I want to learn to oil paint in the old Flemish style, like Vermeer. I've never painted before. How to start?

Question

I draw, but I do not paint.

Any tips for materials to start with? Any good books?

Answer 1

Start with oils, and setting up still-life arrangements. Get a set of paints that has as many cool and warm variations on each color that you can afford. Get a large tube of white, and and make sure your browns include burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber and raw umber. The browns are what you use to lay out the dark and light in the painting. Also get turpentine to clean your brushes, some brush cleaner (usually a cake of waxy stuff)and liquin to thin out your colors/consistency.
You may want to start with canvas panels to paint on, rather than actual stretched canvas, while you're still learning.
Also get a palette - some people leave their paint on their palette to use later, some throw it out when they're done.
Get at least five sized different brushes, with one being size 1, the largest can be like a 1 or 2 inch housepaint brush, used for priming your canvas with gesso- don't start out with TOO expensive ones, you'll know better what to look for once you have some experience.Also a palette knife can be used for scraping off paint from your pallette, as well as applying thick chunks of paint to your canvas.
Get gesso, unless you buy your canvas/ canvas panels pre-primed.

start by drawing on the canvas with pencil - look at the shape of the arrangement, but also the light and dark. Draw what you see, NOT what you think you see! You should not be thinking "apple" when you see the apple, you should be seeing the curve of it's shape and the shape of the light hitting it. Keep this in mind when applying paint.

When starting, use liquin to thin out you brown paint for the "underpainting". This is just filling in of value - kind of a wash to help you lay things out.

When that has dried, start filling in color. It's sometimes best to start with the background. Keep in mind that that atmospheric perpective causes things further back to be less clearly defined, so keep it loose to start. You can build up layers later.

When you have sort of an "impression" of what it looks like, go in with your smaller brushes to do more delicate details. Observation is key. The slightest curve, perfectly executed, can be that one thing that makes gives an identity to an item that could be otherwise unrecognizable.

Do Highlights last, using a slow addition of more white paint, and with the brightest areas, actually add the color to the white. The areas that the Flemish masters excelled at were in the minute details, but don't undertake them until the item is perfect in shape and size and perspective in relation to the other items.

Also, experiment with small amounts of cool colors for the shadows, warm colors for lit- up areas, and use complimentary colors when doing this. For example, give a yellow cast to the bright parts, especially in the "transitioning" from one value to another , while using a bit of purple when transitioning into darkness. Try to limit your use of black, and don't use any dark colors to outline features.

Make sure to take your time and give each layer time to dry before painting on top of it; using thinner leyers can help to dry faster.

If you must varnish ( something I personally have never liked), wait a least a month; more if your paint is think. It can sometimes take 6 months to a year for oil paint to fully dry, although it should be "hangable" before that.

Keep at it! Although I am an abstract painter and currently use acrylic and water based mediums, oil painting was very rewarding and eye-opening for me; it really teaches you how to learn to "see."
Study what made the Flemish painters different than others of the time, and see if you can't replicate thohse things in your own style.

Once you have gotten good at realism, you will have learned what you enjoy about painting, and take that to the Nth degree so you will stay inspired! For some, they get hooked on the way fabric falls and want to focus on that, other enjoy patterns, while some may experiment with the limits of photo-realism. It's up to you what you want to paint - have fun

Answer 2

DO NOT USE LIQUIN. I REPEAT DO NOT USE LIQUIN. The only want to fix issues caused by liquin is to use liquin. In order to get the same consistency as before, you have to use liquin.

Use Turpentine, Turpenoid, Linseed oil, etc. If you want to paint like the great masters, think about the resources they had back then. I'm pretty sure they didn't have advanced chemicals that messed around with drying speeds. Oils should only be used with oils. Don't underpaint with acrylic and just go with what you feel is right. If you use linseed oil, even the thinnest layer might dry in a couple of days.

You'll figure out your own techinique. You don't need someone else telling you what to do. Hey, I can paint with a rag and oils better than most people can paint with a brush. No one told me to use a piece of cloth. The steps to paint will come to you, you don't need anyone to tell you how do to it. If you want to paint like Vermeer, research the artists of his time period and understand what made their styles different from everyone else.

Answer 3

Vermeer painted his portraits in layers - dozens of layers using transparent colour thinned with linseed oil. The glass-like layers are what give his portraits their distinct luminosity.

These layers could each take weeks to dry before they could be painted over, thus one portrait could take months or even years to complete using this method. Liquin or Galkyd fast-drying mediums diluted with linseed would indeed speed up this process and the results are comparable.

I've used the same technique with acrylics thinned with gloss medium - the layers dry within minutes and the results are spectacular.

But regardless of the medium you use, be patient as you prepare to spend years perfecting your painting technique to the point where you can emulate Vermeer's genius.

Best of luck in your endeavour.

Answer 4

If you have never learned to paint, it a good chance you don't draw in any useful way for this project. Study light and colour theory, study painting with a good teacher. take allot of life drawing, I mean allot, and take it seriously. Take Art History courses. Read extensively on the techniques used in the beginning of oil painting. Go to museums often and really look. Look at the brushwork, look at the compositions, look at the use of light in the work of his contempoaries or near contemporaries. If you are lucky enough to be near one, look at his work. If not, look at the newest, most careful studies of his work. There are a number of recent books concerning it. Then paint, and paint, and paint.

Answer 5

Then start by learning to paint with oils rather than acyrlic because of the different way they behave and in particular learn about the old pigments which are harder to use than modern oils. Then practice, practice, practice.

Answer 6

Most DEFINATELY watch the movie " The girl with th pearl ear
ring "

Answer 7

WELL-- NOBODY LEARNED TO PAINT LIKE THEM LATELY..
MASTERS ARE GONE...