Oil Painting Quick Tip: How to Put Any Color Anywhere

This is a short explanation of a basic principle that I think every painter should know. Maybe you already do? Let me know. Btw, once the painting in the video is finished (soon) I will release an entire video about it.

[@oalevine]

I've been trying to figure out how other artists do this random color thing, and just couldn't wrap my head around it. And here's you finally explaining it in words that I can actually understand, so a huuuuge thank you for it! also, I know, not finished yet, but that painting is already looking fantastic!

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you for commenting! Yes! That is my goal - to communicate ideas clearly. More to come and thank you for the nice comment about the painting.

[@ciucinciu]

took a bike ride now at 5am in a small delta near bucharest, this time i have my small camp burner to make my own damn coffee and watch the sunrise and my youtube feed. prepared my first cup and saw there is not much interesting things to watch today, i refresh and this video appears with 0 views. hell yeah son! exactly what i need, that hits the spot! now i feel the urge to get back home and start paintingue

[@stevechmilar1215]

Yes !! Mission accomplished! I hope it was satisfying. You made my evening all the way over here in west coast Canada with your first comment on this video! Giddy-Up!

[@c.retana-holguin8318]

Your video just came up on my feed. Your work immediately drew me in--your style and composition and the narrative you have created are phenomenal. Lastly, I enjoyed your lesson about adding random color around your painting.

[@jackal1776]

Great video! Can’t wait to apply this to my next painting.

[@georgesutter2256]

Very interesting. I remember an old master explaining this forty years ago. He mentioned jewels seen and unseen. After all this time it makes sense now

[@kathleen4811]

Thanks for a great concept and exampling it. I can see places where I could use this in my paintings.

[@ronanthem]

Thank you for posting. You do deserve a larger audience. I will continue to tune in!

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you!

[@Handotr]

Awesome. I’ll try it. Fear is the biggest hurdle. Subscribed!

[@stevechmilar1215]

Excellent! Thank you for subscribing.

[@sonjakramer8446]

How fascinating! I've never heard this explained or demonstrated before. As long as the colour being applied has the same tonal value. I've always been hesitant to add a colour that doesn't have relevancy to the subject. But I can see how it adds life and movement to the work. Definitely going to experiment. This painting is amazing! Thanks for sharing!

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you. Yes, it totally depends on the context. There can also be endless patterns to the way unexpected colors are applied, all dependent on the texture. I find smooth gradients to be the most difficult but areas that already have a lot of texture to be easy to apply different colors to in the same value areas. :)

[@Ahsennase]

Thank you. I'm going to give this a try! Enjoying your videos, I've admired your work for years but discovered a few weeks ago that you had a youtube channel

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you. Happy painting experiments!

[@DavisStanley]

Great video, thank you! I was born with the innate ability to pour emotion into music by passionately fluctuating volume and tempo in, out, up, down, and through the constant resolutions found in music. With that being said, I feel that this concept also applies to music, wherein notes that wouldn't typically synergize can if volume and speed are adjusted.

[@stevechmilar1215]

Amazing, thank you for this insightful comment. I do always see and hear so many parallels between painting and music.

[@nunuallen4327]

This is interesting, color mixing to me is so hard. I need to watch more.

[@KB-ty2gc]

Love the video, subscribed, will be watching in the future what you bring! Hope you get to grow your audience, your art looks fantastic.

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you for subscribing and commenting!

[@girlanachronism88]

Man your skill level is insane o_o

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you for saying so. 🤩

[@jamesguacamole3246]

That was one fantastic intro (but 3.689 milliseconds short)! More cow bell!!!!!! Oh yeah... and good video too - interesting way to work in color surprise or color connection/continuity/unification - it's all about the values - thanks for sharing. (outro was actually almost spot on - a mere 7.12065 nanoseconds long)

[@stevechmilar1215]

Exact numbers noted. I will use a millisecond timer next time. Thank you!!!!

[@elliegreen872]

Wonderful video, artists on you tube share their excellence and talent, I no longer live anywhere near an art gallery so binge on art on You Tube. Thank You.,

[@ScottHebertArt]

nice work dude, great tips! I see in some of the other comments you're from BC, me too!

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you! Yes, best place to be in Canada from my experience. Cheers!

[@Braxtonhawkins]

Your art is inspiring ❤

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you for saying so.

[@martawitkiewicz]

Technical question: did you oil out the surface before applying paint? Would it be advisable to make this effect wet on wet or it doesn't matter?

