Artwork of the month: The most popular item at the MIA.

If there is one thing that I can count on at while working at the Minneapolis Institute of arts is that someone will ask me where the "Veiled Lady" is.

The Veiled Lady is the most popular work of art at the MIA. There is a good reason for it, it is simply amazing.   The marble was sculpted to look as if the woman was wearing a veil, and it truly captures the illusion.  This is a magnificent work of art.  Albeit, this type of sculpture was extremely popular in Italy during the late 1800's.  Regardless of this type of sculpture being common, this is a masterwork.

Raffaelo Manti

Italian, 1818-1881

"Veiled Lady"

1860, marble

Come down to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts...

...ask a security guard where it is.

Artwork of the month: Kandinsky's "Composition #8"

I discovered Wassily Kandinsky in 1996.  It was a portion in my life when I learning how to oil paint.  My work at the time were expressionistic abstract oils, all improvisational and without any preconceived thought.  After Kandinsky I began my work toward compositional oil painting.  Compositional oil painting is not simply working with the surface area of an oil painting, it is a philosophy.

I have traveled to the Guggenheim art Museum in New York seven times now simply to view this one oil painting.  Composition #8 is Kandinsky's peak, it was his best and although his work continued to progress ever forward conceptually, he was never able to reach that height again.

Wassily Kandinsky
Russian, 1866-1914
"Composition #8"
1923, oil on canvas

From this digital picture the lines look hard and solidly defined.  Standing in front of this you can see that they are also delicate and completed the first time the brush hit canvas.  Composition #8 is a treasured work of art and one that I will go spend some time with again very soon.


I should be painting instead of blogging...
...but you are reading so I keep writing.

2.4.2_On the application of oil paint.

2.4.2  On the application of oil paint.

  All artists have their own method of applying paint to surface.  I propose the painting process to be a meditative experience, where artists learn about Zein and Dasein.  The practice of oil painting for me is somehow magick in that I always learn something about myself, my world and my philosophy.  As it is always different for every artist I can only speak for my own experience within oil painting.  The application process of oil painting is completely a personal choice for the student, and a choice based on conceptual needs for the professional.  

  How the artist creates an oil painting is honestly irrelevant, although understanding the capabilities and limitations of oil paint is a necessary step to become an oil painter.  Essentially a path of experimentation and dogma for the oil painter, and a must.  For the artist running away from dogma and relying on pure intuition can accomplish many great works, but without a deep study of the traditional methods of oil painting that artist will never evolve any farther than their own sense of self.  Through trial and error the oil painter will find the qualities and limitations of each type of oil color.  Oil painting is a philosophical and spiritual undertaking, painting is revealing of the artists character if even only for a moment.  Working with oil paints teaches us our truths.

  Regardless of personal preference, painting with oils does have a few guidelines that an artist should at least know and practice before moving on toward individualism.  The first of those traditional understandings is that oil painting is sculpting.  Oil painting is sculpting in that the artist builds a surface by applying layers of oil color.  Starting with a thin application of oil color by working in the pigment evenly over the canvas, not adding too much paint but working with what small amount that was originally applied.  Now you have to wait.  

  Oil painting is patience.  The application of thin amounts of paint at first and eventually adding more paint give can only happen in the drying process.  You must wait for the first layer of paint to dry on the surface before you can apply subsequent layers.   I suggest you sit back and look on in silence at your work between applications.  Truly investigate your work as it gets closer to completion.  

  You paint with your mind.  All editing and decision making toward a composition is done in your minds eye.  Working with oil paint is a process of underpainting, and overpainting.  While you wait for your painting to dry between working sessions, the real work, conceptually organizing your composition in your mind takes place.  The first few applications of paint are initially filling in the teeth or weave of the canvas surface.  

  Lastly, the application of oil paint depends on the artists ability to sculpt.  traditionally sculpting is the teacher to the student of oil painting.  The oil painter must periodically sculpt, as it reminds him of the full content of the forms, and reestablish the concept of a surface.

  These traditional methods of applying oil paint may have not seamed to be about physically painting at all.  Albeit, they are the traditional means in which the student of oil painting learns how to paint.  Fortunately, the oil painter is born knowing and acts accordingly when reminded by his mentor who was once reminded by his.  

My favorite picture from an exhibit.

This image is from the art major opening night.  The exhibit lasted 2 months, it was fun and i was able to acquire some commissions.

This is my favorite picture from opening night.

Thanks for checking in...

...more to come soon.

2.4.1_On Oil Paint.

