Ocean

Ocean

Oil on paper mounted on panel, 9 x 12, 2015.

I’ve been studying the sea for years and I think I’m finally having some success in depicting it.  I never like just doing direct painting.  I like the old aesthetic of the HRS and Ruskin that transparent water should be painted with transparent paint (although I think both parties ended up compromising that standard by settling instead for the depiction of reflections as the suggestion of transparency).  In my works I like to unite realism to some technique fitting for the depiction of the object in question.  Well, this one’s a secret technique I’m not willing to share, but I will tell you this is all alla prima (except the brown band was added later), and I believe Church had a similar technique for painting moving water.  It gave me all the transparency and brushwork I wanted. 

This painting was the first I did with the priming I settled upon for oil sketches: acrylic molding paste.  Before this I tried a number of other primings for making paper suitable to receive oil.  I discerned from a number of clues that HRS sketches were primed with lead white oil paint (the big question every student of the HRS is asking is if they or the colormen sealed their paper first – they probably did if the oil didn’t rot the paper – and what they used for that nobody seems to know).  Today lead white is too expensive and you need to seal the paper first, and I wanted something that could be done in one coat.  The qualities of an oil priming I needed were an unabsorbent (or mostly unabsorbent) surface, smoothness (lots of effects in Church’s sketches can be explained by the smoothness of the ground), and receptivity to pencil drawing.  So I tried animal glue primings, which did work a little in smoothness and pencil receptivity, but were too absorbent and badly warped the paper even if it was a thick paperboard.  An oil paint priming over that worked well, but that was too much work and the paper was still warped.  Various formulations of acrylic gesso were tried, and they also sealed the paper with a smooth surface receptive to pencil, but were always too absorbent unless they received an additional oil paint coat.  A priming of one of those cheap, low-quality craft (“plaid”) acrylics you get at Walmart was so absorbent that a thick coat of pure oil was literally sucked into it before my eyes so no oil could be seen or felt on the surface five minutes after application!  Then I was pretty happy with a mix of acrylic gloss and matte mediums.  The matte I found too absorbent on its own (it was usable with an oil-out but not without one), and the gloss could not be drawn on at all and overlying oil paint had delamination issues.  Mixed together, you had something good for smoothness and lack of absorbency, though pencil drawing was difficult.  When I tried the molding paste, it turned out to be perfect for my purposes.  It is mostly unabsorbent as it is made with marble dust instead of chalk like acrylic gesso or matte medium.  It easily takes drawing, is smooth, unabsorbent enough, is flexible, and easy to apply with one thick coat being sufficient.  I think it’s a perfect, easy substitute for an oil priming on paper.

So why do I even use the paper?  It’s lightweight and easier to store (easier to bring more along at an outing) than a canvas panel.  The biggest advantage is the smoothness you don’t get otherwise.  With that said, canvas panels also work, though they’re usually too absorbent and rough textured to make me happy. 

So, for anyone looking for a good, HRS-style, oil sketching ground, know that they historically used an oil paint priming, and today’s acrylic molding pastes (acrylic binder + marble dust) are a good substitute.