33: Re: Maroger's Medium, and words, and ethos...

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33: Re: Maroger's Medium, and words, and ethos...
... I admit it I do not know what he was on about, look at this statement with eye's of a novice...I am not knowledgeable enough to decipher his reply.: I wanted to learn about the ethos of the traditional techniques, why such methods are followed, the reason behind the techniques: Thanks for your help: EdHello, Ed,please hang in there, take what you read with a grain of salt (whether it's in a magazine or an internet forum).My impression of Rob is that he is something of a fanatic, which is how he can work so hard. Experimenting with goop, dealing with business details, moderating a web site, and painting must take alot of devotion and energy. I certainly don't agree with everything he says, including what he says about Leonardo, and rubbing onions on the paint surface to help the next layer bond with it, but he sounds very energetic and sincere. So I suppose his postings are sometimes a bit energetic as well. I've known alot of people like that. They've all had worthwhile things to say.And for heaven's sake have faith in yourself. You call yourself a novice, but you want to paint. There are some basic physical limitations with any medium. Keep things simple enough so you can have some fun. I assume you're painting for your own satisfaction. Painting gives me a world where I can please myself, where I can follow a hunch without having to answer to anything but my own sense of integrity. I'm far from being sold on Maroger's. You can get very satisfying results from thinning with turpentine and good quality linseed oil. Until about four years ago I used only turpentine to thin the paint and worked in very thin--but not water color like--layers. It just wasn't the big pain-in-the-rear mystery that my instructors made it sound like (when they deigned to talk about technique at all).As for ethos of painting with traditional techniques, I find it very satisfying to just try to do my best to craft something well. I feel surrounded by junk. There's just so much trivial, shiney new stuff that deteriorates, or becomes "outdated" in my face all the time. I was very poor for a long time and it was no joke having to make do with stuff that doesn't last and not be able to replace it. Most people can just throw stuff away when it gets dull or out of fashion, and replace it with something equally ephemeral and meaningless. Where does all that stuff come from and where does it go? It cycles natural resources into landfill.Another reason why I want to try to learn traditional techniques from people obsessed with "the old masters" is because only one of my painting instructors taught me any technique at all. I went to school to learn something and all anyone said except this one man said was "express yourself, technique doesn't matter". But many modern paintings I love are cracking and fading and oozing who-knows-what because basic physical limitations weren't paid attention to by the artists. These paintings are less than 50 years old. I don't know why there are cracks, tho' sometimes it results form very thick impasto paint being too heavy for the support. The pigments that are fading were not lightfast. More manufacturers pay attention to that now. The oozing is from some Rothko paintings where he used oil, acrylic, and whole egg in various combinations in several layers. Talk about mixing mediums. Two good books I've found useful and informative are Mark Gottsegen's "The Painter's Handbook" and Ralph Mayer's "The Artist's Handbook". I tend to swear at Mayer's book though. It's so big I have to fish around for what I want, and sometimes I find his sentences ambiguous. But he accomplished alot more than I ever have so what can I say?I quit school after a year. It's difficult to find someone to learn from. Since I've been so long winded I'll add this little bit too: start simple and add refinements as you go.Hope I haven't sounded patronising. Happy painting to you!

Re: Maroger's Medium, and words, and ethos... Ed Posted at: 04/21/00 (2)
Re: Maroger's Medium, and words, and ethos... rob Posted at: 04/30/00 (0)
Re: Maroger's Medium, and words, and ethos... rob