Courses
Art Bites
Video and interactive tutorials to build essential skills.
Painting Failures
For over a hundred years, most causes of paint failures have been studied: humidity, temperature and paint embrittlement. The symptoms…
Cleaning Paintings
This course provides artists with practical and safer methods to clean their own paintings than what is currently practiced by artists who clean their paintings with household cleaners, solvents and oil mixtures, and anecdotal advice from well-meaning artists. The cleaning methods demonstrated in this course apply specifically to oil paintings, but the techniques and materials can also be used with additional precautions on gouache and tempera paintings.
Making Waterborne Paint
In this Studio Tips, George O’Hanlon, Technical Director of Natural Pigments, shows how to make your own waterborne paint. You…
Making Oil Paint
In this Studio Tips session George O'Hanlon, Technical Director of Natural Pigments, discusses how to make your own oil paint. He demonstrates the process of oil paint making, discusses pigments, mediums, and the tools needed to get started making your own collection of paints.
Stretching Canvas—The Right Way
There are many ways to stretch canvas, but the choice of materials is most important for a successful painting.
Protective Backings for Canvas Paintings
Learn how to protect your canvas painting from tears, bumps, and the environment in this Studio Tips Live! course with protective backing boards.
Art Insights
Lectures series that give you special insights in artist’s materials and paintings practices.
A Rational Approach to Color Palettes
The palette is one of the most important tools in the history of oil painting. Yet its effect is one of the least studied aspects of art history. The method of setting the palette has an important history and its development is relatively easy to trace in pictures of artists at work.
Changes in Binding Media and the Search for the “Lost Secrets” of the Master
Dramatic changes in the techniques and materials used by artists began to occur in the latter half of the eighteenth century as the binding media was given much more attention than in previous centuries. This is related to the rising professional status of artists and the formation of academies for training artists, especially in Britain. Rather than using well tested and reliable methods and materials, which were based on studio practice and apprenticeship, artists began trying out new processes. This in turn is related to the vain search for the “secrets of the old masters” that led to even more experimentation and even scandals, such as that experienced by the Royal Academy of Arts and its president, Benjamin West, at the turn of the nineteenth century.
Discover the Depths of Chromatic Black in Oil Painting
Dramatic changes in the techniques and materials used by artists began to occur in the latter half of the eighteenth century as the binding media was given much more attention than in previous centuries. This is related to the rising professional status of artists and the formation of academies for training artists, especially in Britain. Rather than using well tested and reliable methods and materials, which were based on studio practice and apprenticeship, artists began trying out new processes. This in turn is related to the vain search for the “secrets of the old masters” that led to even more experimentation and even scandals, such as that experienced by the Royal Academy of Arts and its president, Benjamin West, at the turn of the nineteenth century.
Fat Over Lean–A Better Interpretation
Fat Over Lean is confusing. In this course, we explain the fat-over-lean rule in a novel way that simplifies understanding and applying it in your oil painting.
Matte, Glossy Paint and Everything In-between
In the webinar we examine the causes of sinking. We discuss the common practice of “oiling out” (or sometimes “oiling in”), and its disadvantages. The webinar presents the best practices to correct irregular sheen, how to select and apply varnish, and get the best results in your art.
Optics of Paint Films
Our perception of a painting depends on the interactions between light and the layers of paint. In this course, we discuss the behavior of light in terms of reflection, refraction, and absorption. These optical interactions determine to a great degree how we interpret a painting.
Origins of Color
We admire the luminous colors of the Old Masters. What are the origins of their colors? How did they achieve the glowing pictures we admire so well? We learn the origin of the mineral pigments and how the Old Masters used them in their masterpieces.
Primer on Grounds
In this Studio Tips we show you how to prepare panels for the painting the right way. We show how to apply traditional chalk ground on wood, an oil ground on wood and an alkyd ground on aluminum composite material (ACM) panel.
Sinking In, Oiling Out, and Retouching Varnish
Blotchiness. Sinking in. Dead spots. These are well-known terms for oil painters that have caused vexation for centuries. The remedies…
Varnishing
In this Studio Tips we discuss the best practices for choosing the right varnish for your painting. We show you the best methods of applying varnish and how to avoid defects commonly encountered in its application.
Art Foundations
Foundation courses to help you master essential skills in painting.
Flexible Supports for Painting—Canvas
Flexible Supports—Stretched Canvas Since the sixteenth century, stretched canvas supports have enjoyed immense popularity. They are also a major cause…
Painting Best Practices Webinar
Painting Best Practices Live! webinar is based on the successful Painting Best Practices workshop developed by Natural Pigments and taught to hundreds of painters worldwide. The webinar provides skills taught in the workshop in a convenient and affordable format. The webinar extends the information in the workshop by giving artists opportunities to learn advanced skills through videos courses available this website.
Painting Failures
For over a hundred years, most causes of paint failures have been studied: humidity, temperature and paint embrittlement. The symptoms…
Wood as a Painting Support
This course will help you to evaluate wood as a support suitable for painting. Evaluating wood for painting begins by exploring wood itself. Lessons focus on the basic anatomical structure of wood, and relevant physical properties with particular attention to atmospheric humidity and resulting dimensional changes.
