This is how an oil painting evolves
The preferred technique is
abstract compositions and highly varied materials using a distinctive combination of
almost forgotten elaborate transparent oil glazing in Old Masters’ style.
The stretched canvas or wood receives ten layers of coating
(chalk, white pigment and binding agent) whereby the previous coat must always be completely dry.
Then it is ground until it is as smooth as paper.
After this, insulation coats are applied (two layers).
This is necessary in order to prevent the binding agent of the pigments from being absorbed by the underneath layers of coating, thus avoiding fading colour application.
Finally another two layers of a very special coating are applied which are perfectly suited to very precise and realistic works. Now the canvas must dry for a day before work can continue.
The coating applications and drying times involve three to four days.
The next step is to design the background and the frame simultaneously
thus creating a symbiosis between the simplicity of the abstract compositions
in mixed media as well as the incorporated materials
and the elaborate reality of the motives in Old Master’s style.
Once this work is dry, a case of one to one and a half weeks, the imprimatur can be applied.
Then another day must pass before the motive is applied, however ONLY the contours.
Now painting can begin – white lightening! This is painted with egg tempera.
Once the motive has been painted the picture must dry yet again.
Subsequently transparent oil glazing is applied until the picture gains
the required effect of three- dimensionality. Up to twenty layers.
Hereby practically no painting aids are used as, thus, pigment density remains unaffected, allowing the intensity of the colours to show to their best advantage. Often oil paints produced by the artists themselves are used as well as colours
that even today are made with granite rolls and cold pressed windmill-linseed oil.
This very expensive and time consuming method produces immaculate, unaltered, lightfast colours.
Between each glazing the picture has to dry, otherwise the colours smudge,
the under layers may flake and a “colour gap” appears.
This can almost never be corrected without showing. Once the picture is dry varnish is applied.
An oil picture using this technique requires a processing period of four to six months.
painting by
Michael Fuchs
Seminar in Obervellach
2011
Painting seminars and sign seminars in the technologies of the old masters.