A little about Oil Painting

The History

    Citation "Oil Paint" Wikipedia. Published Feb, 2008. Feb 27, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_paint.

How Jeanne does it!

Each stroke, whether it be small or large, must begin with an inspiration. This is one of the things that makes my environment so important. I could just take easle, canvas and paintbrush in hand and walk downtown to the nearest traffic jam and start painting away, but I'm almost certain I wouldn't be too productive. So, as most artists do, I prefer the peace and comfort of my own home set and surrounded by the abounding green nature of the Pacific Northwest.

Inspiration is a wonderful thing. It hits you in the most unexpected way, the best way. Like the other day I watched the sun rise over the treeline in the surrounding snowy mountains, sending beams of red, orange and purple shimmering every which way. Beautiful. I only wish I'd had my camera.

This is where the first physical step comes in. Gathering pictures. Whatever my idea is, I go around gathering as many pictures as I can find. Most of the time they are from books or my own personal collection. Once I have these I spend a bit of time pondering. What direction is the light going to come from? What shades of color, for this, for that?

Then comes the rough sketch. Sometimes a scribble, if I don't like it. Sketches are done on regular ol' drawing paper with a pencil. After I've drawn out something appealing I divide it into sections like a graph. Then I take the sketch, and sometimes some trace paper, and transfer it to my canvas.

I use a canvas called hard board or masonite, which is very smooth and allows for the precise detail to paint realistically. Even before this transfer though, I must prepare the canvas. This involves priming it with a sealer to prevent the paint from soaking in and staining the material.

After my photos are spread out around me and my sketch on canvas; Finally, I begin to mix my oil paints. This in itself is an art and takes a good bit of time for each piece.

Stroke after stroke, from the background to the foreground, the painting begins to come to life. At first, the painting may look fairly boring. But after time, tons of brilliant highlights, shadowing, and fine detailing, the action and inspiration that I first envisioned shines through.

It is an overwhelming joy for me to see my work capture the hearts and minds of people. To bring a special feeling into people's homes and piece by piece, create a little more warmth in everyone. I owe it all to God.

Remarques

A picture paints a thousand words, yes, but we like to think a painting paints even more. So the more there is to a painting the better! As an extra little gift that goes along with her prints, Jeanne creates a remark. What is a remark exactly? Well in most cases it is a simple extension of the print which is drawn or painted onto the matting. See for yourself...

Giclée

  Well, we couldn't quite describe it better than an encyclopedia so, we placed one here for you. Enjoy.

  Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay") is an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing The term is often used instead of Inkjet in art shops. The word "giclée", from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". It was coined by Jack Duganne, a printmaker working in the field, to represent any inkjet based digital print used as fine art. The intent of that name was to distinguish commonly known industrial "Iris proofs" from the type of fine art prints artists were producing on those same types of printers. The name was originally applied to fine art prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the early 1990s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print.

  Beside its association with Iris prints, in the past few years, the word "giclée," as a fine art term, has come to be associated with prints using fade resistant "archival" inks (including solvent inks) and the printers that use them. These printers use the CMYK color process but may have multiple cartridges for variations of each color based on the CcMmYK color model (e.g. light magenta and light cyan inks in addition to regular magenta and cyan) which serves to increase the apparent resolution and color gamut and allows smoother gradient transitions. A wide variety of substrates are available including various textures and finishes such as matte photo paper, watercolor paper, or cotton canvas.Artists tend to use these types of Giclée printing processes to make reproductions of their original two-dimensional artwork, photographs or computer generated art.

    Citation "Giclee" Wikipedia. Published Dec, 2007. Jan 1, 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giclee.

Acid-Free Paper

  Ah yet again, we will quote an encyclopedia for you here. Enjoy!

  Acid-free paper is paper that has a neutral or basic pH (7 or slightly greater). It addresses the problem of preserving documents for long periods.

   Paper made from wood-based pulp that has not had its lignin removed goes yellow and deteriorates over time. When exposed to light and/or heat, the molecules in the acidic paper will break down even faster. It was only in the 1930s that the effects of wood-pulp paper became known, when William Barrow (a librarian) published a report about the deterioration of acidic paper in the libraries. For fear of the gradual disintegration of written materials, measures have been taken to improve the quality of paper.

   During production, acid-free paper may be treated with a mild base (usually calcium or magnesium bicarbonate) to neutralize the natural acids occurring in wood pulp, and it may also be buffered to prevent the formation of additional acids (as may develop from the application of sizing).

   The bicarbonate is added in excess, to supply the paper with an alkaline reserve to provide protection from further attack by acids remaining in the paper or supplied by the environment (e.g. atmospheric sulfur dioxide). The bicarbonate during drying loses carbon dioxide and water and is converted to calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate. In order for paper to last at least 100 years it must have an alkaline reserve of 2% or more.

   Today, much of the commercially produced paper is acid-free, but this is largely the result of a shift from china clay to (cheaper) chalk as the main filler material in the pulp: chalk reacts with acids, and therefore requires the pulp to be chemically neutral or alkaline. The sizing additives mixed into the pulp and/or applied to the surface of the paper must also be acid-free.

   Alkaline paper has a life expectency of over 1,000 years for the best paper and 500 years for average grades. The making of alkaline paper has several other advantages in addition to the preservation benefits afforded to the publications and documents printed on it. Because there are fewer corrosive chemicals used in making alkaline paper, the process is much easier on the machinery, reducing downtime and maintenance, and extending the machinery's useful life. The process is also significantly more environmentally friendly. Waste water and byproducts of the papermaking process can be recycled; energy can be saved in the drying and refining process; and alkaline paper can be more easily recycled.

    Citation "Acid-free paper" Wikipedia. Published Dec, 2007. Jan 1, 2007
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-free_paper.