Bertie Figures It Out - Project abandoned, photos lost.

[Crayons]

1 hour ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

No, it won't be a gloss surface but a wet one. Wet with just a little oil which will just be soaked into the paint. I do mean a little, half a drop in a tablespoon of thinner kind of thing. And if anything is left under the paint, it will oxidise and gum it all together...maybe. I've used watercolour and inks and acrylics wet on wet, let's find out about oils!

Oils, wet on wet will work extremely well. I misinterpreted your post. I don't see a need for adding addition carrier to blend them.

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Crayons said:

Oils, wet on wet will work extremely well. I misinterpreted your post. I don't see a need for adding addition carrier to blend them.

 

Well, let's just see how it turns out.

[ColonelKrypton]

5 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

1 hour ago, Crayons said:

Oils, wet on wet will work extremely well. I misinterpreted your post. I don't see a need for adding addition carrier to blend them.

 

Well, let's just see how it turns out.

 

Wet on wet - the Bill Alexander and Bob Ross way of oil painting.  Bob Ross uses what he called "magic white" or "liquid white" as the base coat on the canvas of his paintings. This was the trick that let him blend everything together in his paintings.  Bob Ross was a student of Bill Alexander but this technique of wet on wet pre dates either of gentleman by several centuries.

 

There are whites and there are whites.  You will notice that artists paint lines usually have more than one white - zinc white and titanium white and sometimes something called mixing white.  Titanium white is a very strong opaque white and when added to other colours will lighten but will tend to shift the hue to a more pastel shade. Zinc white is much less strong and better for mixing.

 

Bob Ross's liquid white is really nothing more than zinc white blended with additional linseed oil and thinners to a cream consistency.

 

Bertie, since you are already thinking along the lines of wet on wet, in addition to your proposed approach using just thinners and linseed oil, why not also try something like liquid white as well?

 

I am off to the work shop to play around with some oil paints!

 

cheers, Graham

 

[ColonelKrypton]

Before I go, I suddenly realised that Bob Ross also used what he called Liquid Clear and Liquid Black.

 

Liquid Black is like the the Liquid white but Black.  Liquid Clear however I think was simply linseed oil with no colour base. 

 

You may be onto something using only a wee bit of linseed oil in thinners over a previously primed surface.

 

You might find these interesting: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk44c1KuhrM

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU4DhnhwdQ4

 

cheers, Graham

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

11 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

Liquid Clear however I think was simply linseed oil with no colour base. 

 

Well that's an interesting example of parallel evolution!

[2996 Victor]

On 04/02/2022 at 09:29, Bertie Psmith said:

He reminds me of Terry Pratchett's  Wee Free Men.

Would that be Big Yan or No'-as-big-as-medium-sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock?

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

9 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Would that be Big Yan or No'-as-big-as-medium-sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock?

 

I'd like to read them all again but since TP died, I can't bring myself to do it.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Hi @oileanach! I wondered where you were. 

[oileanach]

Looking at my painting table and looking back at the clock. Just a few minutes can't hurt, can they? 

[Bertie McBoatface]

4 hours ago, oileanach said:

Looking at my painting table and looking back at the clock. Just a few minutes can't hurt, can they? 

What time did you get to bed? And what are you painting?

[Bertie McBoatface]

I’m up in the night with a sick dog. Not painting 🤭

[2996 Victor]

11 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

I'd like to read them all again but since TP died, I can't bring myself to do it.

I've still got The Shepherd's Crown carefully stored and unread. His others I dip into now and again, Night Watch is a personal favourite.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bertie McBoatface]

@roginoz, thanks for the sympathy mate. The dog's not seriously ill, it's just something that happens from time to time. 

 

9 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

I've still got The Shepherd's Crown carefully stored and unread. His others I dip into now and again, Night Watch is a personal favourite.

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

I couldn't name a favorite. I read them all as soon as they were published and loved them all. I was working in Waterstone's booksellers when Carpe Jugulum came out and he came to do a signing. He was a really nice bloke. Very friendly, very interested in everyone else. Utterly normal, unlike most of the prima donna authors we hosted. 

