Oil Painting with some Process Shots

[Flynt]

I haven’t posted in awhile and thought I would share this little still-life piece.

It is in oil on linen, 14” x 18”

I had to take the image from above to help cut out the glare. I didn’t take the time to set up lighting properly. I probably won’t bother until I varnish the piece.

I have included a few process shots that may be of interest to some of you.

Wish I could have explained more but I am pressed for time.

Hope you enjoy and as always feel free to comment and criticize.

http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/theartistsshelfmed.jpg



http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/tasdetail1.jpg
Detail shot.


http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/taswmonochrome.jpg
Early into the painting--the drawing (which was done in graphite on paper) was transferred to linen using charcoal and then inked. Then a wipe out was done on top of this. For this painting, raw umber was used.
The monochrome study was to understand the larger value relationships. I constantly referenced it as I continued to work.


http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/tas1.jpg
More form painted.

http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/tas2.jpg
This image was taken while midway through “crawling” across the drapery section of the form. This is one of the most satisfying times while “form painting” when I feel a real tactile connection to what I am making

http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/tas3.jpg
More completed, I may be over two weeks in at this point. As I move into the background I go into a painfully narrow range of value that I can use.

Well that's all for now.

[Daniel Bilodeau]

Wow, that's beautiful. Where do you exhibit?

[Dizon]

I'm completely in awe. What impresses me the most is your drawing ability.

[Rich Pellegrino]

beautiful work. what types/brands of brushes do you use? Was raw umber used to enhance the warm colors, or is it a standard wipe out color for you? Is it correct to assume in beginning your paintings that you start from your focal point and branch out from there? How do you deal with going back into a painting that has already dried? Do you repaint parts to maintain the integrity of the edges? Sorry for the bombardment of questions, but this work is so good and the process shots are begging me to ask.
Rich

[stalsby]

This is a masterpiece! you own! rightclick>set as desktop ;] thank u

How did you transfer the graphite drawing to the linen with charcoal? And what are the advantages of using linen rather than using regular canvas? does it give more or absorb more? do you just stretch it normally and staple it to a frame? school me please. thanks

[Mitchell]

Mr Flynt you have amazed us once again. Would you ever considered posting some quick oil studies? I would really love to see them if you have any.

[theincredibleandy]

Phenomenal realism. The progress pics are my favorite, and they remind me of the exceptional craftsmanship. You don't do much glazing, do you? It all looks like direct opaque working. It's always a treat when you post.

[Kikwit]

To get the obvious out of the way, I think your work is an incredible display of craftsmanship. You never dissapoint.

But, to add to the hundred questions you'll probably be asked, I was hoping maybe you could answer a quick one from me if it's no trouble. I was just wondering if you do the same type of transferring, inking, wash rub-out for any figurative or portrait work? I see you've added a picture of yourself in there, and it got me wondering if you'd use the same process, or a variation of it.

Thanks for posting this, It's all saved to my harddrive, I'm sure I'll be investigating it much more tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep.

[Blahm]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

[draw]

I love it, brilliant, the execution is amazing, as an artist I would love to own it, But I find the choice of subject matter lacking a little bit of creativity for wide public appeal.

[Mr. Visions]

I remember your other pieces, glad to have you posting again. Beautiful work as usual, and thank for the walkthrough, a treat indeed.

- Visions

[stephen]

impressive, love the progress shots.

[AmishCommy]

can you post the monochrome study as well?

[Elwell]

Beautiful as always, Doug. Your edges are getting much more subtle. My only crit is that I wish the Liquin bottle was turned slightly more so the label didn't draw quite so much attention.

It's really easy to get rid of the keystoning in Photoshop, btw. Would you like to know how?

[Flynt]

Hi everyone and thanks for the responses.

(Moderators--I didn’t notice the sticky until this morning about the new procedure for hosting images posted. I will do it correctly next time. Sorry for that.)


