I have begun a series of daily paintings in oils and I hope you enjoy this new project of mine. These paintings will be for sale but at the moment we are still developing the website. I am hoping to launch this series on Leap Year – the 29th February. These means that you will be able to give a friend an original oil painting as a special gift at an affordable price.
An old bottle is often a bit foggy without the sparkle of bright polished glass. This is a very old bottle complete with its medical information. I have collected blue bottles for over 25 years now. The soft glass called for an overall softness and I think that it will be enhanced with a companion piece (still in my head at the moment) of a sparkly bright blue one.
and a nugget:
This is an added extra to the daily painting – a technique, background information or a story.
Signatures on Artwork
When I was a student we were told that it is vanity (and the opposite of humility) not to sign your work because you are assuming that you are instantly recognisable. So I read up on this the other day and the author, who is often paid to decipher signatures says its also not okay to have an illegible signature because people need to know where work comes from (on the off-chance that you become famous further down the line). He says your signature for your work need not match the signature you use for your cheque book, but should also be consistent throughout your artwork. Oil paintings should be signed in oils – tricky, I know, even for a calligrapher like me. Using oils, not pencil or a permanent marker shows that the painting was signed by YOU and not someone else at a later date. It also has visual integrity within the painting. And the date should be there too. I write ’16.
In calligraphy I always ensured that my signature was somewhere on the piece and I used it like a design element. In fine-art it just needs to be there, clean and harmonious with the painting. So I use diluted oils of a sympathetic colour and a Synthetic Round #1. I also stick my business card on the back of the work.
You’ll see some dreadful signatures which totally ruin the design. Our tutor used to say “The larger the signature, the more amateurish the artist” Of course there are exceptions …like Van Gogh!
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