 

His publisher had asked us in advance to get in a packet of frozen peas so we were expecting some weirdo, but he just needed an ice pack for his wrist which had grown sore with all the signing! That, and a sandwich and a cup of tea were all his demands on us. 🙂

[oileanach]

14 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

What time did you get to bed? And what are you painting?

Going on one am. I didn't get to paint anything, my lad arrived home from work, so we had a bit of a catch up in the living room.

 

I'm mainly painting Necrons and Ultramarines at the mo'. They're easy to pick up and put down in between other things. Life/adulting takes up most of my 'free' time! I've got a couple of flyers to finish, some Aeronautica Imperialis teeny tiny 'planes on the go and a seriously stalled Sea Harrier. And to top it all, I found some white metal minis at my dear departed dad's old house, so they're on the 'to do' list as well! 

 

Fair to say I've got enough to keep me busy.  It's a good 'problem' to have. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, oileanach said:

my lad arrived home from work, so we had a bit of a catch up in the living room.

 

That's a good use of time. 

 

4 minutes ago, oileanach said:

Aeronautica Imperialis

 

And that's another. They look like flying tanks to me. Splendid weathering opportunities!

[HAMP man]

Having now binged on this and the other two threads currently live, plus dipping into the finished ones, I have realised, the author not only is a matercraftsman on multiple modelling genres but a scratch hanicap artits to boot, and there I am thinking I have anything relavant to offer!

Reminds of the time when I was chatting to some short bloke about how the really good golfers need to be over six foot, found out later I was taling to Ian Woosnam.

 

My beanie is doft, but, as always......

 

Box On

 

Strickers

[Bertie McBoatface]

56 minutes ago, HAMP man said:

Having now binged on this and the other two threads currently live, plus dipping into the finished ones, I have realised, the author not only is a matercraftsman on multiple modelling genres but a scratch hanicap artits to boot, and there I am thinking I have anything relavant to offer!

Reminds of the time when I was chatting to some short bloke about how the really good golfers need to be over six foot, found out later I was taling to Ian Woosnam.

 

My beanie is doft, but, as always......

 

Box On

 

Strickers

 

Ian who's name? Never ask me one on sport, old sport!

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

I've been playing with some new colours. Cadmium Yellow , Winsor Orange, Naples Yellow, and Alazarin Crimson.

 

 

I tried oiling the figure with pure linseed oil dissolved in thinners. it made applying the colour to the hoodies a bit easier. As I didn't have to scrub and push the paint around so much, I got less paint onto adjacent surfaces which helped me a lot. Actually, clean edges aren't a priority with this one, mostly I'm just learning how to handle the paint through play and experiments. 

 

 

I had a lot of fun, blending the colours. The blends are so smooth! I was using a make-up brush to smoosh them out and it was so easy. It's very similar movement of the brush to dry-brushing, which I've been doing for years. 

 

When I did the trainers, I simply used thinned paint to wet the surface with oils and colour at the same time. The effect was the same as on the hoodie, but I'd saved a step. There are advantages either way. If I'd used this paint washing on the hoodie I would have stained the rat's face. Using my oil/thinner trick has avoided that particular problem. So that's three techniques experienced today. if not exactly mastered. 😉

[rockpopandchips]

Looking good Bertie, being an acrylic user the oil painting process is a bit foreign to me. A dark wash in the recesses is a great way to cover any mistakes with overlapping colours. 

 

Are you going to give him a pink tail like a rats for go with the brown fur? 

[Bertie McBoatface]

7 minutes ago, rockpopandchips said:

Looking good Bertie, being an acrylic user the oil painting process is a bit foreign to me. A dark wash in the recesses is a great way to cover any mistakes with overlapping colours. 

 

It's all foreign to me too!

 

The rat still isn't even touch dry, which probably means my oil layer technique was a failure. I'm getting more familiar with the stuff with every failure but it's a bit disheartening. 

