A friend of mine asked me if I could make a “classic” style oil painting. I never made a painting this style and with this special painting technique before. A painting like that requires a totally different approach in painting from what I usually do. Thinking about his question gave me the feeling of a challenge like I have every time I start a new painting. In my coming posts i’ll give you a look over my shoulder to see how this painting develops and what the end result will be.

#1

My first step was the choice of canvas. Decided to use a fine cotton since the painting requires fine details. I will use water soluble oil-paint,  a new ‘ generation’ of oil-paint. (more info later)   I tinted the primed canvas with a thin under layer of burned sienna and yellow ochre. This warm deep glow will show later true  the other layers of paint .

So hereby my first step in the painting process of my ‘ old master’.

A little background information what this style of painting is about, with the courtesy of Wikipedia.

“The Renaissance marks the period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the Modern world. It represents a cultural rebirth from the 14th through the middle of the 17th centuries. The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts. To that end, painters also developed other techniques, studying light, shadow. Underlying these changes in artistic method, was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature. In the Netherlands a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed, having particular influence on the development of painting in Italy, both technically with the introduction of oil paint and canvas, and stylistically in terms of naturalism in representation.

Genre works, also called genre scenes or genre views, are pictorial representations in any of various media that represent scenes or events from everyday life. Such representations may be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Rather confusingly, the term genre works, may also be used as an umbrella term for painting in various specialized categories such as still life, marine painting, landscape painting, animal painting, as well as genre scenes proper where the emphasis is on human figures.

The depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist.

Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky is almost always included in the view. Most early landscapes can be imaginary views, although clearly intended to represent actual cities, landscapes and seasides with varying degrees of accuracy. Various techniques were used to simulate the randomness of natural forms in invented compositions.”