Daniel Bilodeau wrote:
Where do you exhibit?
Hi Daniel—John Pence Gallery


patdzon wrote:
impresses me the most is your drawing ability
Thanks patdzon


voodoochile wrote:
what types/brands of brushes do you use? Was raw umber used to enhance the warm colors, or is it a standard wipe out color for you? Is it correct to assume in beginning your paintings that you start from your focal point and branch out from there? How do you deal with going back into a painting that has already dried? Do you repaint parts to maintain the integrity of the edges?
Hi voodoochile,

I use mainly sables or synthetic sables for most of the actual painting (mostly rounds). I use lots of brands:

Robert Simmons
Princeton Art & Brush Company “
Raphael
Winsor & Newton

Occasionally some bristle brushes.

I also use some bristle rounds, flats and filberts.

The raw umber was used as a color that wouldn’t be offensive if it showed through at all and yes to push transparent areas toward the warm side. I often use burnt umber for wipe outs and have been playing with some neutral grey mixtures as well. I do generally start at the focal point or the area with the fullest range of values.

To go back I have to oil out the area with some type of medium, but I hate doing this. Sometimes I will mix up a fast drying neutral grey and scumble over the area I am going to rework. It lightens the value and leaves a ghost image to paint over. Also it forces me to completely repaint the area. I let it dry completely before repainting.

I generally address the edges as I go.

Hope that helps.



Stalsby worte:
How did you transfer the graphite drawing to the linen with charcoal? And what are the advantages of using linen rather than using regular canvas? does it give more or absorb more? do you just stretch it normally and staple it to a frame?
Hi Stalsby,

To transfer the graphite drawing I usually photocopy the drawing and then rub charcoal on the back of the photocopy. I then put this over the linen (charcoal side down) and use the pressure from retracing the image with a hard pencil to transfer it. This can also be done with oil paint and certain other media.

I often prefer linen over canvas because of its tooth and weave. How the paint absorbs depends more on the ground applied to the linen or canvas than the material. The weight, weave, ground and how it is stretched all contribute to how much give it has. I like it very taut. I stretch it according to how Ralph Mayor describes in his book “The Painters Craft” except that I use staples instead of tacks (Just a slight variation to the standard way).

Skeiff worte:
Mr Flynt you have amazed us once again. Would you ever considered posting some quick oil studies? I would really love to see them if you have any
Hi Skeiff, I will see what I can find to post at some point.



theincredibleandy wrote:
The progress pics are my favorite, and they remind me of the exceptional craftsmanship. You don't do much glazing, do you? It all looks like direct opaque working.
Hi theincredibleandy,
I always like it when artists post progress shots. You are right, virtually no glazing. It is almost all direct opaque working. I feel the most tactile connection when working this way and like to see what I am getting right away.

Kikwit wrote:
But, to add to the hundred questions you'll probably be asked, I was hoping maybe you could answer a quick one from me if it's no trouble. I was just wondering if you do the same type of transferring, inking, wash rub-out for any figurative or portrait work? I see you've added a picture of yourself in there, and it got me wondering if you'd use the same process, or a variation of it.
Hi Kikwit,

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, the same process for most figurative work.

Draw wrote:
I love it, brilliant, the execution is amazing, as an artist I would love to own it, But I find the choice of subject matter lacking a little bit of creativity for wide public appeal
Hi Draw,

True, it may be a narrower audience but from my experience it will probably sell. I have found some collectors are very interested in pieces that give insight into the painting process or images about the process.

Thanks for the comment.


Amishcommy wrote:
can you post the monochrome study as well?
Hi Amishcommy,

I will see if I can post it a bit later.

[Flynt]

Hi Elwell,

I appreciate you mentioning the edges. I have been making an increased effort to address them more as I work. I was wondering if anyone noticed.

About the “keystoning” --yes please, if it doesn’t take up too much time.

Thanks

[taeyoungchoi]

You are the painter!

[Craig D]

5 stars from me,
both because it's such a fantastic painting but also because of the time you take to explain and post progress pics.

Craig

[Jason Manley]

agreed....beautiful beautiful work Doug...beautiful.

j

[Fisch]

Woah, this is top notch! Robert Douglas Hunter would love it.

