Fat Over Lean?

There are different ways that different artists begin their paintings. A classic method is to stain the entire surface using the main color of your under painting. The next step is to do the entire painting as a tonal study using your only color of choice, white, and black. At this point the paint still stays fairly lean. The under painting shows the artists that there is a balance of darks and lights and that the composition does work. The next phase is where the color starts to develop. The colors are glazed over the under painting, layer after layer, adding color and richness. To glaze the paint is mixed with a painting medium that makes it “fatter” than the previous layers. The final touches are put on with the thickest and most opaque layer of paint. The classic fat over lean.

I don’t do this. I start one of two ways. I will either stain the entire surface a single color; I usually use dioxine purple or mars violet. I like them as colors and they have a high degree of being able to stain the surface using a little bit of paint. It’s all going to be covered by the time I finish so the color is not that important except I think they are fun colors. Then I will do a charcoal drawing or sketch or maybe draw with a brush and thinned paint.


My other starting method is to do a contour drawing on the white prepared surface using charcoal since graphite can leech through to the surface. Then I will fix the drawing. After that I will block in the painting with color. I usually use discord colors but not always. The paint in this layer is thinned with turpentine to speed the drying time. This is the lean phase. After that dries, I jump right in! I go right to the fat layers. Sometimes I will thin the paint with a painting medium so that it will flow better. Other times I will squeeze it out of the tube directly on to my brush or the painting surface. I do most of my color mixing directly on the painting rather than on a palette. At times I also incorporate oil sticks.

I also use this approach with my oil pastels. With the oil pastels I will do a lot of cross-hatching. At times I will blend the colors using my fingers. Other times I will use a brush dipped in painting medium. The oil pastels I use are a high grade and are completely intermixable with oil paint. They can also be dipped directly into the medium before using them. It just makes them melt right into the surface. It is because of both soft and oil pastels that I got into the habit of mixing color directly on the surface of the painting.


When I think that I’m done or I’m sure that I’m mostly completely done, I set it aside to dry. I usually set it somewhere I can see it. I will look at it but not really think about it. This is a time for non-verbal thought, waiting to see if the painting tells me that it is done. Sometimes I will add a few final touches other times I just leave it because it is done. I will use a retouch varnish, on the oils, at this time to protect the surface. I will sometimes use Kamar varnish because it acts like retouch varnish and will permit the painting to completely dry before doing the final varnish. For the oil pastels I give it a coat of the Kamar varnish both for protection and because it gives the colors a wonderful richness.

This painting is titled "Shadow Side". It is an oil pastel done on a sheet of Strathmore paper. The paper has been sealed and gessoed. It measures 10" X 12".