. But this post is about a basic method that I used to build up this oil painting. What is the old master painting method? The old masters did not necessarily use a single…