Oil Painting and Sandy Brooke

Sandy Brooke 2014 mixed media

           In the Studio Technique video "Oil Painting," viewers watch as Sandy Brook creates an oil painting and uses various techniques. I believe that the only clear role of an artist that is being shown by this painting is, helping viewers see the world in a new or inventive way. I believe that the painting is showing us the view of Brook on the world that she sees. In the painting there are objects, for example, in the bottom right corner of this painting it appears to be someone coming through a door. So the artist could be trying to tell a story through the painting. This role is seen more in her other painting (like the one to the left), where you can clearly see the outline of three people.


Sandy Brooke. Fate and Luck 2012. oil on linen

The artist also has self expression and emotion in the painting through the expressive lines and the colors used, therefore the role of expressing emotion is used in the painting. However I did not find the other roles of an artist to fit this painting. For example it is not making a functional object more enjoyable or dealing with giving form to anything immaterial that is obvious.
       Even though I have done a lot of painting over the past couple of years, I have not experimented with oil painting so I found the video fascinating. I did not know that oil painting started in Europe. I had actually thought that it was start in Africa or Asia. I also found it interesting that walnut oil was used or favored in Europe during the Renaissance. I had no idea that I could make oil paints and mix them myself with house hold oils. I also found in very interesting that a canvas has to have a prime coat on it before using oil paints so it does not rot due to a chemical reaction. I had know idea that oils could cause a canvas to rot so that information could prove to be very helpful. I also thought it was neat that you can draw using crayon or oil crayons then paint over them using oil paint, and the lines still show though. Every time I have tried a technique like that it has been with crayon and watered down acrylic paint so that technique could be used in other ways was interesting.