Translation as painting techniques for the best statement – oil painting instruction

 You may hear me using the term “translation” in oil painting class and this is a relatively new in the
scope of oil paintng instruction and techniques for many artists. You look at a setup or
model which is exists in the visual world, then translate what you see
into paint.  Much like you might do if you translated French into
English…during this translation process the words you choose will be
colored by the intention of the phrase. What is your intention? When I use
the word translation, I mean I want you to take the painting to a little
bit different, higher place than maybe what just copying could do.  Once
in a while copying the subject is the highest place that the painting
could get to although, I would say in most times, that is not the case. 

What I want you to do is to look at the still life or figure, and look at... Read the rest of this article at: 

http://www.oilpaintingdvd.net/oil-painting-dvd/translation-as-painting-techniques-for-the-best-statement-oil-painting-intruction

Oil Painting DVD

new Karla Nolan Website that is Fantastic Paintings on Glass

Sunset Over the Loire

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Karla

My husband, fortunately, is in the wine business, so we have traveled over the years to wine countries such as Italy and France. Several years ago we were in France, staying in the sweet village of Amboise. One evening we went walking along the Loire River before dinner and before sunset. Patience is such a virtue, sometimes difficult to achieve; however, on this particular evening, it paid off. I have painted this scene several times in oil, but this is the first time on glass and, frankly, I’m pleased! The process seemed to take forever to get the result I wanted but the time felt well spent at the end. Paintings on Glass and another great site is Oil Painting DVD

nice new book

Great book with great reference materials By David Leffel Click here for Leffel's book: Leffel's Book

Toning a canvas

I really love this post on toning a canvas for an oil painting. The question, “what color should I tone my canvas” comes up periodically in class or from some on watching an oil painting DVD.  This is a very good question.  Toning can work for you and often times I see it work against people.  First, I think that you should tone your canvas in the color harmony or the color that you usually work with. click to read more: Toning a canvas for an Oil Painting

When we watch an oil painting DVD we often watch the artist with great envy over their talent

When we watch an oil painting DVD we often watch the artist with great envy over their talent.  We do not know anything about his/her wiring and what makes them tick.  We watch and see them do paintings that may or may not be something we ourselves would enjoy the process of painting.So the expression, “I may not know art but I know what I like” probably is more applicable to artists than anybody. 

On another note, you may like a certain look of painting, for example you might like super hyper realistic painting but you might find it too tedious to do it.  What you like and what your actual experience in front of the easel is may not be compatible.  But, most likely if you love something you will enjoy the painting process as well.  Not always.  And, the painting process is ultimately what counts because that is how you spend your life.  Otherwise it’s just a bunch of paintings that you don’t own anyway because all you own is the process, not the painting. So the next artist Oil Painting DVD you watch see how you would feel painting not the painting but the process.

GREAT NEW ARTICLE

One of the topics we discuss in oil painting DVD – people learn to paint backwards

Oil Painting DVDs

New Article

Check out this new article at: Oil Painting DVD

Do you know why it is so hard to paint as good as Rembrandt? An Oil Painting DVD perspective

New Daily Painting Slide-show Video

Great new daily painting DVD from Oil Painting DVD

Oil Techniques

Translation as painting techniques for the best statement

by Daniel Edmondson 

  You hear me or read me using the term “translation” and this is a relatively new in the scope of painting techniques for many artists. You look at a setup or model which is exists in the visual world, then translate what you see into paint.  Much like you might do if you translated French into English…during this translation process the words you choose will be colored by the intention of the phrase. What is your intention? When I use the word translation, I mean I want you to take the painting to a little bit different, higher place than maybe what just copying could do.  Once in a while copying the subject is the highest place that the painting could get to although, I would say in most times, that is not the case. 

What I want you to do is to look at the still life or figure, and look at how the light is arranged, how the color is arranged, how you want the eye path to go, what the movement looks like from light and value changes and decide what would be the absolute best painting possible.  You get to pick and choose what flowers go where, or how you want the light to travel across the model until you get exactly the effect that you want. Examples:  – where do you want the painting to have the brightest color, where do you want the brightest light and what is going to be the best arrangement of the elements of color, value, edges, paint application – thick and thin, to yield the absolute best painting. 

Not only are you going to look at the set up, or the model, I recommend you look at references and see how other people have done it and borrow any good ideas.  You then decide what would work well for this painting and that would work better than what I am seeing in my photographs and better than what I am seeing in reality. 

So take the best of reality, take the best of photographs that you have, the best from your computer screen, the best of reference pictures of other paintings (these can even be paintings you have done) of similar types of things and you combine them to create the absolute best painting possible. For more information Oil Painting DVD