How to paint like Willem de Kooning – with Corey D'Augustine | IN THE STUDIO
The Museum of Modern Art・2 minutes read
Exploring Willem de Kooning's use of liquid paints for gestural painting, including mixing techniques and materials like oil paints, linseed oil, and varnish. His process involves creating a Caucasian flesh tone, using different consistencies of paint, and employing techniques like sanding the canvas, charcoal sketches, and step-back analysis for composition and color interactions.
Insights
- De Kooning's meticulous process involved a unique combination of materials like linseed oil and damar varnish to manipulate paint viscosity, creating specific colors and textures for his signature gestural paintings.
- The artist's methodology included a cyclical approach of painting, drawing, and editing, utilizing techniques such as sanding canvases, scrubbing with mineral spirits, and employing long brushes to achieve a cohesive visual effect while avoiding muddy colors through careful layering and drying times.
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Recent questions
How did Willem de Kooning create a Caucasian flesh tone?
By mixing buff titanium, red, yellow, and green with damar varnish and linseed oil.
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Summary
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De Kooning's Techniques: Gestural Painting Insights
- Exploring Willem de Kooning's work, known for using large quantities of liquid paints for gestural painting.
- Materials include oil paints, linseed oil, damar varnish, and a baker's pan for a palette.
- Mixing paints with linseed oil to reduce viscosity and enhance flow on the canvas.
- Creating a Caucasian flesh tone by mixing buff titanium, red, yellow, and green, with damar varnish and linseed oil.
- Using cadmium red hue with linseed oil and water for a thin, runny consistency.
- Adding mineral spirits to create a thin, stain-like paint for absorption into the canvas.
- Sanding the canvas with rough sandpaper to make it absorbent before painting.
- Starting with charcoal sketches on the canvas to warm up and plan gestural marks.
- Taking breaks to step back and analyze the painting, focusing on composition and color interactions.
- Employing techniques like scrubbing with mineral spirits and using long brushes for a global perspective while painting.
14:42
Mastering Alla Prima Technique in Oil Painting
- Working with alla prima technique in oil painting can lead to muddy colors due to blending. To rectify this, one can either scrape off the paint or wait for it to dry, allowing for layering of different colors without blending.
- De Kooning's approach involved constant editing and alternating between painting, drawing, and back again. Gestural mark making with tools like charcoal can create embedded marks in the paint when dry.
- Enmeshing marks in a painting involves considering body movement and mark-making techniques to create a cohesive visual effect, avoiding individual planes of color.
- De Kooning's paintings evolved over time with layers of paint, alternating between wet in wet and wet over dry techniques, resulting in heavily encrusted surfaces that could take years to complete.
