oil painting question

[godfather]

I use the wet on wet technique and find that when adding either highlights or shadows the colours become either lighter in the case of the shadow or barely different than the base coat when highlighting . I know the reason so my question is: do you deliberately make your highlight or shadow colours darker/lighter to compensate for the effect of the base coat. Hope this makes sense.

 

[pkw4]

Dear Bruno
in my experience what is happening is that in the wet in wet technique the oil will take only 1 shading at the time.Then you have to let the colour dry.I think what you are experiencing is that you are actually removing the colour(if that make any sense.)
I've always paint the mid tones then let the pint dry and then piant the darkest
and lightest colour.
I hope this will be helpful to you
sincerely
Roberto

 

[megroot]

Bruno,

I think Roberto has the point. But when i read his answer i think he works wet in dry.
For your problem i think you must let the oil soak out of the paint. I put the paint on a archive chart and let it stay on it for a half hour before i starting to paint. Then you have only the pigment.
When your basecolour is wet, there is still oil in the paint to let the colours flow into eachother. So you stipple the shade or highlight colour at your figure at the point where you want it. Then brush the colour into your basecolour and then work it out.
I'll hope you get somewhere with my explanation.

Marc

 

[Kisifer]

Since i paint with oils only i have found out that when we apply a shadow with the wet on wet technique it tends to go lighter in color when it gets dry. So i would suggest to get your shadows a bit darker than you normally do so when they get dry they have the color you want. The same thing applies with highlights too. I hope that i understood your question correctly. Roc who's also an awesome oil painter could give an answer here.

 

[PJ Deluhery]

It's true that when painting wet on wet the colors sometimes look different when they dry - lighter or darker. Sometimes they even disappear if shading is subtle.

I suggest the following solutions (in no particular order!):

1. Mix your shadow/highlight colors with the "complimentary color" on the color wheel - that's the color ACROSS from the base color you are using on the wheel. There are lists of complmentary colors around.

2. Mix your shadow colors a bit darker/lighter to compensate or add contrast.

3. Let the base coat dry for an hour or so before you shade - this will retard the base color's ability to soak up the shading colors and mute them.

4. Be sure you do not have too much paint on the area. Use as little paint as possible.

5. After the figure is dry - or at least partially dry - re-apply any shading that fades out.

 

[Cicero]

Bruno,

Hereby I'll give my way of painting with oils:

Mix three shades of the same colour:
- a light shade
- a medium shade
- a dark shade

These are all applied NEXT to eachother taking in account the shades and lights falling on the figure from a zenithale light source (table lamp). Wipe the excess of paint and AFTER THAT start blending only the borders of the different shades. Following this you get already a basic shading and lighting of the surface. It's not the intention treating already every wrinkle, but only dividing the surface in three distinct colour parts. I.e. a coat of a plain standing figure: the lower part (catching less light) and the underside of the sleeves are painted in the dark shade, the middle part in the medium shade, the shoulders and the topside of the sleeves in the light shade (catching most light). Let the paint dry a little while.
Then it's time to start shading and lighting the individual wrinkles etc. Do this wet on wet only one time and then let the paint dry for a day or so. After this, shade and light for a second time (and third, fourth, ... time if necessary) using only very little paint and blending it perfectly.

Painting this way I don't think you gonna meet the problems you have discribed.

I hope my explanation made sense to you.

Kind regards.

Johan

 

[KeithP]

In my experience, wet on wet oils, when dry, will show less contrast than when they are wet. Maybe has something to do with the oxidation process by which oils dry but I am not sure.

I have also noted that when I place my wet on wet painted figure in the dry box, the contrast is further reduced. This seems for me to be especially true of Blue.

So, my advice is to test your base, wet on wet high and shade on a plastic card ahead of the figure. Paint yout test card, place 'em in your dry box and see how the colors dry and end up. Then, when you paint your figure, you can add the high (or shade) tones to get the effect you are looking for.

Good luck, my friend!

Keith