top of page
Writer's pictureRobert Hopkins

Week 11: I am hitting a rough spot.

Updated: Jan 1, 2023

Why is this happening, again?


I get a quarter of the way into a painting and I want to "chuck". Colors are wrong. To stiff. Bad sketch to begin with.

  1. I can't use a pencil to sketch. The lines are to apparent as I'm painting.

  2. Pre-mixing colors of the painting doesn't seem to work any better.

  3. The large brushes are really hard to work with and control.

  4. The smaller, short handled Rosemary and Co. brushes go on easier - for me.

  5. Pre-oiling the painting worked once. Is that my issue?

  6. Sitting and painting didn't seem to matter but I though it would help. My right hand is not healing properly.

  7. Filling in the dark spaces isn't helping either. Big dark areas that are un-broken.

  8. The Oil mess is getting to me. Clean-up, gloves, smell, danger, the list goes on.

I only seem able to paint a painting, by watching another artist and I mimic their work. Section by section. And, each artist is different. But, I don't know what works for me.

  1. Oil the painting or paint on a wet toned canvas.

  2. Paint the darks first, but don't paint them to stiffly or too densely.

  3. The rest is, "I just don't know".

I switched gears on Monday and tried a Gouache painting. Yuck. What a hideous thing that was. I only made it half way through the block in phase and stopped. Gouache is a joke. Acrylic is a joke. They dry one half-step darker. That's just so wrong. How can anyone paint with those materials?


So... I am left with Watercolors and Digital? Is that all I can do? How can I get past this oil dilemma?


I will leave you with something that is worth looking at. Kathleen Dunphy's Sierra River Bed. At least that is worth reading. She speaks a million words here.

Kathleen Dunphy, Copyrighted

Nothing to see here in my writing... Move along.


It's time to reflect and figure this out! Why am I failing? I have lost all self confidence on my abilities to paint in oils. Again.

6 views

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page