Friday, December 30, 2011

Antoine

We've had Antoine in the past, but I'd never worked a peinture a l'essence before. This is a technique created by Edgar Degas that de-oils oil paints to simulate pastel paintings - no need to frame under glass. The painting was done on corrugated cardboard (to absorb oils). Maybe not the best choice of cardboard (you can use any), but I did like the warm tones. Blobs of color are set on a cardboard palette (1 hr or so) until much of the linseed (I used a water-miscible oils) was absorbed into it.


8 comments:

  1. Amal that is simply AWESOME! His gaze is amazing! Deep in thought, perhaps entranced by memories of long ago. You captured a moment. Just beautiful!

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  2. Many thanks Sam. It's an interesting technique that's worth exploration.

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  3. Really rich and substantial-as per usual. You'll have to tell me more about this technique...

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  4. Thanks Elena,

    As long as you're not unhappy w/the scratchiness of the cardboard, you'll obtain something very close to pastel but with the versatility of oils.

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  5. What a beautiful portrait Amal! I really like your new blog header too. :)

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  6. Amal, the portrait is outstanding as always and I love the idea of using cardboard. I saw another cardboard technique , that has nothing to do with paint, but it was very cool and if I ever come up for air, I really want to try it. Well done meh friend!

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  7. Many thanks, Deb. I like the technique very much only going out in search of archival cardboard seemed a stretch--however it's great for studies.

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