Acrylic 2.0

Among the many benefits of oil painting is the ability to add both transparent and opaque layers of wet pigments to produce a lush surface, varied in both texture and color. Until recently, Helen thought this approach was not possible in another painting medium. That is, until she took another look at acrylic paint.

Realist painters whose work we love, including David Hockney and the late Lennart Anderson, have used acrylic to spectacular and varied effect. Though, without directly knowledge of their working process, which bring out the naturally bright and light qualities of this medium, Helen knew this would be a challenge. She decided to try something different: to attempt to use the traditional oil painting process she has used and taught, in order to recreate the density and variety of surface as in her oil paintings. Here is how she did it.

First, she prepared a panel by coating both sides with acrylic gel medium. This keeps the humidity levels constant on both front and back of the paper surface.




Next, she applied a thin imprimatura on the front of the panel with a deep golden yellow, very like those in a typical Dutch oil painting. She did this since, as the Dutch did, she was working from a still life bathed in cool, north daylight, which tends to produce warmth in the shadows. As the painting layers pile up on the lights, the thinner shadows tend to reveal more of the imprimatura color, which helps maintain their warm glow.



Working directly from a still life setup, Helen sketched the motif in vine charcoal. She then squeezed out acrylic paint onto a Daler Rowney Stay Wet Palette®, which she likes because of its ease of use and clean up, and blocked-in the large shapes.  The charcoal was quickly absorbed into the paint allowing variation in edges between shapes, much as in oil painting.



Initial shapes were blocked-in differently, depending on value and temperature: for example, darks were mixed with acrylic medium and no white, conferring them a transparent depth, while the lights were thicker and enriched with white, covering the imprimatura and lending solidity to forms.



Where the acrylic really shines, is the ability to layer paint almost immediately. This meant that fresh flowers could be fully rendered by building up shadow to highlight within a single session, and fine details added without the risk of disturbing layers, as can happen in oils. Helen also opted for a palette that, like her oil colors, ranged from dark, transparent pigments to bright ones, and she created a ‘medium’ as in oil, by filling a small cup with a mix of acrylic gel medium and water, and adding this to the darks which were then layered over the block-in. This produced an effect similar to that achieved by glazing in oils, again, without any time delay.



Adding details in the colorful Blockitecture® pieces was also easier in acrylic. To maintain the crisp window details, Helen taped around them, masking off the walls, and filling in the windows with bright color. This type of masking is more difficult with an oil painting, since the surface often rejects the tape adhesive.

Detail showing taping process. The window color was painting between the masked areas.





Finally, additional coats of acrylic thinned in the medium completed the reflections and other highlights.

Background and details added. Completed work. Still Life with Blockitecture, 16 x 16 in., acrylic on panel.

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Helen also used a similar approach in acrylic to painting a figure on linen.



Portrait of Dancer, 28 x 20 in., acrylic on linen.



Detail of above work.

You can learn more about her approach at her upcoming workshop at Chicago's Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts. The three-day workshop runs from August 16, 17 & 18. For more info, visit
http://www.paletteandchisel.org/

August Sander's Dora

The work of German photographer August Sander has long fascinated me. One facet of his career was to document artists of his generation. Among these photos is a strange image of known as Hans Heinz Luttgen and his Wife Dora, taken in 1926. Here is the image from the National Gallery in London.



The juxtaposition of physical differences between the May/December pair is striking and the image provocative. The look of Dora, in particular, caught my eye, and apparently caught the eye of Sander, since he also photographed her posing without her husband.

I thought I might try to capture her likeness by painting from this photo reference, something I hesitate to do, since I prefer to work from life whenever possible. I find the information I need as a painter is often lacking in photo references, no matter how large or clear they are. In some cases, however, I have no choice, as in this one. So I began:

First, I simplify the image and crop out Hans in Photoshop.






















Transfer a simplified outline to unstretched linen and reinforce in graphite pencil.





Setup with computer and painting





Block in darks and halftones





Complete the face. I decide to put her in a fencing jacket.



Set up jacket on a mannequin.





Paint the jacket.






Transfer her name (Dora Delfs—I used her maiden name, found on German Wikipedia). I did this because it turns out Luttgen divorced her before his move to New York City.





Final painting.





Painting in Frame.

Helen's Painting: Lily Posing on Pluff Chair

After my New York art school days were over, and I was painting on my own for several years, a friend invited me to join a weekly painting group that met in SoHo on Greene Street. The sessions of this informal, but highly accomplished gathering of friends of the arts, and of one another, and known in fact, as The Painting Group, were headed by the portraitist Aaron Shikler and painter and illustrator David Levine. 

Every Wednesday evening, we members, plus a model, would gather and paint in this large, formerly industrial space. It was there that I got to know, and observe David Levine, who fascinated me with his continual experimenting with paint media, as he sought to express the persona of our model. Meanwhile, Aaron impressed us with his sensitive and skillful drawing and paint handling in compositions that focused on strong design and flattened local colors. 

Recalling those days, I set to work painting Lily, who recently posed for me, to create a type of homage to both of these very inspirational teachers from my past. I posed Lily in a black and white dance costume to create strong graphic appearance to the design. Under soft daylight, I was able to keep her skin colors fairly unified in value, while flattening the black, gray, cream and white areas. After that, I focused on catching her expressive gaze and the slight curve of her mouth using a few quick brush strokes.

I would like to think Aaron and David would be pleased.

Transferring the photocopied drawing to glue-sized linen canvas

Canvas with transferred contours (in blue Saral)

Blocking in darks—bringing out the graphic qualities

Adding darks and light in skin

Modeling the facial features with expanded color palette

Helen Oh,  Lily Posing on Pluff Chair, oil on linen, 20" x 16"

Andrew on a visit to Aaron Shikler's apartment & studio

Helen and Aaron talking in his studio