Gonzales - Bold expressive painting: painting techniques for still lifes, florals and landscapes in mixed media

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This book is dedicated to my very special family scattered all over the country and especially to my husband, Thomas Gonzales, who is always there for me, knows how to do just about anything and always says just the right thing. I am blessed to have all of these wonderful people in my corner supporting me all the way.

When I think of expressive painting, I think of the Fauves, Expressionists and Post-Impressionistspainters like Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard and Andr Derainpainters who decided to use vivid, nonnaturalistic color and composition. They were artists who invented painting in a style that is highly personal and subjective. Thats what this book is all about. The basics of painting must still be learned, of course: how to mix colors, compose a picture, use light and dark to attract the eye... but beyond the basics the content and style are invented by the painter. Perhaps you have received feedback that keeps you from painting in a way that feels most natural to you. Who knows why, but when I began painting I had it in my head that to be a real painter one had to paint realistically. Then I took a hard look at what truly made me happiest, which artists work I gravitated to and realized that for me, painting is about color, pattern and expression and less about perfection or meeting the expectations of others.

As painters we owe a debt to those artists who around the turn of the twentieth century experimented with breaking free of long-held painting traditions. Beginning in the late 1800s with the Impressionist painters (Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro) and later the Post-Impressionists (Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin) and the Fauves (Henri Matisse, Andr Derain), painters began to celebrate pattern and color and abandon techniques such as the mathematical principles of linear perspective. They experimented with expressing emotions through heavily textured surfaces, bold brushstrokes and vivid color. The legacy of such movements is that we now have the autonomy to paint with individualism and originality. We only have to please ourselves.

This list is a guide to what will be needed for the techniques and projects in this book, but it is not intended to serve as a must list of supplies. Feel free to substitute what you have available in your studio and buy only what you need in small quantities to begin.

Acrylic Mediums

acrylic glazing liquid, fluid matte medium, soft gel matte medium

Acrylic Paints

fluid and heavy body; primary and secondary colors plus black and white

Acrylic Specialty Mediums (try one or two)

clear tar gel, glass bead gel, molding paste, pumice gel

Alkyd Resin Medium (Galkyd)

Art Tissue (Spectra Deluxe)

Deli Paper or Dry Wax Paper (Dixie Kabnet)

Gelli Arts Printing Plate

Mineral Spirits, Odorless (Gamsol)

Oil Paints

primary and secondary colors, plus black and white

Oil Sticks or Oil Pastels

Paintbrushes

inexpensive synthetic or bristle brushes, 12" (13mm), 1" (25mm), 2" (51mm); bright or flat shape

Palette Knife

Paper Palette Sheets (Gray)

Permanent Writing Pens

Pigma Micron pens .05 or your favorite

Powdered Pigments

Rubber Brayer (Speedball)

4" (10cm) soft

Sketchbook, Spiral 812" 11" (22cm 28cm)

Substrates

assortment of sizes of canvases and/or panels: gessobord, hardboard or inexpensive student-grade canvas boards (See specific projects and techniques for recommended sizes.)

Wax Medium (Gamblin)

cold wax medium

White Gesso

In A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney by Martin Gayford, renowned British artist David Hockney expressed his belief in the Chinese saying that you need three things for paintings: the hand, the eye and the heart. Two wont do. A good eye and heart is not enough; neither is a good hand and eye. We can translate hand, eye and heart to mean skill, vision and passionthe ingredients necessary to develop as a painter and to find your own unique style.

Lets talk about the hand or skill part of the equation first. Picture yourself learning to play classical guitar. Would a practice session once a month get you to a concert hall or even competently playing for a group of friends? No way. What is necessary to gain the skills needed to be a competent painter is what writers call the no excusesbutt in chair approach. Painters must make a no excusestime at the easel commitment. There is no other way, no magic book, workshop or mentor that will take you all the way there. These all have a place in learning to be a better painter (I have taken advantage of all of them), but there is no substitute or shortcut for no excusestime at the easel. Developing as a painter takes hard work and lots of hours of actual hands-on paintingnot blogging, checking Facebook or organizing supplies. Hands-on painting is the only way.