Hello,
First of all Thank you for all the knowledge you are sharing on this website. My question is about a Technique that Degas developed and used with his pupil Touluse Lautrec, called “peinture a’ l’essence”, meaning “essence painting”. The essence was oil painting havily diluted in turpentine that they apparentely used also on cardboard, sometimes mixed with pastels and chalks.
So my questions are:
Is it possible to repeat this Technique:
1.Using an eco solvents like sennelier green brush cleaner
2. On cardboard and if so, what cardboard? ( I read the document about flexible surfaces/ paper and I am still not sure if gessoed rag papers are better than arches or other paper pads specifically made for oil painting)
3.would this need a varnish and if so after how long, given that the paint will be really thin? Could alkyd be used to have a faster drying?
4.would paper be better than cardboard, or canvas as a surfaces or they are all the same? And what would you prefer?
5. What problems of longevity do you think there can be based on Toulouse Lautrec works?
6.can other mediums be mixed, such as chalks, charcoal, inks…
7. Do you think that oil painting is still the best medium for reaching similarity to this Technique or other medium would be more suitable? I am thinking about acrylics or water mixable oils for example
Sorry for so many questions, but I have been very curious about these twoartists that I really admire and I am looking for a more “on the go” approach to painting. Thank you for your time,
Flo
My 2 cents is that these works, if on bare card or paper, will become quite fragile with time. Also they’ll be highly underbound in nature. If you varnish, it will then become a permanent part of the work, impossible to later remove.
I’d start with trying acrylics first.
Marc.
thank you, this is a good advice actually.
So maybe what about: acid free paper, primed with Pva, then acrylic paint diluted with water as a medium and varnish on top? Would it be different from diluted oil paint? For sure it should dry faster…
I think for greater precision of an answer you should email Golden acrylics on this subject. They’d better know the limits and may even suggest a type of acrylic range best suited to this task. I’ve found them very responsive myself.
Marc.
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