2.4.1  On Oil Paint.

As I have stated many times the definition of an oil painter is that he use oil paint, anything beyond that one simple guideline closes the door of inventiveness on the artist forever.  There can be no substitute for oil paint.  Not acrylic, watercolor, tempera,  gouache, or encaustics can even begin to compare or replace the quality of oil pigments.  The color quality, the depth, the natural appearance of oil paints is remarkable and unmistakeable.  

  There are no other forms of paint that can get the results of true color other than natural non-synthetic oil paints.  Oil paint has a life force.  Simply take an oil painting into the sunlight to see this life within oil colors produced in natural light.  The dramatic difference between synthetic mediums and oil pigments shows itself and comes alive when viewed in natural light.  Where acrylics and other paint types become dull at best, oil paints become vibrant and stunning.  Oil paints last longer, look better, can be worked with more control and accuracy, and appear more natural than any other type of paint.

Oil paints have been in use since the 1300‘s, but were not used mainly by artists until the early 1400‘s.  It is their long lasting quality that make oil paints attractive for use.  Oil paints are a slow drying medium.  They are ground pigments mixed with drying oils.  A large majority of the pigments used in oil paints are toxic, and care must be taken while working with them.  I speak from the experience of getting sick from mixing oil paints, its not pleasant and will effect you in ways you can not expect for a life time.  Oil paints were chosen by artists when the water-based temper paint were found to be insufficient to produce greater realism because of their quick drying nature.  Oil paints do not dry by evaporating as water-based paints do.  Oil paints oxidize into a dry semi-solid.  As the medium is exposed to air it reacts chemically leaving behind the hardened oil and pigment.  Oil paints are not truly dry until a year after their application.  How thick you apply the paint, the temperature and humidity of the air, and the atmospheric pressure of where you are lengthens of quickens the drying process.  I have a humidity gauge in my studio and I have found that the best drying time for my work to be between 35 and 40 percent humidity.  Anything more and your oils dry splotchy, and anything less and your oils dry too quickly.  The oxidization process of oil paint never truly stops, and an oil painting hardens the most during the first six months.  

As a result of the drying process oil paints dry slowly, permitting the artist to work with the paint for several days after its initial application.  Once the surface oil paint has dried, it can be painted over without harming the underpainting.  The ability to completely paint over dried surfaces allows the artist to edit, glaze, or tint his painting like no other painting medium can.  This coverup attribute to oils allows the artist to manipulate his painting with ease, planning ahead for painterly effect.  Sure you can paint over acrylics, but you can always see the underpainting and it is the same with tempera and watercolor.  

I chose to return to using oil paints out of an accident, and I have never looked back.  In 1996 I was working with acrylic paints, and in the spring of 1997 I ran out of acrylics, but I had a shoe box full of oil paints that my grandmother had given me from her collection.  Without oil brushes I chose to start painting with palette knives, spreading the oil paint across the canvas like cake frosting.  Since 1997 my journey with oil colors has been an industrious adventure.  I came to understand my chosen medium, as I believe it understands me as my relationship with oil painting has granted me an understand of its abilities and limitations.  

I have experimented with oil paints extensively.  Attempting varying layers of texture to tool use to methods of drying and application techniques.  I know what each type of oil paint can do and what brands make the best oil color based on my conceptual needs.  I even know how each pigment will look on a surface when thrown from six feet or more away, and how they also appear after lightly brushing them on in a glaze.  I spent a great deal of time testing different brands of oil paint for a multitude of purposes.  Truly Old Holland oil colors are still the finest oil pigments that I have found.  Mostly the selection of oil color is personal preference, but a professional uses professional materials while the hobbyist can use the student grade.    

Oil paints can be sculpted, thrown, applied with any tool (so long as the chosen tool is disciplined), looks better than other types of paint, and we know that it can withstand the test of time.  I thought that I would have more to say being that I am so involved with oil paints, but I believe that simply stating repeatedly that oil paints are better than others is enough.  

Artwork of the month: Prayer.

This oil painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is simply pleasing to look at.  It has no real light source, she is simply bathed in light within the darkness.  

Joos Van Cleve

Netherlands, died 1540 or 41

"The virgin on prayer"

1520-1530, oil on panel

Go to the Museum and spend some time with this...

,,,it is pleasant to look at.

Rabbititus studies.

I like this direction...

...now to work on movement.

The Rabbititus series of oil paintings are finished.

Well, after three years I have completed my series of works on color.  It was a great study tool for me.  Before I had started this work I came to understand what i want to paint, but I did not know how to paint them yet.  I decided to study each color in the varieties of oil paint that I enjoy working with.  So with each oil painting there are no less than 15 variations of each color.


