Day Seven. Flaming feathers. I find myself staring at the picture for long periods.
I used no white today which is unusual for any oil painter. It is probably the first day I've ever done that, using only nickel yellow as the lightest shade.
The nickel yellow in the fire scene is blotchy, due to the paint being applied too thinly and unconfidently. I applied a yellow imprimatura there; blue elsewhere, so that that ultrafirst layer fades upwards. In recent times I've tried to apply a base layer that matched the colours I intended to overpaint with, so that the results were smoother. I think perhaps this is not working, instead causing me to be too complacent and applying an insufficiently thick layer of paint. For smooth perfect results you must apply exactly the right amount of paint, about one mongooses hair thick. Too thin and you can't smooth it out without removing paint and making the result less smooth. Too thick and you find yourself trapped like Indiana Jones in quicksand.
Finally today I joined an affiliate network for my art suppliers, GreatArt. These are my main suppliers and the advantage here is that I can use my own link and effectively get money off by earning commission from myself! If you buy from them then you might want to sign up to the scheme too (which includes other websites than GreatArt as well).
