Chromatic
June 20th, 2008, 04:17 AM
I'm dealing with a large canvas 3 foot by 5 foot.
I want to know the best methods of making a smooth blend of one color into another from top to bottom with control and as few irregularities as possible.
What brushes and what consistency of oil paint (how thin or thick to apply it and how much medium or thinner)?
1. One method is to mix several stages of the color changing gradually into the other color. You paint several thick horizontal lines with the color changing gradually step by step per each line from one color to the other. Then with a soft clean brush with no paint in it you make vertical strokes to blend these lines together.
*I had two problems I had with with this. On a large canvas it's hard to make good horizontal lines because the canvas dips on the middle. I know that's a side issue because it's going to be blended anyway but I would have liked to have more control over that. Maybe painting with the canvas on a hard surface and putting it on canvas after (can stretching it after it's painted cause cracking?) Anyway secondly, after a few stokes the brush is starting to to accumulate paint and then the paint is starting to disrupt the blend. I read that you can clean the brush with the usual thinner and then dip it in acetone and it dries very quickly. But it seems very laborious on a big canvas to keep cleaning the brush. On this size I had used a large good quality natural hair house painting flat brush due to the large size of the canvas. A fan brush to accomadate this size seems awfully big and possibly very expensive.
I have had trouble with controlling the above method and I am not sure what how thick the paint consistency should be. I feel that those cheezy method painters who paint cliched landscapes have easier ways of doing this.
2. Method 2 seems a lot simpler but I haven't tried it. I'm not sure how well the result turns out. You cover the canvas with one of the colors and let it dry. Then you paint the second color about a third of the way over that other dry color. After that with a dry brush you simply pull up vertical stokes and stretch the second color so it gets thinner and thinner and fades out about halfway. (so you don't have to bother with the step by step transitional mixing of method 1) (but is the result fading smoothly not as nice looking as method 1)
3. Method 3 is the same a method 2 except you cover the whole canvas thinly with one color. And while it's still wet you work in the second color as in method 2
I'm not sure which of these methods are best or some other method.
Thanks
I want to know the best methods of making a smooth blend of one color into another from top to bottom with control and as few irregularities as possible.
What brushes and what consistency of oil paint (how thin or thick to apply it and how much medium or thinner)?
1. One method is to mix several stages of the color changing gradually into the other color. You paint several thick horizontal lines with the color changing gradually step by step per each line from one color to the other. Then with a soft clean brush with no paint in it you make vertical strokes to blend these lines together.
*I had two problems I had with with this. On a large canvas it's hard to make good horizontal lines because the canvas dips on the middle. I know that's a side issue because it's going to be blended anyway but I would have liked to have more control over that. Maybe painting with the canvas on a hard surface and putting it on canvas after (can stretching it after it's painted cause cracking?) Anyway secondly, after a few stokes the brush is starting to to accumulate paint and then the paint is starting to disrupt the blend. I read that you can clean the brush with the usual thinner and then dip it in acetone and it dries very quickly. But it seems very laborious on a big canvas to keep cleaning the brush. On this size I had used a large good quality natural hair house painting flat brush due to the large size of the canvas. A fan brush to accomadate this size seems awfully big and possibly very expensive.
I have had trouble with controlling the above method and I am not sure what how thick the paint consistency should be. I feel that those cheezy method painters who paint cliched landscapes have easier ways of doing this.
2. Method 2 seems a lot simpler but I haven't tried it. I'm not sure how well the result turns out. You cover the canvas with one of the colors and let it dry. Then you paint the second color about a third of the way over that other dry color. After that with a dry brush you simply pull up vertical stokes and stretch the second color so it gets thinner and thinner and fades out about halfway. (so you don't have to bother with the step by step transitional mixing of method 1) (but is the result fading smoothly not as nice looking as method 1)
3. Method 3 is the same a method 2 except you cover the whole canvas thinly with one color. And while it's still wet you work in the second color as in method 2
I'm not sure which of these methods are best or some other method.
Thanks