Roy Connelly

I rarely paint inside, prefering to work ‘en plein air’.  This week I have been painting some larger studio pictures from my location studies so I thought I would share these photos taken around my studio.
Click to view full size. See below for details of my favourite suppliers of oil painting equipment and materials.

I always use the best quality materials when I am painting.  Here is a list of my favourite suppliers and what I buy from them:

Bird and Davis The UK’s oldest artists’ stretcher frame manufacturers and suppliers of best quality linen canvas.

C Roberson and Co High quality oil painting mediums and gilding supplies.  Founded in 1810 – past customers include Turner, Whistler and Sargent!

Cornelissen and Sons Artist’s Colourmen since 1855.  The best looking art shop in london. Brushes, goldleaf and other bits and pieces.

Gold Leaf Supplies Online seller of gold leaf and gilding supplies

Michael Harding Handmade artists’ oil colours

Old Holland Highly pigmented oil paints made to traditional formulas

Rosemary and Co High quality handmade brushes from Yorkshire

Winsor and Newton Professional quality artists’ oil colour

Yesterday I visited Room A at the National Gallery.  This little known room is rarely visited as it is only open for a few hours each Wednesday afternoon.  It houses around 800 pictures.  I was there to see the gallery’s collection of works by Eugène Boudin.  I made sketches of several of them – the one shown here is a beach scene at Trouville.

In the evening I visited the historic Life Room at the Royal Academy, for two hours of  drawing from the model with the New English Art Club Drawing School.

Next time you are in London on a Wednesday you know what to do.

Earlier this week I was painting the River Thames at Strand on the Green.   The top picture shows the painting a couple of minutes after I started.  I have used very thin paint to draw in the basic composition. 

The middle photograph was taken twenty minutes later.  With a dramatic and fast moving sky I needed to work quickly to capture it.  The trees are a little more solid but the river is still almost untouched.

The last photo shows the painting an hour later.  The trees and river have been worked on together, with a little more work on the sky. By this point the day was starting to brighten up and touches of blue were appearing in the sky.  It was time stop as I did not want to end up with one scene painted on top of another.

I was working in oils on an 8 x 16 inch board.   Click on each image for a larger view.

A good friend of mine has just returned from a trip to the Far East.  Not wanting to fall foul of airline baggage rules, he travelled out with his painting kit but no turps or white spirit. To help him buy some locally, he had translated the words for white spirit and paint thinner via the internet before he went.

After a long trawl through many shops, he was eventually offered a bottle of strange smelling liquid and off he went to do some painting.  Setting up in front of his chosen view, he carefully set out his paints on the palette and decanted some of his newly aquired “white spirit”. 

As he began to lay in the first washes of colour a strange thing started to happen.  The paint curdled then bubbled and eventually started to eat through the gesso priming of his board. Then it dawned on him – he was mixing his colours with paint stripper!

To save him from embarrassment, I won’t name him (yet!) but if you would like to share your tips for successful travelling with oil paints - or even share a few of your own disaster stories - please email me or leave a comment.

I own quite a few easels but the ones that get the most use are my French box easels.  I have an Italian French easel made by Mabef and a French one by Jullian.  The easel in these pictures is my Jullian half box and it is about 18 months old.  It has to put up with a lot as it is in use everyday - often in the rain one day and in the baking sun or freezing cold the next, so I think is is important to maintain it regularly.  Looking after your easel need not be too much of a chore and should ensure you get the most from it.

It can be surprising how much sand will stick to your easel if you paint at the beach.  If you don’t remove it the sand will wear away at the threads so brush it off and oil the thread.  I use 3in1 oil.  You should really do this after each beach trip but I sometimes forget – until I feel the sand crunching in the threads!

 Recently the front panel had started to pull apart from the rest of the box. To fix this I applied a few drops of wood glue to the dovetail joints and gently tapped it back together, then wiped off the excess glue and left it to dry overnight.

One problem with these easels is that the screws holding the hinges at the front of the box work loose and the top of the easel wobbles about when you are trying to paint.  I keep a small screw driver in the kit to fix this but recently the screws no longer tightened up at all.  The solution was to remove the hinges and pack the over-sized holes with thin strips of wood and wood glue.  I let it dry overnight then cut off the excess wood flush with the sides of the box and re-drilled the holes.  I replaced the screws with larger ones and this seems to have done the trick.

 An addition that I have made to both of my French easels is the screw shown by the arrow in the picture below.   This strengthens a joint that seems prone to coming apart, especially if you accidentally close the top with the drawer slightly open. Add one at each end of the cross piece.

 French easels are usually made from oiled beech.  To preserve the weather proofing of the wood simply wipe it with linseed oil once a year.  And don’t forget to clean the palette occassionally.

My easel in Trafalgar Square

I am frequently asked for advice on painting outside, sometimes by beginners, but often by quite accomplished studio painters. The following tips are replies to questions I have been asked recently.

How do you deal with people watching, negative comments or groups of teenagers? I will be painting in the centre of town!
Most people won’t even notice you! Those that do generally don’t stop for very long, its usually a quick glance and they carry on walking. You will get very few negative comments – I get, perhaps, one a year. I think your own personality will determine to what extent you talk to or ignore people when you are working. As for groups of teenagers, I find that they generally impressed with what you are doing. Its quite cool to be an artist.

Do you find that you sell a lot more work due to the interest in your painting on site ?
I have been invited to show in galleries and exhibitions by people who have seen me painting outside.

Have you any tips you can give me about setting up etc ?
It can be a bit nerve-racking the first time you set up in public but just go for it. Set your gear up and look as though you’ve done it for years – no one know’s any different.
If you are in London I would suggest setting up half-way across Waterloo Bridge. You will find that, as most people crossing the bridge are going somewhere, they won’t stop to bother you and you will quickly get used to people being around while you are working. It sounds like an ‘in at the deep end’ approach but most people will completely ignore you. If you set up outside a pub on a sunny afternoon the drinkers will have plenty of time to stand around and make helpful suggestions.

Some artists try to hide away completely when they work outside, but you probably won’t get the best view point. Be brave and choose your location to give you the best picture. I am quite happy to set up my box easel outside the National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square (photo above) or on the South Bank on a busy afternoon.

I use a half box easel with a good padded shoulder strap. I think a full box easel is likely to discourage you from walking very far.

Everything I need goes into one bag, it contains:
6-8 boards in different sizes
a box to carry the wet panels
Low odour white spirit
a small jam jar with lid for cleaning brushes
rags
brushes
T-square, useful for straight edges especially the horizon in seascapes
food and drink, hat, gloves etc

One important difference you will notice when painting outside, compared to in a studio, is how fast everything changes. Work small and don’t spend more than 2 hours at a time on a picture. Ideally 1 1/2 hours is about right or the shadows/weather/tide etc will have changed too much and you end up with one picture painted over another. You can always go back another day but in the UK you will be lucky if the light is the same for two days in a row.
If you have any questions or tips to add please leave a comment.