Monday, May 18, 2015

Arches Oil Paper

I finally got around to experimenting with a pad of Arches Oil Paper purchased a while ago. There are 12 sheets sized 12" x 16" in the pad I bought. The texture is very similar to cold press watercolor paper. The weight is 140# and much more pliable than the gessoed or matte medium sealed WC paper I've used in the past.

 I started sketching on a very small piece. The paper texture grabs the graphite nicely, plus it erases fairly well too. I decided to use the pencil as the underpainting for the piece.
After finishing the drawing, I mixed together raw sienna acrylic with matte medium to sealed the graphite. Up to this point, with exception to taping the border, I hadn't taped the paper down to a board. It buckled considerably after applying the acrylic mixture so I stapled and taped in on my Incredible Art Board and waited to see if it would flatten out. It eventually did but I will say, it took longer than watercolor paper. 


I slowly started building up layers of oil glaze, Establishing my darkest areas first.The paper is very absorbent, even with the acrylic medium. The more layers I applied, the more I liked the surface.

As I worked the opaque warm white into the glaze on her skin, the paper took on a soft, fabric like feel. I continued to apply glazes on the scarf to darken it. I use Daniel Smith's painting medium to help dry the layers more quickly.



"The Girl with a Curl"
10" x 10"

Here is the final painting. It sold rather quickly on Everyday Originals, which is so thrilling. I will try the oil paper again but I don't think it will replace my preferred surface, gessoed panel.

7 comments:

rachel jones and art said...

Thank you so much for sharing your process. A while back I purchased Arches cold press and I've not touched it since. I'm used to using the rougher type so it has been collecting dust. I'll experiment with your process and see if I have success. Thanks again.
R

Susan said...

Kim, this painting is beautiful, rich and glowing. I was wondering about the reason for the yellow wash. I understand the need to seal the drawing with the medium, but why yellow-tinted? Congratulations on your rapid sale--seems yours usually go fast!

Victoria said...

Truly beautiful, stunning and poetic..amazing art as always!
Victoria

The Art of Kim Kincaid said...

Thank you Rachel. Let me know how you like it.
* Thanks Suzy. The raw sienna looks more yellow in my phone photo. It's actually more amber. I wanted something warm to start since the pencil tone is such a dead cool color.
**Thank you so much Victoria.

Lori Hamilton said...

I love your art! Since reading your blog I've tried the oil on watercolor paper covered with the acrylic matte medium and enjoyed working with it. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do more because I've had some commission work in acrylic.

I was wondering if you use models for your work or pictures and/or how much comes right out of your imagination. I don't do very well if I don't have something to look at. You amaze me!

The Art of Kim Kincaid said...

Thank you so much Lori. I have a collection of photos on Pinterest that I use as inspiration. Faces are usually a combination of 2 or three photos with a pinch of imagination. When I have the time I prefer to use models. Hope you get time to do more on the oil paper. Thanks again and good luck on your commissions.

mercuralis said...

Beautiful work.