Easels should help make the life of the pet portrait artist much more comfortable, by offering a secure support for their canvas, at just the right height and angle. Still, there are a number of varieties to go for, each one designed to meet the particular needs of the artist whether they’re in a studio or outside.
The most versatile is the sketching easel. (more…)
Way back before the pencil was invented, artists needing to put down a detailed drawing before commencing a portrait used something called a metal point. This was a very common way of producing a delicate mark on prepared grounds like gesso.
The metal point simply consisted of a piece of gold, silver or lead which was fashioned with a small tip allowing it to make a mark, similar to a hard pencil. (more…)
Since the early Renaissance, artists working on portraits in oil (or any other subject for that matter) have always started with a layer of size to seal the raw canvas or board prior to the gesso ground. It’s job is to protect the canvas from the chemicals in the paint that may cause it to break down. Today, if you use an acrylic primer, size is not always needed, but it’s remains a good way of protecting the canvas and if you make your own gesso is an important part of the preparation. (more…)
Pet portraits in oil can be varnished to create a protective layer that protects the picture from the atmosphere, it also produces a uniform finish, whether gloss or matt. Given time a varnish will itself be attacked, collecting dust and dirt, sometimes cracking and finally discolouring. Therefore, any varnish has to be easily removed and replaced by a fresh layer. (more…)
A crucial part of any painting, whether a pet portrait or abstract picture, is the relationship in colour and tone. Tone is the amount of light and shade in the picture, it exists independently of colour and can be calculated on a scale which goes from white through greys to black. The sensation of colour is created by the eye’s response to light of certain wavelengths; pure colour exists only as light, and as far as painters are concerned, all colours are also modified by tonal value. (more…)
The oils used by pet portrait artists and others are called drying oils. These are vegetable based oils that, when combine with oxygen, produce a solid film which is resistant to the atmosphere and many solvents. Oils dry very slowly and although the paint film is touch dry within a few days, it in fact takes a few years for the paint to become fully dry. (more…)
Pigments used in artists paints are true pigments, that is, unlike dyes, they have substance. They come as a fine dry powder, and should be free from impurities. Artists’ paints use pigments derived from many sources, traditionally this used to be naturally occurring stone, earths, metals but over time many have been replaced by man-made materials which provide a more permanent and stable pigment. (more…)
The pet portrait painter painting remotely and developing a unique style is quite a modern concept.
Until the close of the 18th century successful painters ran businesses in which methods of production, quality control and sales to customers were often very highly organised. In medieval times and during the Renaissance these were conducted in places that were literally workshops, usually rooms on the ground floor of a building that could be opened onto the street by means of shutter doors, thus acting as both a shop and a studio. (more…)