experimenting with oil paint and calligraphy

lettering  in and on water-soluble oil paint with venice turp glaze, canvas is 18x24 inches

this was the blocked-in color, maybe I like it better than the finished piece.

While I like the final result of my first try with oils, the lettering is not very good as the surface was not pleasant to work on nor the paint to control. I had originally wanted to try on a panel but didn't have one when I was ready to start.. So next I decided to try that (a wood panel) with acrylic gouache for the first layer and writing and use oil glazes over it. I figure since you can put oil paint over acrylic that should work, and allow the richness and enamel-like finish I was interested in.

So I got some small - just 6x8 inch - panels for experimenting. I coated this one with water absorbent ground and did a background painting with diluted acrylic guoache

I really liked it, almost didn't write on it. Then I wrote with acrylic gouache and metal pen - it worked pretty well although occasionally the pen actually dug into the soft ground. It was certainly easier to work with than the water-soluble oil on primed canvas, even though I tried a variety of mediums, etc.

Then I coated it with the venice turp oil glaze and did some more painting into it (with the oils) to add some other color and help the words be a little more "under the surface". It doesn't show up in the photos much differently unless I get where the gloss gets in the way of photographing.

At any rate, I don't know if the oil has enough barrier from the ground with the thin acrylic layer or if it will matter in the long run, but at least the basics worked. I have two more small panels and  plan to continue experimenting and learning about the possibilities before trying another large piece.

Updates on calligraphic works

I think this one is worth making prints of (this is not the professional photo, obviously). Seems like in Jeff City the smaller and cheaper prints go a lot faster than nice large ones, I've had requests for the "Charity" quote smaller sized. It's not that big, I think its the price they want smaller.

Meanwhile I am still waiting for the glaze to dry on my first oil painting with calligraphy - I was going to add another layer of glaze but maybe this isn't the right kind to layer. It was interesting to be able to go back in and work in the wet glaze.

I had wanted to try it on a panel but didn't have one in time, so I'm prepping some little ones I got since then for trials. I'm not sure water-absorbant ground is usually used on panels but I'm going to try it out with thin acrylic gouache backing, possible some writing in the same medium, and then move to oils/glazes.