Scott

[Elwell]

About the “keystoning” --yes please, if it doesn’t take up too much time.

Click on the crop tool and drag a marquee a little bit bigger than the painting. Check the perspective box in the toolbar and drag each corner so that the crop box lines up with the edges of the painting, then double click inside the image to apply the crop. If you're lucky (like I was this time), the proportions will match the original, but if they don't you can adjust them by going into Image>Image Size and unchecking Constrain Proportions.

[stalsby]

I guess "draw" doesn't understand what a still life is! that's a shame, and who said he was trying to appeal to the mass public! I'm sure it was a personal study for himself, to better his skills!

[asoir]

Cripes are your colours perfect....

[Justin.]

Hey Doug! How's it going?

My Dad moved to the Ft. Myers area in an RV recently- and I am graduating this year, so perhaps I can take you up on your Atelier services later next summer if it isn't too late?

I have been workin' hard though.. I started a still life and was 5 hours in until that weekend we had to move furniture around... my still life (on a coffee table) was totally ruined.. all I have is about 5 hours worth of work on 11x14 bristol!!! I'm so angry! Though I've also begun to use Acryllics more often, I'm still weary about oils though- not sure I have a large enough space in my room to work with them, and I can't use them at school (even with odorless/non-toxic solvent for some reason). Though I'm still more of a pencil guy =)

Can you believe it's been almost a year since we met? Man does time fly fast!!! Feel free just to Email or Private Message me a reply- in case you don't have my new Email, it's JustinOaksford -at- Gmail.com

See you around! Hope you and the wife are okay!

[Kan Muftić]

For funk sake!
I've been envolved in oils for a long time and i know what it takes, but this is just...
Ahhh, damn. I was searching for mistakes and leaps but found nothing.
Exellentius!

Best regards and big respect,

[AndrewLey]

incredible work - I've just started to get into oils but I have no idea what Im doing really - how important would you say formal training is for oils - I guess its pretty essential? or are there reasonable means to teach yourself?

[Mike Dutton]

I love your studio paintings. Though they may be arranged still lifes, they give such a personal insight to your life as an artist. And technique-wise, you seem to be taking perfection one step further. Glad the 'it looks like a photograph!' or 'why paint this stuff?" debates haven't come up yet as they often tend to in your posts. And just a sidenote to those getting into oils, those Korean airtight turp jars are a godsend. I've had mine for 8 yrs and not a drip.

[Art_Addict]

Yeah, your still lifes rock.
I visited Jacob Collins's studio a couple weeks ago.
I was under the impression that he and his students focus on Figure/ cast
drawing and painting only.
Did you studied still life there as well?
You did go to Collins didn't you? Otherwise I'm making a complete ass out off myself :)

BTW, do you ever paint from imagination?

[Justin.]

I believe he did work under Collins, or at least with Collins-
But Collins and he, if I recall, worked under the amazing Ted Seth Jacobs. (http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=2312)
(He also knows Tony Ryder (http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=402) =D)

[Shinryu]

Beautiful Oil painting, your work is always inspiring, thanks for sharing

cheers

[Wilhelm87]

Wow, this is just amazing. It's obvius you are really good at watching as well as painting. One tiny crit, the guy in the background looks a little unfinished, but other than that it's superb.

[Idiot Apathy]

It looks like a photo!111one. Sorry couldn't resist being an ass.
Phenominal, you coming to the workshop chief? Come on! Be great to see you paint!

Also, what do you do if you run out of supplies and you're painting the only backups you have? Hehe, ok .. being dumb again sorry.

[CHARLES CARVALHO]

without commentaries! very good!

[Madfishmonger]

Gorgeous, the light looks so real.

[JtJ]

Worthy of extreme study.

thanks for sharing!

-Joshua

[Flynt]

Hi again everyone and thanks for the comments.

Elwell,
thanks for explaining that, I just tried it out and that will be quite helpful in the future. Point also taken about the “Liquin” label

Stalsby,
I didn’t think “draw” meant any disrespect, at least I didn’t take it that way. This was a bit more for me. It was sort of a revisit of an older piece that I wanted to take another shot at.