[@stevechmilar1215]

I find wet over dry to be tricky no matter what, especially in dark areas. This was wet on wet but I did oil-out with a mix of mostly stand-oil + a couple drops of linseed. I like the stand-oil for gloss. I oiled-out the surface over the underpainting before starting the block-in that I did in the back-in-time clip (while wearing beige). Mainly to prepare the edges against a part that I would keep on the background edge. In the middle of the block-in areas it wouldn't matter because once it is all filled in, it's all wet-on-wet anyways, but (always a but) I use the addition of stand-oil for gloss which keeps the darks looking dark and color-saturated after they are dry, creating a painting that doesn't need to be varnished to look right. I do varnish anyways eventually. Hope that makes sense. Let me know if it doesn't. :)

[@martawitkiewicz]

​​@@stevechmilar1215It does and it's more than I asked for 🤩 btw your oiling out mixture always was a mystery for me, no added disolvents, at any stage of the painting actually. What about fat over lean principle? I also use just oil, right on the top of underpainting, but, it makes me wonder why people go first with 80% white spirits in the mixture, then 50/50 etc until last oiling out it just oil. Preventing potential cracking? Thank you for those videos :)🔥 "Value first" rocks 🎸

[@stevechmilar1215]

​@@martawitkiewicz You're very welcome. Are you speaking of people at an atelier or others painting in a particular style? I'm not sure but I'll riff on one thought I have: As far as I know (which is not everything) there are so many people who are obsessed with the idea of a "secret medium" I think because our culture is very "product" driven. I have seen this so many times in music where someone with far more money than talent pays top dollar for a guitar and amp than most other musicians can afford, thinking it will be the key to being their best. Yet, Eddie Van Halen's first guitar was put together from scraps. As well as golfers or photographers who have to buy the best gear. They spend more time shopping for the magic tool than developing what really matters: their minds and hands. I believe the reason that painters as far back as Velazquez, Raphael, Titian and Van Eyck could still effect us today is because of composition, brush work and pure passion. A lot (80%) of spirit in the mixture at first is a quick way to underpaint with a "wash" (water-colour-like) thin imprematura alla the Richard Schmid school, but definately not necessary. (If modern era representational painters are who you were speaking of). It takes a bit more "elbow grease" to apply underpainting without but it is more archival. A bit of extra linseed into an umber to make it flow easier is fine too as long as it isn't too much to slow drying time in first layers. I don't think cracking had anything to do with it. A good substrate should prevent that. Why I use panel and not canvas. I tend to use paint from the tube (no added linseed) at first (fast drying pigments if possible). Then only add the stand oil when I know it is supposed to be my final layer. I used to keep the stand oil paint thicker (still less than 1mm) because it had an even glossier enamel-like surface, but I realized over time that that wasn't necessary to keep darks looking dark after they dried. The problem with the super glossy enamel-like surface is that it is hard to make corrections over top if needed. New paint doesn't want to stick. With a thinner "satin-like" final layer, I find it still keeps the darks but is possible to make corrections over top if needed. This all works within the fat-over-lean rule. That rule can also be understood as: any paint over the same paint later is fine, fast drying under anything is fine, slow drying under faster drying is the only bad. Also depending on layer thickness. Even using something very slow drying like a cadmium orange in the first layer is fine as long as nothing faster drying will go over top. The reason people can have problems with touching up after in dark areas is because they might have a fatter glossy surface that they work into with paint from the tube that has no glossy or fatter medium in it. Then that "touch-up" spot will look matt once it is dried. Does that make sense?

[@martawitkiewicz]

​​@@stevechmilar1215Ok. THAT was gold. Resolved confusions I had and some I didn't know I have haha. Making notes 🤓 it's funny how sometimes things click for you when said in a different way. Yes, I was talking about representational painters. Most of those I know went to some type of Atelier and it's kind of environment that I was taking information from. I like your thoughts a lot because you are autodidact therefore you are unbiased, nothing has been pushed onto you, no "one way" type of thinking. Which feels mind opening and encouraging to think by oneself, use common sense and just experimenting what works what doesn't. I think it's a common mindset of beginners who keep asking about this specific pencil or brush that would suddenly improve their works. After perfect tools search comes the right technique concerns (guilty), this specific method that would transform drastically the results. A lot of time and energy goes into it which could be spend by practicing with what you have and keep developing technical sides on the way. In the end everything comes down to the idea, the message, the story and composing it well. I keep straying off the video theme track. SNS. This topic pumps me up and requires long separate essay 😂 Looking forward to the video and thoughts about your current painting once it's finished 🤩 (make it super long and detailed, it deserves thorough indepth presentation. You could make a separate channel with 15h long raw unedited materials. I'm in.)

[@stevechmilar1215]

@@martawitkiewicz Encouragement taken. 😃 Message to follow....

[@artplanb9688]

Hey, man. For once the Algorithm has actually worked. Which means Ai is learning faster. Which means your art is amazing and you need to start a career in Law, so that at the opportune moment you sue the bastards.

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you! I will start listening to law degree lectures while painting now. 🤠