Week Two of Paint Your Heart and Soul was a class with Fran Schlosser, who demonstrated the "grisaille" technique using oil paints. This was really inspiring but very challenging and initially I put it off, but I got back to it over the weekend and what an eye opener it was - I'm so glad I decided to give it a go after all.
I've never been drawn to try oil painting, but I do have just a handful of water-soluble paints which I've never used (they came in a ScrawlrBox). Fran used Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, but I didn't have those colours, so I used Payne's Grey and Titanium White. The water-soluble oils are less daunting that traditional oils because you don't have to use turps or linseed and so on - but they do have the same working properties and they do still take several days to dry.
With the grisaille technique, you paint in monochrome (typically shades of grey or other neutral colour), concentrating on the tones. I used a reference photo from my stash (might have been Jane Morris) and thought she would look good as a statue. She turned out a little bit creepy - ever see that episode of Doctor Who with the stone angels? - but I love her.
Both the technique and especially the medium were new to me and therefore quite challenging, but I really enjoyed the whole process and I've now added some more colours of water soluble oils to my birthday wish list :o)
Roll on the next challenge!
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