Hi Justin,
I can’t make any promises right now but I would definitely talk more with you about it as the time gets closer. Your right time does fly. In terms of study with Collins, I did study under him. Tony Ryder is an acquaintance that I have spoken to on different occasions and taken a workshop from. Ted Seth Jacobs I haven’t met.

I may have been confusing when we spoke referencing both “Jacob” (Collins) and “Jacobs” (Ted Seth). Sorry about that. Talk to you later and shoot me an e-mail sometime.


AndrewLey wrote:
incredible work - I've just started to get into oils but I have no idea what Im doing really - how important would you say formal training is for oils - I guess its pretty essential? or are there reasonable means to teach yourself?
Hi AndrewLey,
There is a lot you can learn on your own but training really speeds things up. It can also orient you to concepts as well as ways of thinking and seeing that you might take a very long time to discover on your own.

Hi Mike Dutton,
I completely agree about the turpentine jar.

Hi Art_Addict,
I did study with Collins. He teaches using casts and figures but in doing so he lays a foundation which easily accommodates still-life. I don’t know if it is still the case, but when I was studying at Water Street it seemed everyone worked on still-life in their spare time. It was often the first step in learning to produce for galleries.

In terms of painting from imagination, yes and no. Yes in the sense that I am often imagining sections of form, holding their structure in my mind as I paint. I look at the subject first analyzing a piece of the form which I then conceptualize in my mind. Next I turn to my painting and execute it. I also occasionally change objects a bit from what I have in front of me having to imagine them differently and how the light would affect them. No, in that I don’t completely invent entire environments and figures out of my head. Sometimes I draw and sketch this way though.

Kaya wrote:
One tiny crit, the guy in the background looks a little unfinished, but other than that it's superb.
Hi Kaya,
You are right, he is. But I have an excuse. It was a color/value study I did years ago for another project. Thanks for the comment.

Hi idiot Apathy,
Hah! I knew the photo comment was coming and I actually had to get a back up for some of the objects in the painting.

Hope that answers some of the questions and thanks all for the flattering remarks.

[MrBobMarley]

Wow, incredible. I'm no art guru or anything, but man your works always strike me as having that timeless quality to them. Like I'll be looking at these 40 years from now and still get slack jawed. Thanks for the little insight, very cool. Btw, how did you end up in Fort Misery?(same here lol)

[draw]

Thanks again for sharing this beautiful work, and for sharing your wonderful insights, and thanks for understanding my comments. In no way did I mean any disrespect. :)

[Flynt]

MrBobMarley,

Ending up in Fort Misery is a boring story. If we run into each other some time I'll explain.

[Dizon]

Hi Flynt,

Is the Water st. Atelier still active, or is Jacob Collins focused on teaching at the Grand Central Academy? Also, are any of your other Water st. colleagues teach in cities around California?

Thanks.

[AztcFireFlower]

Flynt Wow! Beautiful beautiful work. This is now a study thread for me. I saw the Orange Slices piece on your site and my mouth began to water. Gorgous handling of translucence in the slices. As I progress on my own oil studies I may trouble you for your experienced eye.

Thank you for posting your work and progress.

[Dan.v.D.]

man i'm already seeing a lot but elwell's comment about the improvement of edges shows me how blind i still am haha. i mean even after reading that i can't honestly say "oh yeah the edges true!"

don't get me wrong i enjoy seeing something new from you immensely but that's gets me worked up the most in context of this thread and i guess that's quite something already :P

[ArtZealot]

Artzealot finds yet another reason to give up on art...

Amazing stuff, very very well done. More realistic than a photo. I'm befuddled.

[Lohan]

hi doug. i just started studying full-time with jacob last month and its the best thing i've ever done. having trouble finding work in the evenings right now, but it'll get better i think.

i was hoping you could give some insight as to how you choose the subject matter for your still life paintings? do they have some emotional importance, do they make a make a pleasing composition, are you just interested in what it would feel like to paint them? maybe a combination of everything?

and by the way, the students here still do still lives. thanks

[MeTaL-Mike]

Amazing work man. Great detail.

