| THE TECHNIQUE |
The colour
In this final stage the oil colour pigments are again blended with
a specially prepared medium, before being applied in thin, transparent
glazes. Many paintings have areas of colour that are fifty to sixty
glazes deep. This means the execution of the painting is extremely
time consuming but the results breathtaking.
Firstly, I fill in the local colour of everything in the painting.
Some times a block area might be hit with pure colour, applied entirely
flat and without any modelling or shaping. At other times, such as
when an object is seen emerging from darkness and where the colour
must appear to change dramatically, this flat method is not suitable
and the form must be modelled with various shades and tones. Once
one layer is dry, I can then re-oil out the canvas with medium and
go in again, eventually finding the colour and tone I am attempting
to achieve. In order to darken a colour I do not use a darker version
of the same colour, but look to find its complimentary shade or tone.
A process which once explained may seem obvious, but in fact takes
years to perfect. As Charles Eastlake explains: " In general, the
colour which should be used to neutralise another, is that of the
highlight and the shadow of the colour to be neutralised. Thus a vivid
crude blue is toned by its opposite, a rich brown, (the depth or darkness
of the brown depending, of course, on that of the tint of the blue
which it duly balances); a rich transparent brown might be the shadow
of this blue, and white a little embrowned or gilded, would be the
true light…."
The blending and application of colour is an extremely complex science,
the understanding of which I feel I have only so far touched upon.
Every painting offers me the opportunity to learn more and more.
A painting cannot be finished with a series of glazes alone. It will
also need to be 'scumbled' - adding a lighter layer over a darker
background. The highlights must constantly be attended to, whilst
the darks are pushed back. Once again it is a process of pushing and
pulling. The painting will need to be warmed up and cooled down when
the colours become too hot or cold, in order to achieve a perfect
natural balance. Sometimes a flat veil must be applied over a whole
section of the painting when the image has become too imbalanced to
bring the areas together and, at the very end, the image will need
to be married together with a glaze over the entire painting. I often
finish the painting with a Veronese glaze, which is of a translucent
blue green colour. It can regularly seem as though you need to take
one step back to move two steps forward. One requires relentless patience
and concentration, but the end results are truly incredible.
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