Monday, November 28, 2016

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Friday, November 25, 2016

Moment of Clarity


30 cm x 50 cm, Oil

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Monday, November 14, 2016

Kaiserring 6


40 cm x 30 cm, Oil

Form Study


18 cm x 24 cm, Oil

No.290 - Bordom


18 cm x 18 cm, Oil

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Under the Bridge


40 cm x 40 cm, Oil

Friday, November 11, 2016

Monday, November 7, 2016

How to keep the oil painting palette fresh



How to keep the oils on the palette fresh after work?
One can read quite a lot about this... Some artists freeze their palettes, some put it under water. Some add substances to their paints. Some companies offer products with clove oil. Some artist cover the palette with a plastic foil. Etc, etc, etc. Some artists stop bothering and keep losing expensive paint drying out on the palette. The latter type has been me! Some methods work insofar that the paint stays wet... They are just too much of a hassle. Cooling has been my prefered option but over time my palettes have grown and do not fit into the fridge anymore! No my palettes are not special, i just have several. Therfore i started to experiment a bit ... and proudly present... ;-)

I keep my palette fresh by putting it into a large vaccum bag (often reusable, available in different sizes, i bought a package of three for 8€ in a bed shop, size up to 100 cm x 70cm. They are intended for the storage of clothes and pillows) and fill it with CO2 gas from the bottle. Nitrogen/Argon has the same effect. A refill of my 10kg gas bottle costs 20€ and will fill the vacuum back hundreds of times...

The video shows the fastest drying paint on my palette... Burnt umber. After 48 hours a dry film on the pile has developed when kept under air. After 48 hours under CO2 burnt umber is like fresh from the tube.
Interested? Just contact me..... I sell "Ruckstuhl's palette conserving bag" for just 200€.... Get the three bags for the price of two!   ;-D

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Rainy Fantasy - Software Study


Under the Bridge - Software study


Master Palette and Mine



Left: Barry Raybould's palette during a painting   Right: Mine

I have spent the last three weeks in the tuscany with Barry Raybould. What an amazing experience!!! I started painting four years ago and I had never seen a master at work before. Just one of the highlights was a sunset we painted side by side at his studio in the mountains overlooking the landscape... He painted three studies within an hour up to a size of 30 cm x 40 cm, all just breathtaking. I scratched off my small approach...
He spent a lot of time explaining what it takes... It all starts in your head of course.... but also on the palette mixing the paint... Much more paint than i was used to..... The mixes need to flow into the other resulting into a gradual value change of the mixed piles of paint.
Barry said that usually it just takes a look onto the palette to evaluate the painter. The color harmony must be found right there on the palette"
Thank you Barry!!!