Oil Painting

I would like to apologize at this time for my lack of posts in the last few days, been a bit busy but i am back now :)

When it comes to painting landscapes, sea scapes or portraits my medium of choice will be oil paints, I enjoy the drying time being sometimes a few days because that allows me to be able to do the painting, or the layer, come back to it, have a think about it and change what needs to be changed with much of the time not even having to apply any more paint. For many this may sound like the perfect medium for them however it has its flaws, this is not the kind of medium you can just take out and do a five minute job and hope to achieve much or even anything, because lets be honest it will probably take you at-least ten minutes to get set up however every time i simple touch the paint brush to the canvas it amazes me how you can get such bold, striking and effective colours. There are mediums which makes this paint so unique when paired with the pigment, just step into an art store and cast your eyes on the rows of oils, gessoes and many more.

One of the biggest frustrations to me when using oil is coming out of my garage  and smelling of turpentine clearly this can be concurred with the use of odorless sinner however this is an expensive alternative. An alternative to using oil with oil paint is WATER, well thats for one brand, i have not yet had the chance to try this for my self however this contradiction, i have been told, seems to work very well, check it out. http://www.winsornewton.com/products/oil-colours/artisan-water-mixable-oil-colour/
I leave you with this thought, if you were to think of the five most famous paintings, ever, they will be of an oil painting, clearly a preferred medium by the masters of art.

Graphite pencils

An essential tool to have when being a visual artist is a pencil, it is irreplaceable. However pencils can be more than a secondary tool for an artist, i think that being good at drawing and shading is potentially the most desired thing of most artists. I think that is subject to numerous reasons however mainly it is a tidy medium that needs nothing more than a pencil and a peace of paper to have you create a master peace. I do not believe that i have completely mastered the art however i aspire it deeply and i am devoting more time to train myself in it, my preferred choice of pencil make is the Derwent Graphic however i think you can achieve a high standard with most everyday pencils http://www.pencils.co.uk/product.aspx?mid=727

Acrylic paints

This is one of the newest painting medium to hit the industry, versatile, robust, what else could you ask for in a paint? It has certain features which will either make you embrace it as a favored medium or look down at it as a weak alternative to the masters alternatives. A quality which clearly differs oil from acrylic is the drying time, oil may take as long as 4 days to dry whereas acrylic may take as little as 30 seconds, if your a student or you simply just don't have that much time on your hand than its safe to say that acrylic will be the best option for you. A noticeable darker tone takes place when the paint drys, for many this is a serious issue however i think that all the other quality's  listed makes this for me a desirable medium, i have found a site with some examples of the versatility of acrylics, hope you like it :P   http://acrylics.winsornewton.com/en/win/aboutthecompetition/

Coloured pencil

Today i am going to be talking to you about one of my favorite mediums, the coloured pencil, this medium has come along way in the last 50 years it was once was an agonizing, ill achieving tool, which lacked any definition in pigment but what it did have and what it still has is a guarantee in accuracy you can not get in any other coloured medium, it also was and still is the medium that many of is encounter first in life and are more likely to use most in our school life, well it was for me at least, however most of the time it can seem close to useless if you  wish to achieve any form of realism or abstract look to your work.

However most of the time this is down to the colouered pencil its self and do not feel disheartened if you browse on the internet and see almost photo like colour pencils which take you a few seconds to realize that they are in fact drawings, i am not saying by any means that it is easy if you have the right tool, because it isn't, but what i would tell you is that for many this may be the reason for your struggle, a company i advice is Derwent they are affordable and they offer other alternatives to my much preferred Derwent Artist pencils  http://www.pencils.co.uk/product.aspx?mid=722 
 

Coloured pencil

"A well spent day brings happy sleep"

Everyday for the next week i will talk about an art medium, i shall try and cover the key reasons on why i think it is a desirable medium and others such as my self may think it is a desirable medium, this will primarily be to help you guys out to either try something new out or to learn more about your already admired medium, i will post blogs and websites which will enhance your art.   

I just thought that i would share with you my favorite artists, one of the reasons i admire him so much is because he had a wide contextual knowledge on all the mediums of his time i can think of as well as being talented in numerous other fields.

Help is here

I have found a website which many of you may have not heard of, they have video tips going from drawing techniques with graphite pencils all the way to full painting projects with oil paint, check it out and i hope that it helps you out :) http://www.thepaintinganddrawingchannel.co.uk/tv-anytime.html

We all do it ;)

Unleash the Artist: A little bit about me

A little bit about me

watercolor print i did last year, enjoy 

Lets be honest we both know plane and simple that you do not want to listen to me blab on about my life however i hope that my story is by some way encouraging to you that you can execked in art or whatever it is you do, i started drawing and painting when i was 13, i had no talent at all but back then i really enjoyed drawing, then one day my art teacher saw a painting that i had done and mistaken it for being his own a little dispute soon settled that and he decided that he would coach me to be better, i got a scholaship a year later and here i am 2 years on with about 7 oil paintings to my name and 25 Acrylic paintings, each time i paint i learn so much, if i can do it in such a small space of time so can you, not forgetting other key things i have to balance in with my life ;)

New blog showcasing my artwork

Welcome to my unleash the artist, here i will help anyone who struggles with issues in there artwork as well as showcase of my own artwork for sale or just for a look, my email is peter.markos@gmail.com, if you wish to ask any questions feel free to head over and i will respond as soon as i can, enjoy :)

on the right the drawing i am showcasing was done with a Derwent Graphic i used a H and a 2B, i did this when i was 14 years old one summer holiday