Dramatic Depth in Painting Art Instruction DVD
The more I learn about art and various techniques, the more I realize I need to continue to learn. I have painted with acrylics for years, and more recently with watercolors. However, I only dabbled in oils. Perhaps, like most, it was the mess, smells, and solvents, or the lengthy drying time that kept me from making it a primary medium. But, I could never shake the desire to paint with such substance and grace. As much as you can try, you can never really achieve the rich look and feel of oils in any other medium. Recently, I became more intrigued than ever about painting in oils; enough, in fact, to consider investing in further instruction and better materials.
In days of the past, students wishing to learn the medium would have had to dedicate years to learning about value, form, and composition before they would even be allowed to hold a loaded paintbrush in their hands. Repetitious exercises would eventually prepare them to paint like their mentors. But, today, no one has the time to spend years learning to paint. We want to learn overnight. We want to be instantly successful and produce a masterpiece on the first attempt. We watch a DVD, read a book, or attend a workshop and expect to end up with a completed painting, like the “Mona Lisa”, ready to frame and hang in a museum. Who do we think we are? Da Vinci? Well, at least, I’m not! It takes years and years of practice, and with my personality for impatience, I hardly believe even Leonardo could have coerced me into investing years of my life to learning to paint with oils.
Well, there is one nationally known oil instructor that has renewed my curiosity in oils enough to entice me to try them, once again. Caroline Jasper is as renowned an artist, as she is an instructor, conducting numerous workshops across the U.S. each year. Her artwork is radiant and exciting and she is as high energy in person as her style of art would suggest. With an enormous amount of knowledge and inspiration to share, she is, indeed, an oil artist and instructor for today’s fast-paced world. However, Caroline does not only teach oils in her workshops but in general, about opaque mediums, including acrylics, as well as, water-soluble oils. These are very similar to oils in their overall painting characteristics, such as handling and coverage. The desire to paint with opaque mediums is ever increasing as artists of all levels realize the benefits and possibilities that these have to offer.
Caroline Jasper: Powercolor Oil Painting Workshop, May 20-24, 2013
Cheap Joe's will welcome Caroline Jasper to our state-of-the-art workshop facility in Boone, NC, the week of May 20-24. Her workshop entitled "Powercolor Oil Painting", includes a lot of information from her popular book, of the same name, as well as, her signature painting process. Students will learn to dramatize and energize a painting without over-working, and give life to layers of distance in your images by manipulating color-value, lighting, and illusion. You will create a new painting each day and take home a head full of color theory and learn to master the basic concept of color as value. This workshop is open to any level of experience and Caroline allows you to choose which opaque medium you will use. Artists, new to the medium, will learn from Caroline's proven technique to quickly bring a great deal of success to a beginner. Caroline has spent years developing her teaching method to do just that, to easily work every time. She has designed her technique to allow even a true beginner to be successful during her workshops. With books and DVDs available, students can continue to learn from many sources and at their own pace. Caroline's process is simplified by pre-planning and by breaking the subject down into small manageable pieces of an overall more complicated puzzle.
The workshop experience is by far the best way to learn, with one on one interaction with the instructor, you can hardly beat the benefits. However, not everyone will have the opportunity to study Caroline's process with her physically at their side. With that in mind, I decided to review Caroline's latest DVD, "Dramatic Depth in Painting", to give her teaching material a try. It has been a while since I painted with oils, and I felt for sure that I would be learning her process as a beginner to the medium.
Watching the Instructional Artist DVD
As I watched the DVD, Dramatic Depth in Painting, I took notes as usual to absorb the most important information about the process. I, then, gathered the materials on her supply list. Like most artists, Caroline does not always stick to the same exact colors for every painting, although she does have a basic recipe for selecting her palette.
Her basic palette consists of a White, an Orange, a Violet,2 Reds, 2 Yellows,2 Blues, and 2 Greens- (Each with a warm and cool)/(light and dark version). In this DVD, she recommends the specific colors of White, Permanent Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Sap Green, and Viridian. She also uses these same pigments for water-soluble oils and acrylics.
In addition to painting, Caroline suggests the following materials in her workshops as well as in her instructional DVD.
Photo References - which I found the most difficult to decide on!
Chapter Information
This DVD is unique because of the amount of instruction you receive on just one disc. Caroline completes three different paintings on three different colored grounds using three different mediums. It is really like getting three DVDs in one!
Oils
Acrylic
Water Soluble Oils
Process Notes:
As I began, I noticed the Joe's Prime stretched canvas I was using was sagging a bit in the corner and was not completely smooth. This can happen during shipping or because of the environmental conditions of different climates. This does not mean the canvas is defective or unusable. Manufacturers of high-quality canvases have recognized this as a continuing concern and have provided a way to correct this condition after you have received it, by including "canvas keys". These are thin pieces of wood, like shims, that when placed in the corner slots of the stretchers, will tighten the frame, therefore, tighten the canvas stretched on it. By doing this, as well as, spraying the back of the canvas with water, I was able to re-tighten it to create a drum-like surface!
Note: Sometimes, when heavy opaque mediums are used with several layers, the canvas can stretch and again lose its tension. You can tighten the canvas keys further, as well as, spraying Tight-N-Up Canvas Re-tensioner on the back of the canvas to help remove the sagging which prevents having to re-stretch the artwork.
