How I start a painting in oil

My  Oil painting process

You know I really like working with oil. It's so easy to blend and soften edges and most important to me is the color I mix and put down on the canvas dries that color. Unlike acrylics which dry a value darker, and faster than oils. I still love working with acrylics, don't get me wrong. 

How I decide what to paint

First I decide on the subject. 

How do I feel about it. what is the mood? Why do I like this subject? Do I need to crop and decide to move objects to make a better painting? How much do I have to alter it and do I feel confident to make those changes? Before deciding even the color I work this out in a sketchbook.

This is the painting I wanted to do for along time. It's my grandchildren at the beach at sunset. They are very young and it's the first time to a beach. They lived in San Diego for a year and experienced so many new things. 

©️reference image for "Sunset Beach"

First question, What do I need to fix for a pleasing composition? I did some research on famous artist that I like. I found for me, they used the triangle most of the time in they're paintings. I think this would work wonderful for my idea. So I took the photo to the sketchbook. 

sketch work

I tried a couple of formats and ended up liking the square the best. If you look closely you can see how I divided the original photo up to maintain accuracy. 

I first, divide the photo from corner to corner in both directions after printing a small 2x3 or contact sheet size of the picture. This helps me to find center where I make a horizontal & vertical lines to place the shapes and they're relationships into my square format. I did end up removing the figure at the top of Kenna's head and moved the background figure to the right upper part of the painting to create the triangle composition in my final drawing. 

At this stage I also just focused on the black and white of the shapes. I wanted to see how my values would work in this format. Is it pleasing? How will I lead the eye through the painting? Where is my strongest focal point going to be? What is the most interesting? Does this format express the feeling I want to say?

Once I decided on these questions I had to decide on a color palette. I really loved the colors in the photo and I could express them even more in the painting. So I decided on a blue, orange and violet palette. 

My colors would be:

Titanium White- the work horse, cools and lightens value

Buff Titanium- a nice choice to lighten the color, gray it down slightly and change the value less than white

Cad Yellow medium- My warm yellow, blends and grays with it's compliment nicely

Yellow Orche- My warm golden yellow that has notes of brown. This makes a nice greenish color when mixed with blues, a nice warm blonde for hair color

Cad Orange - I could mix this orange but it is easier since I not only love this color, but will use it to create that sun glow through out the painting. Use sparingly on skin tones mixed with a red

Alizarine crimson- A nice darkish clear red, used to mix into a lavender for the under painting and shadows. This color is throughout the painting as a unifying color. Mixes well blues, orange and my yellow choice.

Quinacrodan Magenta- A clear rose red for skin tones and the darker hair colors. Makes clear shades with Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber

Cobalt Violet- For an easy violet mixture that is on the coolish side. Also, easy to mix and is a convenient color to save time on my palette.

Cobalt Blue- A clear blue, that mixes well with the reds and oranges for beautiful grays.

Cobalt Teal- Another favorite I keep on my palette. Easy to mix, but since I like it so much this color works itself into my paintings much of the time

Burnt Sienna- Is a warmer brown that makes great skin tones and grays when mixed in small amounts of lavender.

Burnt Umber- A great color to aide in making darks. Almost like a black

Cool Gray- I use this also for convince if I plan to use grays in a painting. This unifies across the painting in cool tones and helps other colors gray down without mudding the color. 

I used Gamosol for my to clean paint off brushes during the painting process. To help dry the oils faster I used a walnut alkyd medium. I dipped my brush in this to keep the paint fluid and not to sticky. I clean my brushes with Turpinoid Natural. I could of changed the Gamosol to Walnut oil or linseed oil, which keeps the brushes clean and the paint fluid. It also reduces the faint smell of the Gamosol and is a healthier choice. I have tried to keep my materials as healthy as I can for painting. I found these be the healthiest choices out there. 

Next: How to draw your subject and transfer it to the canvas. This technique is useful for all painting processes including pastels.