 

I wasn't particularly good at acrylic painting, let's say 6 out of 10, but I now wonder whether it would have been a better strategy to practice more with those until I had mastered them, instead of turning to oils where I am only 2 out of 10. On the other hand, the colours and the blends are marvellous. On the other other hand (I have at least three), I ask myself whether I'm just being a snob? Oil paints = 'proper' art? On the other other other hand, I've spent a lot of money on the oil paints and I'm caught in the Sunk Cost Fallacy.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost

 

7 minutes ago, rockpopandchips said:

 

Are you going to give him a pink tail like a rats for go with the brown fur? 

 

You can't tell from the photo but I've painted the tail a sort of disgusting greyish pink, like an earthworm. It's true to life but rather unpleasant so I think I'd better think it out again.

[roginoz]

@Bertie Psmith, that tail looks purple from where I sit.

 

Have you invented a new breed.......?

 

Rog

[Bertie McBoatface]

26 minutes ago, roginoz said:

@Bertie Psmith, that tail looks purple from where I sit.

 

Have you invented a new breed.......?

 

Rog

 

Given that he's wearing a hoodie and sneakers, he's probably not the conventional rodent that we all know and love...

[roginoz]

"LOVE" !!! 

 

Not the little [BIG} bleeders that occupy our bales of horse feed !

 

Both the dog and cat have a great time trying to reduce the population, to little avail.......

[ColonelKrypton]

2 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

I've spent a lot of money on ... and I'm caught in the Sunk Cost Fallacy

 

I have never heard that term before. Regardless of what you call it, I think we have all been there, it's what you do about it that makes you frustrated and a bit stressed or just carry on. Took me a long time to get the point of just doing what I needed to pass it on to someone else or bin it and just carry on. Last year I tried some well regarded acrylic paint and I just didn't get along with it try as I might. Binned the lot, moved on and never gave it a second thought.

 

I have heard that placing something painted with artists oil paints in direct sunlight will speed up the drying process as does good ventilation ( small fan perhaps ) and a bit of heat ( careful and gentle use of a hair dryer perhaps? ).

 

Have you tried adding a bit of retarder to your acrylics to help with your blending and glazes?  Various brands are commonly available - Vallejo, Winsor & Newton, Liqutex, Golden. Flo improver is another additive that might help; it is a surfacant that helps make water wetter. 

 

cheers, Graham

 

 

 

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, ColonelKrypton said:

 

I have never heard that term before. Regardless of what you call it, I think we have all been there, it's what you do about it that makes you frustrated and a bit stressed or just carry on. Took me a long time to get the point of just doing what I needed to pass it on to someone else or bin it and just carry on. Last year I tried some well regarded acrylic paint and I just didn't get along with it try as I might. Binned the lot, moved on and never gave it a second thought.

 

Ah yes, but there are two pitfall built into my character in this situation (and probably everyone else's too); there's flogging the dead horse as discussed above, but there's also finding a feeble excuse to give up when it gets difficult. There's often a productive path between the two, though sometimes it can seem that they overlap!

 

Some years ago at a show I was bowled over by a model of a Napoleonic cavalryman on his horse, painted in oils and absolutely gorgeous. That is the inspiration and the goal. It was a 3D 'Old Master' painting. I probably have as much chance of reaching that standard as of painting on canvas like Rembrandt, but I'm not quite ready to give up yet, despite all my whining. 😐 < determined face!

 

1 hour ago, ColonelKrypton said:

 

I have heard that placing something painted with artists oil paints in direct sunlight will speed up the drying process as does good ventilation ( small fan perhaps ) and a bit of heat ( careful and gentle use of a hair dryer perhaps? ).

 

Sunlight is one thing that is haven't been able to use in February, in England, on the west side of the mountains . Ratty has been sitting on the radiator for a while though. Maybe this is just the way the moddelling gods have chosen to teach me some patience. 

 

1 hour ago, ColonelKrypton said:

 

Have you tried adding a bit of retarder to your acrylics to help with your blending and glazes?  Various brands are commonly available - Vallejo, Winsor & Newton, Liqutex, Golden. Flo improver is another additive that might help; it is a surfactant that helps make water wetter. 

 

cheers, Graham

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, thanks Graham, I'm aware of all these things. What I really need is to find the time and practise. 🤷‍♂️