I was now ready to base coat my canvas with the Color Gesso as Caroline recommend.
Note: For my purpose, I used Joe's Prime clear acrylic gesso and Joe's Prime Lightfast acrylic paint, which I find is an economical substitution to the Holbein Gesso that is recommended.
Colored Gesso Ground
After the colored gesso was dry, I transferred by basic line drawing to the canvas and began placing in my lightest lights and darkest darks. When I moved to the foreground and began filling in and working around the red gesso ground, I was amazed at the exciting contrasts between the colors! This became my favorite part of the painting!
Phase One
Phase Two
Phase Three
Phase Four
Phase Five - Completed Artwork
Original Reference Photo
Caroline's DVD is chocked full of great painting information for any style or medium. I found her information on the aspects of the background and foreground rules to be a great reference to keep in front of me no matter what medium I use. So I established the following chart to help me to remember.
PAINTING GROUND RULES
BACKGROUND
MID GROUND
FOREGROUND
Artistic Notes
After reviewing the DVD, I was really excited to begin, thus, I failed to plan as thoroughly as Caroline suggested in her DVD, and realized too late that I should have spent more time in doing so. A couple of times I lost my place and painted over too much of the red background and could not get it back without some work. The preliminary preparation is very important. You will spend more time revising if you don’t take time to prepare.
I also think my photo reference was too complicated for a first effort. It didn’t have as much value change as she suggested, therefore, I tried to ad-lib the darkest and lightest values and found I didn’t do a great job! Next time I will seek out the specifics when I take the photos for this type of project. It is necessary to take pictures with extreme value changes and interesting shapes, as well as, simplified layers.
I found it is necessary to have several different sizes of brushes on hand as well. I used the Serendipity Brushes and also the Miller’s Workhorse Interlocked Bristle Brush in filberts, brights, and liners. It is important to have the right size brush for the area, so you don’t over blend the paints. The strokes should be dabs and not brushed but placed on the canvas. This enables you to work close without touching wet areas. I used the liner brush for a lot of the small and close detail.
I liked painting on the red ground as the areas that are conflicting are the most exciting parts. Caroline suggests matching the complimentary ground with the dominant color in the painting. My picture was predominantly greens and blues and I used a red ground as a base coat. I, then, mapped out the layers and proceeded to lay in the lightest lights and darkest darks, first. Then, I pushed on from area to area and made headway with the painting. I completed the painting; however, I will not be able to complete the glazing process in time to post the results in this blog. The paint will not dry quickly enough, another disadvantage to oils. I will have to glaze in about 2-3 weeks when the painting is dry to touch.
Note: In the future, I would like to try another painting with different ground color.
I used most of the paint colors on Caroline's palette straight from the tube and did not use any oil in my paint. I also did not clean my brushes in solvents while painting; I merely wiped them off between colors. At the end of the painting, I cleaned the brushes with Gamsol. I also used Gloves in a Bottle to keep the oils off my skin. I also used Dawn dish liquid to clean my hands after painting. I found this to be very effective.
Note: Oil and solvent saturated rags can spontaneously combust and need to be properly disposed of. You can allow the rags to dry out completely outside in the yard until hard or store them in a sealed fire-safe metal can until they are taken to a hazardous waste collection facility. Oil painting rags should not be disposed of in domestic trash bags.
Experiencing Caroline Jasper's Dramatic Depth in Painting Instruction
Over all, I found the oil experience to be a great one. I will definitely try this process again and I will not avoid oils as I have in the past. Again, oils are not my first choice in opaque mediums, however, I learned a lot from reviewing the DVD. It demonstrates the use of three different mediums in three different paintings. Which allows the viewer to decide which they want to use. Lots of useful stuff in here that will improve your painting technique, instantly. Caroline's color theory information is invaluable to anyone, no matter what medium they choose. She is a master in this area of painting as well as a very high-energy and effective instructor.
In conclusion, I think this has been a successful learning experience. My painting is not a masterpiece, however, it has a pleasing charm about it. I enjoyed the DVD as it was easy to follow and provided a lot of useful information. But I must say, taking a workshop with Caroline would, ultimately, be my first choice. To watch her demonstrations in person, to interact with other artists, to receive her first-hand advice on how to improve, would all be a great experience. Caroline's passion and enthusiasm for painting are infectious! You would definitely be inspired to continue painting after your brief encounter with her is through. However, if this is not possible or practical, I would definitely recommend her DVDs and books as a wonderful alternative! She offers an immense amount of practical information no matter what the source. Caroline's painting style is suited for anyone who wants to learn fast, paint fast, and get off to a fast and great start in painting with opaque mediums, and especially oils.
For more information on attending a Cheap Joe's Art Workshop in Boone, NC see our list of current Art Lessons and Workshops.
Welcome to Cheap Joe's Sketchbook, a place where artists can gain creative tips and ideas for their next art project. This art blog will inspire you to try new mediums across the art spectrum while gathering knowledge on different painting techniques.
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Welcome to Cheap Joe's Sketchbook, a place where artists can gain creative tips and ideas for their next art project. This art blog will inspire you to try new mediums across the art spectrum while gathering knowledge on different painting techniques.