Saturday 29 June 2013

#InMyStudio - facingmyfears


When I started painting a few years back, I started with OilPaints.  Most people start with acrylics and progress to oils.  Well it was opposite for me... and quite frankly, I have never liked Acrylics.  I have never quite understood how people can be afraid of oils when I've found acrylics so difficult.  My friend, Annie Hamman phrased it perfectly... "Oil Paints are very forgiving".  I couldn't have worded it better.  Because oil's take days to dry, it means you can shift it around and blend and get it to do things before it dries...  So for a relatively slow painter, like myself - Oils have been gentle on me.  I know them and I feel safe using them.


Last year for my Italian trip, I bought some acrylics but when I got back, I hid them away.  But lately they have been calling my name... and I guess a small part of me hated the fact that they had the better of me.

So I knew I had to face my fears once and for all... which has been my homework for the past week, to conquer this thing inside of me... called FEAR!

I think this piece may stick in my mind as a turning point piece for me...
I may have to call her FEARLESS - she is a Warrior after all!
More about this piece to follow!

3 comments:

  1. My first true attempts at painting were with oils, back when I was in high school. But since then, I've only done acrylics and have felt very daunted by oils...they seem very high maintenance, needing a bunch of chemical-y additives. But like you I get frustrated by the fast drying of acrylics, and have been painting quite slowly these days. Maybe it's time to dive into the oils section of Face 2 Face...I completely ignored it!

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    1. That's so funny that we do that. I kind of ignored the acrylic ones! Good idea to go back! At some stage in the history of oils they started adding thinners and linseed oils as a must use to prolong the oils! But seriously.... The artists of old, never used the additives! They used the oils straight! I do! The only time I use linseed is when my paints are drying a bit! Give it a bash! Just straight! Ps - misty suggested using cooling oil to clean ur brushes so u can even keep the thinners down low!

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    2. Thanks for the encouragement...maybe I'll give them a try! :)

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