It is the year 2291, and Dr. Scott Van Foschessantos has unearthed a trove of paintings long buried in the frozen ruins of Old New York. Having already carefully excavated the site and transported the findings to his lab, the Doctor is using state of the art technology to restore these artifacts to their former glory. As if peeling away time itself, each painting has been examined, layer by layer, in order to deduce the exact materials each artist implemented. A small sampling of his finding are listed below.
A member of Van Foschessantos’ team inspects a painting on the vacuum table.
Upper most layer: Final picture varnish
Painting: Oil paint, consisting of varying formulas, mostly Old Holland, slight amounts of Galkyd and Alkyd White detected.
Underpainting: Acrylic wash, a mixture of Ultramarine Blue & Burnt Umber
Preliminary drawing: 2B Graphite, applied directly to surface
Primer: 2 layers of Acrylic gesso
Substrate: Belgian linen
Kristine PooleonThe CallingHi Michael, Thanks so much for deciding to take a look and for sharing your thoughts! I also find it intriguing to get to wal…
Kristine PooleonThe CallingI am so pleased to read your words. When we "release" work into the world, we never know who might find it intriguing, engagi…
Kristine PooleonThe CallingThank you for sharing your thoughts. One of the things I love most about art is how it can communicate across time, cultures…
Sarah FinniganonInterior Illustrations – To Green Angel TowerI'd be curious to know how you tackled the signature pages, particularly the magic/edges of the magic meeting with the white…
HalloranonInterior Illustrations – To Green Angel TowerCan you talk more about the Pool of Three Depths? That image fascinates me and I haven't read the series (yet). What's the st…
It's no secret to anyone that's been following Muddy Colors awhile that I am really deeply interested in the psychology around why people become artists, and how becoming a "professional" "full-time" artist affects that. For example, I've written posts on the...
I've been working away at Chapter 3 of my comic Cut Flowers, but while that's cooking I did a 2-page prologue to give readers a little more about our ghost, Jamie. I hope you enjoy these!
As folks that have met me in person (or seen my meat suit on instagram) know, I have a big upper-arm tattoo of an art nouveau piece. (Shoutout to Iris Compiet, I think this was from an Spectrum or IlluXcon convention before the pandemic) Many people comment on this...
GREAT to understand the mechanical process, that can be of great help for us. The intelectual process of these artists are theirs – we just need to apply some of these “physical” processes into our experiments, and see what our own creative mechanisms will do with that.
Fantastic Post! I love the format. Thanks for giving me a good laugh at the start of the day, Dan!
And thanks Scott Brundage for giving me a chuckle at 'Petar Mxyzptlk'. A fantastic artist who sounds like an equally nice guy…one that will probably get a chuckle at your post as well. For those wondering, I'm sure it's really Petar Meseldžija (a name that I also cannot spell…I have to cut and paste from dr. google).
Really cool post; I'm a sucker for anything that gives insight to someone's process, and it's fun to see what brands folks prefer.
By the by, great name for the Doc who's conducting these studies.. took me a sec to figure out where I read that before;
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/igallo/Collab.gif
awesome post.
i find it kinda amusing to see no gloves or hand protection on the person inspecting the painting on a vacuum table.
fantastic post!
so much info, so much insightinto to questions like “how the hell does he do that?!?!”
thanks.
Great post!
I'm surprised though to read so many use graphite for the drawing. Thanks for posting!
Great great post ! thanks for sharing these cooking secrets.
What kind of varnish do you guys recommend on top of watercolors + colored pencils ?
I need a t-shirt that reads:
I like my preliminary drawings mechanically integrated with substrate
I love the format of this post, there's a lot of good info here. Any chance of Sam Weber writing something for the blog?
Great post, Dan. Anyone dissecting my current painting would say, “did this clown have any idea what he was doing?”
I'm with John D. on a Weber request.
While I'm at it, I'd toss in the following names for consideration (based solely on my personal and selfish preferences)…
Lars Grant-West
Omar Rayyan
Petar Mxyzptlk
Jon Foster
Paul Bonner
Chris Rahn
Great post!
Another Weber request here.
GREAT to understand the mechanical process, that can be of great help for us. The intelectual process of these artists are theirs – we just need to apply some of these “physical” processes into our experiments, and see what our own creative mechanisms will do with that.
Thanks a lot for the post Dan!!!
Fantastic Post! I love the format. Thanks for giving me a good laugh at the start of the day, Dan!
And thanks Scott Brundage for giving me a chuckle at 'Petar Mxyzptlk'. A fantastic artist who sounds like an equally nice guy…one that will probably get a chuckle at your post as well. For those wondering, I'm sure it's really Petar Meseldžija (a name that I also cannot spell…I have to cut and paste from dr. google).
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Both Weber and Bonner posts are in the works.
Echoing the chorus. But what a cool way to present this info, and I'm very much looking forward to the Weber and Bonner pieces.
Keep up the great work.
I loved this. So much information about how you all work and such a fun presentation of it!
OMG~! thank you!
I love this site!
This really is the best blog I have ever found. Thank you so much for sharing this. 😀 <3
Dear God… Awesome
Does Dan Dos Santos really use Winton Titanium White? Why student grade? Just Curious.