fbpx

Monday Morning Art School: what medium should I choose?

Apple Blossom Time, oil on archival canvasboard, $869 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

I’m often asked about the best medium for the beginning artist. That’s like assuming that there’s a one-size-fits-all catsuit.

No medium is inherently easier or more difficult than another. They all have their challenges and rewards. Similarly, no medium is inherently more toxic than another; the toxicity of paint lies in the pigments, not the binder. You can avoid toxic pigments in any medium. And, perhaps most importantly, once you get past the entry-level supplies, they all hit an expense plateau, so you might as well choose what you like.

But don’t be surprised if you end up working in more than one medium. I use them all, and my great regret is that I don’t have more time to experiment.

A tiny painting done with Golden Open Acrylics.

Acrylics are fast-drying and versatile. You can layer and finish paintings quickly. They clean up well with soap and water, and inexpensive acrylic paints are available at most department stores at a low price (although you get what you pay for).

That same quick-drying characteristic is a minus when it comes to working slowly or en plein air, which is why most manufacturers now offer retarders. Retarders help, but never give you the open time of oils. Acrylics can also darken as they dry, and their final feel is more plasticky and less buttery than oils.

You can work acrylics leanly, but adding too much water breaks down the bonds. If your goal is transparency, you need to use an acrylic medium designed for glazing.

Rachel’s Garden, ~24×35, watercolor on Yupo, museum-grade plexiglass, $3985 includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Watercolors are the most portable medium. With a travel kit, a brush and a sketchbook, you can paint anywhere.

Watercolors have a luminous quality that comes from the paper reflecting back through the pigment. They’re fast and spontaneous, and you needn’t worry overmuch if you screw something up; just paint something else. Cleanup is, of course, absurdly simple. Just rinse your brushes, wipe off your palette, and head home.

Of course, that’s all true until you set out to create something brilliant. The downside of watercolor is that errors are hard to fix. Once pigment sets, it’s often there to stay. That means you need to plan ahead. And getting consistent results takes practice and patience.

And good watercolor paper ain’t cheap, as my friend Becky constantly reminds me.

Oils offer the richest, most vibrant colors. Since they dry very slowly, you have tons of time to work, blend, tweak, and perfect your transitions, if that’s your thing. Oils have a centuries-long track record for durability without fading, and you can go from thin glazes to thick impasto with the same material.

Oils can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to dry to the touch, but don’t be fooled; that painting is still wet inside, which is why it can’t be varnished immediately. You will need odorless mineral spirits and a good brush soap to clean your brushes. The cleanup is a bit finickier than with other mediums, but it needn’t ruin your life.

Gouache is just opaque watercolor. It dries to a matte finish, and can cover underlying layers. It’s reworkable and fast-drying. It’s an excellent learning medium and is often used by illustrators because it’s quick.

Once dry, the paint layer can be easily scuffed or reactivated by moisture, so varnishing can tricky. Colors don’t always dry accurately, and gouache doesn’t blend well.

You need to work on a stiff board or paper, because gouache will crack if laid down too thickly or not on a proper support.

Shenandoah Valley, long time ago and far, far away… in pastel.

Pastels are expressive and tactile and support a wide range of styles.

There’s no need to learn brushwork with pastels, since there aren’t any brushes. Blending is simple and intuitive, as is layering and creating texture. Pastels, like oil paints, have a good record of longevity.

Finished pastel paintings are fragile, and need to be framed or fixed (which may change the colors.) Pastel dust is also potentially hazardous; more so, in fact, than any paint-bound medium. So pastelists should work in well-ventilated areas and wear some kind of gloves, since pigments can be absorbed through the skin.

My Tuesday class is sold out, but there’s still room in the Monday evening class:

Zoom Class: Advance your painting skills

Mondays, 6 PM – 9 PM EST
April 28 to June 9

Advance your skills in oils, watercolor, gouache, acrylics and pastels with guided exercises in design, composition and execution.

This Zoom class not only has tailored instruction, it provides a supportive community where students share work and get positive feedback in an encouraging and collaborative space. 

Reserve your spot now for a workshop in 2025:

Monday Morning Art School: why art?

Spring Greens, 8X10, oil on archival canvasboard, $652 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Knowing why we do something helps us figure out how to do something. Today, I want to get down to the low-level programming of the art calling.

Why art?

I sometimes tell people that if I wasn’t a painter, I’d be a greeter at Wal-Mart. I no longer have conventional marketable skills. I’ve focused on painting for so long that everything else has fallen by the wayside.

That skirts around the real issue of what holds me here. I’m a visual thinker and a maker, and more than a bit didactic. The confluence of these can only be art.

Why are you compelled to create art? Your reasons will be different from mine, but are no less valid.

Apple Tree with Swing, 16X20, oil on archival canvasboard, $2029 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Has what you’re doing ever been done before?

Not only has what I do been done repeatedly, it continues to be done by many painters who are just as competent as me.

On the other hand, nobody is doing exactly what I’m doing, because nobody has the same combination of brushwork and worldview.

As much as we prize novelty, AI points out the danger of putting all our efforts into style. Style can be easily copied. Content can’t.

I could drill down and tell you how my painting varies from my peers’ in terms of focus, worldview, color, drafting and brushwork. That’s a helpful exercise, especially when I’m feeling low.

How is your work unique? If you can’t answer this, is it because you’re drafting in a mentor’s or a movement’s slipstream? If so, what are you going to do about that?

Fog over Whiteface Mountain, 11X14, $1087 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

How do you work?

I’m a big believer in routine. It frees me up to concentrate on work, and I believe the human brain settles down into productivity fastest when it works at the same time every day. Others have told me this is stultifying.

What is the work style that works best for you? Do you go on painting tears, or do you work methodically? Why does your system work for you?

What’s your ideal working environment?

Spaces like Francis Bacon’s studio make me agitated almost to the point of being physically ill. I need order to think. Tidying is, to me, a time when I let my subconscious mind resolve its confusions while my conscious mind does the important work of putting things away.

For others, this is unnecessarily proscriptive, and I know painters who never get past cleaning to do any work at all. What’s your ideal working environment?

Owl’s Head, 11X14, oil on archival canvasboard, $1087 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

What is your creative process?

For plein air, I look, do a value sketch, and then transfer that to my canvas. For studio work, I start with an idea in my sketchbook and repeatedly refine it. Only then come reference photos and the business on the canvas.

I’ve occasionally tried to mix this up by copying my pals’ work system, but that has never worked for me. (Nobody ever called me a good student, just a good teacher.)

Do you have a rock-solid process? Are you willing to change it up? Is your answer a function of how long you’ve been painting?

What do you want to think about next?

I think I’ll be perfectly content to paint landscapes until I die, but nobody can say that for sure. Right now, I’m interested in the nexus between words and pictures. If nothing comes of that, it’s no loss. I’ve tried a lot of things that haven’t panned out, and I always learn from them.

If you were going to expand your media or subject matter, what would you add?

Reserve your spot now for a workshop in 2025: