Dudi Berkowitz Chicago

In this article, American artist Dudi Berkowitz Chicago will show you three simple steps to grind pigments. Although practically all the products that an artist may need are already prepared in the stores, there are some simple formulas to make certain types of paint that cannot be bought. Many artists want to incorporate found materials into their works. Even more, animal glues, wax and eggs have been used as adhesives for centuries. Each type of paint has very different characteristics, and its use also communicates meaning.

For Chicago-based artist Dudi Berkowitz, taking advantage of the many different qualities of adhesives and working directly with them is a real pleasure. In addition to trying the traditional formulas with egg, oil, wax and animal glue, it is possible to make sticky (and also a little clumpy) homemade paint by mixing pigment with a PVA adhesive, acrylic gel, shellac, linseed oil, dammar medium or resin.

Found materials such as garden soil or ash from burned objects can be oven dried, sifted, and then finely ground in mortar. With water-based materials such as tempera paint, egg tempera, polyvinyl acetate or PVA, and acrylic gel, it may be helpful to pre-soak the pigments in a little distilled water and mix them to make a paste that is added later. Another option is to buy the pigment in the form of a ready-made paste. Plant fluids can also be incorporated, although they are not indelible.

Three steps to grind pigments that you should know

For a smoother, more stable version of paste pigment or oil paint, invert a glass grinder with a glass or stone plate and grind the pigment in water or oil.

Put the pigment on the base. Different pigments require different amounts of solution: add drops of water or oil little by little with a teaspoon and mix with a spatula to make a dry paste.Grind in a circular motion with the wheel. You will notice that the pigment accumulates on the sides of the wheel and around the edge of the grind zone. Scrape this material off with a putty knife and put it back in the center of the plate. Keep grinding until the paint is smooth to the touch. If it looks too wet, add more pigment. Certain pigments absorb more water or oil, and some take longer to grind than others.Store the substance in airtight jars. Oil paint can be covered with a little water to keep it fresh.

Hopefully you enjoined reading these tips on how to grind pigments. If you want to learn more about art, Dudi Berkowutz Chicago will be delighted to welcome you to his online art classes. 

There are many aspects that come into play when creating a piece of art. Bellow, Chicago-based artist Dudi Berkowitz will discuss the most popular supports and materials for oil paintings

Choose a surface to paint

There are many different supports or surfaces for painting with oils. You can choose canvas, paper, and many types of wood. As long as the support is well primed, you can paint almost any surface. The canvas can be made of cotton or linen, it is a classic support for oil painting, although many artists prefer to paint on board, even on canvas board that has the rigidity of wood and the texture of fabric.

Five supports and other materials for oil paintings

As Dudi Berkowitz Chicago said before, all supports must be primed before use to seal the surface and that the support does not absorb paint. Many supports are already primed, but if you use a support made by you, you will have to prime it. A traditional primer is made from a gesso made with rabbit glue, chalk and titanium white. Acrylic gesso is easier to use. A water-based undercoat or primer with some plaster and white glue also works well. If you print with a large brush, you will leave visible brush strokes on the surface that will give texture and movement. For a more even finish, experienced painter Dudi Berkowitz Chicago recommends using a roller, or you can experiment marking with a burlap cloth over the wet gesso to leave texture.

Types of canvas: Canvas is the most popular choice among painters. You will find many types: those made of linen are the most traditional, while those made of cotton are more affordable and have a more regular weave. To create a suitable surface for painting, the canvas is stretched and fixed on a wooden frame. It is then tensioned with wedges in the corners that separate the frame pieces. You will find canvases with all kinds of textures, from fine to rough. You must prime them before you use them.

Wood planks: DM, tablex, and plywood are good materials for oil painting. Their great advantage is that they can be cut to any size and primed with the chosen texture. Boards last longer than canvases, and they store more easily and without risk of damage. The boards are useful for painting outdoors, because you can carry them in a container of wet works and they take up less than canvases. If you want you can drape the table.

Using paper: Some artists prefer to work on oil paper, a textured canvas paper ideal for oil paintings. Sold individually or in blocks, it is cheaper than canvas and can be mounted on a board. It is very useful to have this paper in the studio to test compositions or color mixes before attacking the canvas. You can also use primed watercolor paper.

Easels in the studio: You need some type of easel to hold the stand. There are trestles for every situation. Aluminum ones are lightweight and portable while wooden ones are strong, durable and traditional. They are also heavier, making them difficult to transport, which is why they are better to work in the studio. Other larger studio models include a crank to better raise and lower large frames for easier work.

Outdoors: Pochade boxes store equipment and provide support when working outside the studio. The French trestles also incorporate an area to carry the material.

The oil painting technique has been known since the Middle Ages. Its use was common among medieval artists. They combined and used this technique together with other techniques, such as tempera and fresco.

Dudi Berkowitz Chicago, a painter who has been studying the oil painting technique, claims that the reference that Jan Van Eyck was the inventor of this technique must be discarded. This is because, its use was known since ancient times and is referenced in medieval literary sources, such as the treatises of the monk Teofilo de Cennini.

In reality, what the Flemish painters of the 15th century did, was to apply this technique systematically. Berkowitz Chicago indicates that this contributed to consolidation and diffusion of the technique throughout Europe, a process that took place between the 15th and 16th centuries.

Jan Van Eyck used oil with great precision and some Venetian artists such as Titian, expanded the technical possibilities on the basis of texture in oil-based paint. Another significant scope was the possibility of the novel technique to achieve smooth transitions between values, as well as in the blurring of surfaces, the aerial perspective developed by Leonardo da Vinci in La Gioconda.

The Flemish Baroque painter, Pedro Pablo Rubens, in many of his works uses a dark or neutral base.

Berkowitz Chicago, who has been studying the oil painting technique for years, points out that these painters were characterized by doing direct work (realization of oil paintings with layers of great vitality and minimal corrections). Rembrandt created the "grisaille" pictorial method, which became the academic method of the 18th century.

According to Berkowitz Chicago, romanticism found greater technical freedom in the oil expression, since in this movement, the edges of the figurations were somewhat dissolved. In Impressionism, painters used this as a much more direct technique, even painting directly from the oil tube. In later movements, there was a greater attempt to prioritize expression rather than technical correctness, such were the cases of expressionism and neo-expressionism.

Dudi Berkowitz Chicago points out the fact that a large number of artistic and pictorial productions of universal art have been made with this versatile technique.

Last, but not least, Dudi Berkowitz Chicago shares that oil painting, which is the technique he uses the most for his paintings, offers multiple advantages to painters, including being able to carry out the works slowly, the admission of multiple retouches, the variety of shades, the suitability for dissimilar supports, the opaque character of the finish and the multiplicity of possible densities of the dyes.