This little guy is my second bust and my second attempt at oils. I was curious about oils so I got a lesson from Steve Scott and Mike Davidson on how to use them. I had no idea what I was missing out on, I'll never paint with anything else again. Of course everything is base coated with either acrylics or enamel (really whatever paint I have available with the proper color). Since I wasn't sure if I would like painting with oil I bought a 24 color set from Hobby Lobby for $12.99 (oils can be very expensive and I wasn't wasting $140 on something I would never use again). The brand of the oil is Reeves and they work just fine, if you want to try oil I recommend this cheap way to get started. Any whoo, here are the pictures and as always please post any comments both positive and negative. Oh and thanks goes to Guy for staying up late last night while I emailed him questions as I furiously painted away. He tried to get me to slow down on my painting since I just got the bust in the mail at 10:00am yesterday but i just couldn't stop. thanks for looking.

Awesome work for such a short period of time!

Now I have to figure out how to get the wet paint from La Hire off my screen........do I see a drip or two on my desk...

Excellent painting Mike. He really turned out well. Whats next?

hey Gordy & Guy thanks for looking. Guy; I am thinking of the Roman Signifer bust as the next project. The cool thing about that bust is the poor sap I got it from already cleaned it up so it is ready to paint. Gordy; I know I am bad about speed painting, you probably think I should slow down also.

Oh heck no! nothing wrong with speed painting!! You got it working for you, more power to ya!

Ya mean some fool cleaned it for ya too?.....geeze, I gotta find out who your supplier is...

Hi Mike,

Go Speed Painter. Certainly can't fault the results.

Excellent result considering your still learning to use oils.

Can't wait to see what you've painted today!

Great work. Hardy

nothing wrong with speed painting if you get results like this, like you i am just discovering oils and i have to say i like them a lot.

Like Carl i am interested in knowing how you achieved the metals.

Steve

Wow !! Mike this is your best sure !! I think you have a future as an oil painter, awesome painting and the metals are top !!

cheers

stefano

Mike, great painting ,I'd stick with the oils if you can produce results like this. Excellent

Cheers Ken

Excellent work.

Marc

Thanks everybody for taking the time to look at him, I really appreciate it. Carl & Steve the metals were pretty basic, I undercoated the lighter metal parts with an acrylic "gun metal" from Andrea. Don't let the name fool you it is super shiny almost chrome. I did the darker metals with the same color mixed with a little black. After that I rubbed them with some brown oil and some Ivory black oil until it got the aged look I was trying for. I don't do recipies so I couldn't tell you the ratios of anything, I just go by sight.

Thanks again for looking!

Roman Signifer bust as the next project

Looking forward to see this next project.

Greta job

Regards.

Rod.

Hey Mike, great job

Hey Mike, you've done a very fine job on a wonderfully sculpted bust. The
expression of the face is so full of character and jolly animation. Before
I switched to acrylics exclusively, I used oils for about 3 to 3 and half yrs. to
paint figures. They are very forgiving, as you're finding out. Another thing
about oils, is that since the unthinned paint is spread so thin, I never had
any real trouble getting the paint to dry overnight. . . just left it on the
hobby bench; altho I've heard some say it took several weeks for their oil
paint to dry. The other thing is that altho oils are expensive — I use the
Winsor Newton student grade — is that a little oil paint on a figure goes a
long ways. So the tubes will last you for many years.

I hope you won't mind one remark about the eyes, which I think you've done
a very good job on. The outer dark blue ring of the Iris, IMHO, is slightly too
prominent, too dark. I'll like to see you soften that dark blue of that
outer ring outline of the Iris, just a tad. But this is only an
opinion you understand. I see that no one else is bothered by it.

Jayhawk, Numba' three in the nation, and numba' one in ma' heart!!

Great work for such a short time using oils.

Cheers David

Excellent painted bust Mike!

regards,
Marcel.