Artist Statement

This series is an exploration of the compositional elements inherent in a literal interpretation of each color.  Each of the works in this series is a study of all the aspects of a single color, such as the spatial relationship of its own structure and its relationship to other colors and forms.  I am also exploring the possibilities of color through the use of the fundamentals of classical oil painting.  A search for deeper meaning in my work will likely confuse and distract the viewer from its simplicity.

The use of title in this series is formed from the archetypal character model of Elmer Fudd. His understanding is basic, without nuance. He grasps all ideas and situations presented to him at face value, and subsequently is easily confused and victimized by guile. In “Hare Tonic,” Elmers character is effortlessly influenced, even by his enemies, and is more than willing to believe anything he is told.  Individuals relying on the immediacy of absolutes are willing to devoutly believe anything their social structure tells them, and their decisions can be likened to that of the naive mannerisms of Elmer Fudds behavioral patterns.


Adam M. Considine 2008

Rabbititus 1 "Cadmium Green Light"
oil on canvas
60" x 36" 

Rabbititus 2 "Cobalt Blue Deep"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 3 "Cobalt Violet"
oil on canvas
60" x 36" 

Rabbititus 4 "Cadmium Orange"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 5 "Cadmium Red Light"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 6 "Cadmium Lemon Yellow"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 7 "Mars Brown"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 8 "Mars Black"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 9 "Flake White"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 10 "Primary Colors"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 11 "Secondary Colors"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 12 "Zinc White"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 13 "Radiant Violet"
oil on canvas
60" x 36" 

Rabbititus 14 "Napels Yellow"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 15 "Neutral Colors"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Rabbititus 16 "Radiant Turquoise"
oil on canvas
60" x 36" 

I have already started my new series of oil paintings...

...so check back soon for updates on what I am creating!

2.3.2_How to stretch a canvas.

2.3.2  How to stretch a canvas.

  Regardless if the oil painter choses to work on canvas or panel, or never intends to stretch his own canvas, the student of oil painting is obligated to learn how to stretch a canvas.  Beyond the obvious lessons, knowing how to stretch a canvas teaches the student of oil painting the limitations and potential of the medium.  There are many ways to stretch a canvas.  This step by step illustration is the method I have found to consistently produce the best possible painting surface, with the most longevity.

  The choice of using staples or tacks to fix the canvas to the stretchers has consistently been debated by artists.  Tacks are traditional and painters have used them because tacks were all that was available to them.  Today staples are readily available, they are just as good and sometimes better than tacks.  Cheap staples or tacks will eventually rust, damaging your canvas and eventually causing mold to form between the stretcher and canvas.  If the oil painter choses to use tacks then he must realize that it is for the nostalgic philosophical reasons and not the structural ones.  Todays galvanized staples are every bit as good as tacks, and in most cases better.  Albeit, every oil painter should use tacks at least one time simply to experience of their use.  It is not the use of fixing the canvas to a stretcher that holds great importance, so the choice of tacks or staples is freely yours without consequence to your painting surface.  It is the method in which the artist actually stretches the canvas which is important.

  While fixing a canvas to a stretcher frame always work around the canvas in a counter-clockwise direction.  Working counter clockwise is a natural pattern so let that become a part of your muscle memory when stretching canvas.  Doing so might seam arbitrary, but it assists the pull and relax of the fabrics weave so it lays tight and parallel against the stretcher frame in a manner more according to the weave of the fabric.

  For what we are going to be doing you will need a few tools.  A ruler, scissors, a stapler, staples, hammer, an ink pen or marker, small pliers, and a pair of canvas pliers if you need them. 

Step One:  Build the stretchers making sure all four corners are square.

  The decision to use lightweight or heavy weight stretchers is both one of cost and need. For smaller paintings light weight stretchers are fine, and desirable for works less than 24 inches. Paintings on light-weight stretchers larger than 24 inches tend to warp and “potato chip” during the drying process.  Heavy weight stretchers are by far superior and will hold the canvas better. Modern stretchers are made to expand and slightly re-stretch the canvas though time.  Once the painting is completed, as in your done painting it, place the stretcher wedges in by pounding them into the inside corner slots, one at a time in the same order as stapling the corners of the canvas.  Do not use a glue to fix the stretcher wedges because they need to be moveable so as to help re-stretch the canvas as its weave settles with time. 

Step Two:  Let us start with a un-primed canvas.