[thenass]

I've seen your work before, so I was expecting something of this level. But still I get floored everytime. Amazing work.

[look]

When I saw the first image, I thought it's a photo shot. I didn't realize that's an actual painting till I look further down. The color and lighting is awesome!

[Main Loop]

http://douglasflynt.com/tmp/taswmonochrome.jpg

haha im sure im ot the only one that said to themself when looking at this one: "why did he take a picture of his brushes on top of his painting?" Its a testament to the incredible realism you were able to achieve on that part of the painting..

[Flynt]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the continued responses.

Patdzon,

The Water Street Atelier is still active, but in a different form. It is no longer at its location on Water Street in Brooklyn, but now is the group of students that Jacob teaches out of his studio in Manhattan. The name Water Street seems to still be in use when referring to the group. “Lohan” may actually be able to comment on the name more than myself since he is there now.

For more info about his teaching you can look at Jacob’s website here:
http://www.jacobcollinspaintings.com/teaching.html

In terms of teaching in California, Carl Dobsky is in San Francisco. Carl studied with Jacob Collins.

Hi Lohan,

Glad to hear you are studying with Jacob. There are a combination of reasons behind choosing the elements in the paintings, including the 3 you mentioned. I think it would be a bit lengthy and hard to describe the subtle reasoning of why via this forum. Hopefully I will be up that way in a couple of months and we discuss it then.

I wasn’t sure if you all had enough room to set up still-life pieces in the current studio. Glad to hear it.

Good luck with finding that night job.

Thanks again everyone for the responses.

[SHYMAN]

Wow, I opened this and thought nice photo where's the painting, then to my surprise it was the painting.

Iv'e seen work done to this realism in airbrushing but, never have i seen it done in Oils I think, it's the best still Life ive seen, thou i dont look at many, they are usualy a bowl of fruit or a pot of flowers.

you have a very good eye for detail and observational skills.

Materful piece.

[MoorDragon]

I studied fine arts back in the 1970's and studied photorealism one semester in which we had to set up a still life and then recreate it on canvas. We used a grid system back then since we weren't allowed to use tracings. Our reference was both the actual still life we setup and a photo with a grid. I honestly didn't think I could pull it off, but amazingly the painting came out as a perfect example of photorealism. Extremely tedious to be sure and few artists would spend that kind of time on a piece these days, but ultimately very satisfying. Our influences back then were artists like Chuck Close and Richard Estes.

Excellent job. Glad to see artists still doing it the old fashioned way in this digital age.

[Flynt]

Hi MoorDragon,

Thanks for the comment. This is a bit old fashioned I guess. Perhaps even more so because there were no photos or grids used, just knitting needles for comparative measuring. Real old school, hah!

[Rebeccak]

Gorgeous work here. So inspiring! :)

[Seedling]

Thank you for sharing your process! That was very educational!

[iatriki]

Very beautiful painting! I like the shots showing progression....it looks like the rendered pieces pop out from the canvas

[Pavel Sokov]

Hahaha, when I looked at the third image in the thread (early progress shot) i thought you left your brushes on the canvas and took a photo. After some time I realised that those brushes were actualy painted.
That basically explains everything I feel about the images.

[marks]

Hey man , Nice paint !

I don't think anyone has asked you this . At least I hope not.

What kind of medium are you using with your oils . . . if any?

[Flipnastywebby]

it just looks so real.
im really really impressed, its like the old dutch masters.

slainte!

thank you for sharing your beautiful work

[JailHouseRock]

Perfect

[Hypnos]

Inspiring, can some tell me what are the advantages to Oil on linen?. I see a lot of great works on linen, is the canvas too rough and textured?

thanks in Advance

[Me,Myself & Me again]

Beautiful work mate. You really made random inadomate objects looke friggin stunning! :):D:)

[cbonura]

wow, super inspirational! Thanks for posting.

[mariusz]

Awsome! Just awsome!

[nonie]

Really, really well done. I love the brush projecting out in front of all the dark parts in the background. Really pops. Great job!