The surface of oils.

[Elizabeth Schott]

I was wondering if anyone else ends up with too much unintentional texture on their oils painting surfaces from reworking the form.

I understand that there are people like David Leffel who paint very thick, but I haven't seen one in person and am not familiar with the shadow areas.

I have also seen surfaces like Whitaker's that could be glass, with the exception of some well placed highlight brush strokes.

Are you bothered by built up texture in oils?

Thanks, Beth

[Linda Eades Blackburn]

The build up doesn't usually bother me unless it's on my painting. Then I start to wonder about it too. I have a portrait that I have been experimenting with the underpainting that is already getting built up and I am wondering if I should finish it or start over.

[Debra Norton]

When I notice unwanted texture I scrape it off with my palette knife. I don't recall ever hearing any discussion of the pros and cons of this practice, but I hear it done frequently at school. I suppose it wouldn't be a problem if you're going to paint over that area.

[Lacey Lewis]

I also feel like built up paint is not a problem unless it's on my painting! It's been a really big issue for me in the past, but have found some ways to minimise the build up.

Lately I have found myself going through a process where I paint and then either wipe areas with a rag or use an old bristle brush to blend everything, removing the paint from the brush with a rag as I go. This way, I tend to have a blurry image of the form that I can make adjustments to as I go along and then put in the sharper brushstrokes after the form looks good. It keeps the layers of paint thinner and smoother.

Also, I decided recently to scrape or wipe off anything I don't think is working right immediately instead of waiting until the next day to decide what to do about it. This has helped a lot.

That is, of course, if you WANT to keep the paint smooth. I really do like some of those paintings that have a lot of texture and seem so confident.

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Elizabeth, I think that the build up can really work for a painting, if it is well handled.

For me it is successful:

-when it is confined to the lighter areas of the painting
-when the direction of a rich brush stroke says something about the subject's form
- when the brushstroke is a definite statement possibly of a pure colour
- when it is the top layer showing: it is not covered by a thinner layer of colour
In my paintings I am AFTER build up, as I try, with thicker paint, to make them more of an object and less of an image.

Ilaria

[Chris Saper]

Beth et al,

I think that the problem may be in combining "build-up" and "reworking the form" . Do you remember that Bill W would patiently and delicately scrape off any ridges before proceeding with the next session? Daniel Greene uses much the same approach with the fan brush, which not only gets rid of the ridges but controls future glare.

Of course none of this matters if you are painting alla prima. The older I get, the more I find that needs to be corrected, and I am always trying to use more paint, but for me it needs to be on the very last layer.

[Elizabeth Schott]

Thank you all for your varied answers, I think i might need to clarify what I am talking about. I do understand the correctness of brush work, thus my problem. I know if have seen this work before that I am speaking about when I refer to the texture above, but maybe upon completion with final brush strokes added and varnish the texture changes .

I do know it is one that occurs when I struggle with an area, I do scrape Chris and even sand, but it is still there but not due to paint thickness. I think the more I rework an area, the thinner my application is with more medium.

I am just trying to understand if there are more works like this in the "just before finish" stage with this type of surface texture and is it a do over if it's like this?

Now that I have said this I found one lovely painting that seems to have this texture but it could be the way it is lit for the photo, because this lady is certainly a pro and knows what she is doing.

This is "Fancy Lady" by Peggy B.

[Linda Brandon]

Beth, it seems to me that you have to be careful about keeping dark areas flat and ridge-free because they have a tendency to pick up shine and glare (especially when photographed). I personally have started to fanbrush (and scrape) darks and keep them as medium-free as I can until the final layer (which sometimes is the first layer in the case of darks). Mediums often seem to cause ridges; I guess it depends on the medium. Opaque, ridgey whites help achieve three-dimensionality because they physically move toward the viewer as well as optically move forward.

These are maybe issues of painting styles. People who are working toward photo-realism try hard to keep it all flat, it seems to me; but the neo-classicists are also trying to keep a very smooth surface. I'm neither of these but I admire a lot of their work.