Pixiq

Hand coloring with oil paint on paper… and they said it couldn’t be done!

The following technique lends itself very well in hand coloring Christmas cards or just prints that you can give as Christmas presents. Think of vintage old family photographs that your family would love to have framed on the wall, especially if they are hand painted with oils! Prints colored with oils are very beautiful and will last forever. What a precious personal gift for loved ones.

The reason to this point in time that you could not color inkjet prints (printed on paper) was that most inkjet papers have microporous emulsions designed to absorb ink quickly, and the same thing will happen with oil paints. When the paper absorbs the oil paint, the acids in the paints gradually leach into the paper substrate and deteriorate the paper. That is the reason all artist gesso their canvas, linen, or paper substrates before painting with oils. Gesso (Italian for "gypsum") sets up a barrier that prevents the acids in the oil paint from deteriorating the paper base and up until recently, gesso has always been a white opaque base. 

Today we have clear or transparent gesso. There are several out there now. The two that I have used and like are: Clear Gesso by Liquitex and Acrylic Clear Gesso made by Winsor & Newton. With these products, you can coat your inkjet print after the print is made and because the gesso is clear and sets up a barrier for oil paints, you can now hand color the image with oil paint as well pastels. 

Since the Marshall’s Photo Oils are no longer made, Freestyle Photo of Hollywood California has introduced a new line of transparent oil paints for the photographer called Arista Transparent Photo Oil Paints, which are being manufactured by Gamblin.

TIP:  you only need a very small amount of paint to mix with turpentine to use as a transparent color mix.  You will waste a lot of pigment (and money) if you do not use the paint judiciously and it will go a very long way if used properly.

You can get a extended range of colors by mixing any of the paints with white to lighten them or black to darken them. Also by mixing green with yellow, you can make a extensive variation of the green hue. 

Painting with oils on a paper inkjet print coated with a clear gesso is a bit different from painting with oils on a photographic paper. The photographic papers have a silver gelatin coating on the top that will prevent the acids in the oils from reaching the paper base and the surface is very smooth (no tooth). Thus, with the photographic papers you can use Q-tips or wipes and blend the paint into the print. It is a smooth and easy way to add color to the black-and-white photograph.

However, with the gesso-ed inkjet prints, you have a “tooth” to the surface, almost like a very fine sandpaper coating. If you try to blend the paint with Q-tips or wipes, it will shred the cotton and leave behind fibers that you have to remove from the surface. If I find I have fibers or lint on the print from a Q-tip or wipe, I take a clean bristle brush and lightly brush them off. I keep a clean bristle brush for this just this purpose.

A far better technique for applying the paint on a gesso-ed surface is to use bristle brushes. Get yourself an assortment of sizes and tips (inexpensive ones) to use. The more turpentine prep solution you use the more transparent the paint will be.

I have oil painted two gesso-ed paper inkjet prints, "Park in Madeira” and “Dumbarton Oaks,” with Arista oils. I used the oils heavier on these two prints to test the gesso’s strength and it worked like a charm.  

When the oil paint was thoroughly dry (takes around three days) I coated the print with Clearstar Clearshield Type C glossy varnish. This is a great varnish that you pour out (no mixing) and roll on with a nice roller foam brush for a smooth even coating. Allow drying two or three hours, depending on the humidity.

So now all of you Oil Painter enthusiasts can get back to painting with oils even on paper inkjet prints. Have fun.   Theresa Airey