  Right now we only want to line up the weave of the fabric to be as parallel to the stretcher bars as possible.  Lay the canvas painting surface down onto a soft surface, like a blanket or sheet, so as to not scratch the surface or cause the pattern of the fabrics weave to be displaced.  I use a large quilt to lay my canvas on.  You don’t have to go to that extent of protection as I do that because the pre-primed linen I use is very smooth and expensive and I don’t want to ruin my surface for applying oil paint.  Place the pre-built stretcher frame on top the back of the canvas then wrap the canvas over the stretchers, aligning the weave of the fabric parallel to the stretcher bars, overlapping the inside edge by an inch.  If your canvas is larger than your stretchers need trim off the excess while sizing.  

  Once you have the fabrics weave lined up with the frame staple the centers of each side pulling the canvas tight but not taunt.  These four staples are temporary, and you will remove them part way through the next step.  Then trim the overlapping canvas to match the inside edge of the frame.  You want there to be enough fabric to evenly lay around the entire stretcher bar and no more.  Then holding the canvas in place, staple the exact center of one of the longest sides.  Then stretching the canvas tight from the opposite side, staple its exact center.  Do the same for the remaining two sides, being sure to pull the canvas tight before you place each staple.  The purpose of this is to simply assure that the alignment of the fabrics weave is parallel to the stretcher bars, and to hold the canvas in place to prepare to stretch it to the stretcher fame.

Step Three:  Stretching the outside corners.  

  With the canvas set in place now start the stretching process with the corners.  You want to start your staples at the bottom line of the adjoining stretcher.  So if your stretchers are two inches thick, you want to start your corner two inches from the actual corner.  Chose one of the longest sides and first staple its left corner, pulling the canvas tight again but not taunt.  The placement of the corner staples should be in the center mass of the stretcher, lined directly with the adjoining stretchers inside edge.  Working in a counter clockwise direction, do the same to the remaining three left sided corners being sure at this point to pull the fabric taunt with each staple.  Repeat the process on the right sided corners of each, again moving counter clockwise around the canvas and pulling the fabric taunt.  

Step Four:  Split the middles.  

  Next remove the first four center staples used to hold the canvas in place, being careful so as not to damage the canvas.  

Then measure the distance between the corner staples on each side, mark the centers and re-staple for what is now the exact centers of each side, again moving in a counter-clockwise direction around the frame.  Pull each side of the canvas taunt before placing the staple.   Being sure that the staples are in the center mass of the stretcher width, keep measuring between all of the staples and mark off all the centers.  Pulling the canvas taunt, staple all the centers one at a time counter clockwise.  If your hands are not strong enough to pull the canvas tight use a canvas pliers to easily pull the canvas to the perfect tautness on the stretcher frame.  

At this point you should have 20 staples into the mix.  Again divide the distance between each staple in half, stapling each half mark between all the staples around the entire frame.  We now have 36 staples in the mix.  Repeating this process again and again until the staples are between two and four inches apart.  

  By dividing the staple points in this way instead of simply going once all the way around the canvas will naturally eliminate warping and ensure that the fabrics weave is stretched evenly as the it is pulled taunt equally over the total surface area while remaining parallel to the stretcher frame.  The more staples used to stretch the canvas the taunter the painting surface will be against the frame.  Do not go OCD on this.  The canvas is good and stretches when the staples are two to four inches apart from one another.  

Step Five:  Folding the corners in.  

  As a final step you will want to fold the excess canvas on the corners to form a forty-five degree flap.  Work in a clockwise direction, folding the corner to your left toward you.  It is extremely important that you fold each corner the same, all going in the same direction and tucking into the canvas in one repeated form.  Pull the material upward while tucking the excess canvas on the corners from the top of the fold under to the bottom edge of the frame.  Repeat the tuck, refolding it into itself then pressing the fold down flush with the exterior side of the frame itself.  Staple the fold to the frame along the folds edge with two or three staples.  This should leave a clean 45 degree corner on the outside edge of the frame with the fold on the back side.  You should end up with one fold per side.  

Step Six:  Letting it breath.

  Lean your finished canvas upright against a wall for a day or more to allow the weave to settle into its new position.  After a few days use a small amount of water on the back of the canvas to tighten it further if needed.  Be careful not to use too much water or the stretchers will warp, and the canvas will be virtually useless having an uneven surface to paint on.  The finished canvas should be taunt like a drum, making a deep reverberating sound when lightly tapped.  

  This method of stretching a canvas is the classical way, that my mentor taught me as it was taught to him.  This technique has been passed on for several generations of oil painters and is an invaluable lesson to learn.  Even if your going to end up slightly lazy as I am and purchase pre-stretched canvases.  I do suggest that the student of oil painting stretch a minimum of twenty canvases, and I bet you will do more than that.  I did.