Description: As I begins to paint, my primary focus is to be true to the subject he is working on, weather it be a still life or a model. I was trained to paint from life and my goal is to create a life-like painting.
Although sometimes I might introduce some elements from my imagination I always go back to the source of the inspiration and that is the set-up in front of me. All the information I need is there to be captured. I also feel that object have a relationship in space and with each other, careful observation of the set-up helps me understand that relationship.
Although sometimes I might introduce some elements from my imagination I always go back to the source of the inspiration and that is the set-up in front of me. All the information I need is there to be captured. I also feel that object have a relationship in space and with each other, careful observation of the set-up helps me understand that relationship.
I work using the Maroger Medium, a painting medium made with cold pressed linseed oil and litharge cooked to 220 degrees then gradually cooled to 180 degrees. This posses of gradually raising and lowering the oil is called “bouncing the oil” and id done for four to five hours until the oil turns black, hence the name "Black Oil". I learned how to prepare the "Black Oil” when I studied under Ann D. Schuler at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore, Maryland.
I love this medium because of its versatility. Not only do I use it to grind my paints fresh every day, but when nixed with equal parts of Mastic Varnish it makes a honey color gel that I use to make the paints more pliable. This painting vehicle “The Medium” allows me to not only create translucent glazes but gives me the advantage of being able to work the next day over the preciously painted section of the work without lifting the color under ti.
What I likes the most about the Maroger method is the control it provides me. It begins with the preparation of the painting surface, wish varies from linen on wood, wood panels or linen on stretchers. In the case of preparing the linen after it has been stretched I applying several coats of rabbit skin glue and two coats of "Old Holland Cremnitz White" after the rabbit skin glue has dried. This creates a painting surface totally compatible with “The Medium”.
In 1994, I moved to Florence, Italy where I continued my art training. While there I learned to always make an accurate drawing of the outline and the shadow shapes of the subject, leaving out the middle tones and high lights adding them later when painting. Doing this initial drawing for me is the first and most important step toward creating a realistic looking painting.
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| "Ready for Picking" - 18 x 24" - oil on panel |
