Martina’s Painting Method, Subjects, Style and Framing.
Martina chose to paint several different types of subject matters depending on what motivated her at the time. This can be seen in the Catalogue Raisonne under the subheadings from: Still life, Flowers in a jug; fruits/vegetables in a bowl or spread on a tablecloth; Landscape views across the countryside, Cornish harbour and sea views, zoo animals and pets, life-room studies and homelife.
She quickly developed the way she liked to work quite early on in her early 20’s. It never involved the use of any modern technologies that are easily available today, as they were not invented or available back then.
The process from start-to-finish could take several weeks to complete a single painting. This she learnt at art school I presume from her tutors and selecting the best skills which she found useful.
Preparation.
Before any painting could begin the board or canvas had to be purchased. A trip to the local hardware shop to buy 6×4 foot hardboard sheets was made and she would carry them home. Each sheet was laid out on the kitchen table and she would mark out the outlines of the sizes she wanted. Her husband would then take them in the garden and cut them out using a semi-blunt panel saw. This took at least an hour of active effort. She would then sand the edges and then next day brush two coats of white primer paint on, allowing several hours between coats. Next the primmed surface was ‘toned down’, as white is too dazzling to look at for long periods of time. She would squeeze a small mixture of oil paint colours onto it and added a few drops of turpentine and using a rag to rub the mixture into the surface, creating a creamy coloured primed surface. This then needed time to dry completely before being placed on the easel to use.
Occasionally she wanted to paint on canvas rather than hardboard. This took much longer to prepare. The canvas material, stretchers and primer products could not be purchased locally so a telephone order was placed with Cornelissen & Son in London and a cheque sent on as payment. Three weeks later the postman delivered her order. Once checked, the stretchers could be assembled. Canvas pieces were cut to size and tacked on the stretcher using stretcher pliers and a hammer. A few chosen words shouted when fingers were accidently hit by the hammer. Then a quantity of rabbit skin glue boiled up on the gas cooker in the kitchen and then brushed on the canvas surface. The next day a bag of Gesso mix was mixed up and two coats were applied. Once dried the creamy white surface was ‘toned down’ as above, before being placed on the easel.
Landscape Painting.
When choosing to go out landscape painting, in her 20’s she would cycle to the viewpoint with equipment in the basket on the handlebars. Later years, her husband would drive her to where she wanted to go and be dropped off and collect her later. It very rarely involved any oil paint, instead spending the time finding the ideal viewpoint, sitting down on her folding stool and drawing what she saw in front of her, either in pencil or using an ink pen nib, dipping in the bottle when required. Often the view would change, either with a tractor turning up to work the field or a person walking their dog or a flock of birds flying in. All were drawn in but a final decision was made later back in her studio as to what was to be included in the painting. Written colour reminder notes were added to the drawing to remind herself of what she had seen, when she returned to her studio to compose and create the oil painting. Her worse nightmare was if the weather changed and it poured with rain. Keeping her new drawing dry critical, usually successful but not always!
Still Life Painting and Mixing Colours.
If she had decided to paint a Still Life as her next piece of artwork, then hopefully she would find a suitable bunch of flowers, either from the local shop or see what was flowering in the garden. Sometimes her friends would bring her a bunch of flowers when they visited her. These were taken to her studio and arranged on a table, putting flowers in a jug, sometimes adding a piece of fruit or seashell on the tablecloth and adding a backdrop textiles etc. Adjusting the positioning of her easel and resting a primmed canvas of the ideal size on it, she would start drawing what she had set up, using a small sable paint brush and French Ultramarine blue oil paint, to outline the items. Adjustments in positions of objects were often made until the desired composition was created. Then colour could start to be mixed up. Small amounts of her favourite colours would be squeezed out on her mixing palette and the process of mixing the correct colour to be used started, adding a little bit of turpentine to make the paint flow smoothly. Each mix of colour would be enough for about six brush strokes and the mixing process would start again. Quite often she would leave areas of backgrounds unpainted as her focus was on recording the colourfulness and shape of the flowers etc.
After supper she would bring the wet painting in progress into the lounge and prop it up against the wall or piece of furniture. She would then spend time studying it to work out what changes might be needed, next day.
Once she felt the painting was complete, she would let the paint dry hard. This could take several days or weeks, especially in the Winter as many rooms in the house had no form of heating in them. It was then stored carefully in a rack in her studio, with the other completed paintings.
How her Use of Colour Changed over the Years.
As you look through the Catalogue Raisonne looking at her paintings you will see how they developed over the years. The ones she painted in the 1960’s were less colourful compared with the ones painted in the 1980’s. The main reason for this was the availability of the oil paints to her and what she could afford to buy.
Around about 1970 her painting style changed slightly as she moved on and started using a more colourful mixture of oil paint tube colours. With these she would select and blend together to create her chosen colour mix on her mixing palette, before applying it to her desired place on the painting. A time-consuming way of working that she chose to use for majority of her artworks.
In the late 1980’s she decided to experiment with using several mini palette knives to apply her mixed colour blends to the canvas. A technique she was not completely satisfied with as she preferred the accuracy of using a paint brush.
Framing, Displaying, Grouping and Lighting.
This is an important and often a difficult step to achieve a rewarding result. It is a journey of discovery that I have been on for the past 20 years. By experimenting with mixing, matching, and swopping with the ones I have until I find a desired match. If you view the paintings in the Gallery albums I have tried to show a variety of successful matches.
Adding a frame to Martina’s oil paintings are always an exciting challenge. It’s not just about the material variety or size/shape of moulding used, but the numbers of profile sections and the colour and finish applied to them. All I can suggest is to experiment. Some look better in a warm grey palette of colours and others creamy brown colour. An inner slip coloured off white works well. In the 1970’s & 1980’s framers often used a gesso-streaked band of colour, matched to one colour in the painting, to colour the moulding and this worked well. As this type of finish is time consuming to create, it is not widely available but well worth the effort to find a framer who can create this type of finish.
I have enjoyed selecting and grouping two or more of her oil paintings on the wall together. I have chosen similar jugs or vases used in Still life Flower paintings. Similar Cornish harbour views from the same viewpoint or showing the church or building in a slightly different position. Putting several similar subject matters in different canvas sizes in a row works also well.
If your chosen location on the wall happens to be in a shady position with not much bright day light, then some additional task lighting might be needed, especially to show off the wonderful selection of colours she had used to create in the painting. Experiments with the bulb’s colour temperature specification selection might be needed as it might alter the colour brightness of the paint used in the painting.