Golden Oldie #4: Van Gogh and Drawing - art media and techniques

Two posts this time - about Vincent Van Gogh and his drawing materials and techniques.  

Tree with Ivy in the Garden of the Asylum
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890),
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, May-June 1889
pencil, reed pen and brush and ink, on paper, 61.8 cm x 47.1 cm
Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Golden Oldie #4: Van Gogh and Drawing - art media and techniques

The two posts are from 2007 and 2021. I've updated both where it was needed.

Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2nd February 2007)

This has been one of my most popular posts - on a perennial basis - since I started this blog.

This post focuses on Van Gogh's drawing materials (pencil, pen and ink, prints, brush and colour) and how they influenced his techniques and style.

I've also 

• resized the images
• removed dead links
• included UPDATES about research about the media he used

More about Van Gogh and his drawings and drawing techniques (28th September 2021)

This provides a summary of the information about Van Gogh's drawing materials and techniques that was mainly published AFTER my blog post from 2007.

It's not comprehensive but provides a good overview of what's been added to resources in recent years - and that includes some of the Wikipedia information!

I've also only had to update two links (both incidentally to the same website - the Foundation Vincent Van Gogh Arles) - which indicates this is perennially sound information!

Golden Oldie #3: Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

Do you get pains in your hand or wrist when using art media? Do you ignore them - or do you recognise the need to make sure you don't ruin your grip?

Speaking as somebody with a connective tissue disorder and severe osteoarthritis, I find myself learning new things, again and again, about how to keep going despite the fact that joint cartilage keeps disappearing and joints need attention - including significant surgery. (One ankle fusion done, shoulder replacement and hip replacement on the agenda next!)

I'm very mindful of looking after your limbs and the bits of your body that move when you make art. Particularly those bits which are relevant to holding art materials in your hand with a decent grip and being able to use your arm. 

That means for me, that I've actually had to stop gripping art media in my hand for any length of time.....

My second wrist splint for my hand I used to grip art media with
- emphasis on the "used to"

Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

My post about Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) was published in June 2016. 

It started thus....

Too many artists suffer from repetitive strain injuries (RSI). In addition, too many artists know too little about:

• how to avoid RSI
• how best to deal with RSI

Too often, health and safety issues for artists relate purely to hazards associated with art materials. In my opinion, there is far too little focus on the hazards that certain working practices can have on your anatomy.

The post covers:

• What is RSI?
• Other common RSI or RSI related conditions
• How do artists get repetitive strain injury?
• How do artists make RSI worse?
• How do artists alleviate RSI symptoms - and make art? - which includes LOTS of suggestions of ways in which you can avoid a problem and alleviate the one you have.

Golden Oldie #2: Pigments and Dyes for Art Media

Back in 2008 I did a mammoth project all about Colour. Colour - a materials perspective #1 - pigments and dyes is one of the posts I did about my research into what creates colour - and relates to the materials used to create coloured art media.

It provides a materials perspective on colour for artists and a basic overview of pigments and dyes. 

Pigments I found in a shop in Venice

Pigments and dyes are a prime component of the colour used by artists - but

• Where do they come from?
• Which are 'old' colours and which are new?
• What or who creates them?

Colour - a materials perspective #1 - pigments and dyes will interest all those:

• who are seriously interested in what goes into the colours they make their art with
• those who want to understand the differences between pigments and dyes
• those who want to understand what is
• Organic and Inorganic;
• natural and synthetic
• how pigments behave
• what binders are used

At the end there are a series of Learning Points I derived from my research.

TIPS FOR ARTISTS - THE BASICS (In Draft)

NOTE: The entire Colour project will be moving to a BIG section in my (still in draft) Tips for Artists website. The aim is to make all the relevant information for artists that I've collected over the years much more accessible.

Golden Oldie #1: Favourite watercolour artists

During August, I want to get on with some projects plus lots of you are on holiday so I'm going to be posting some reminders of "golden oldies" - otherwise known as posts from the last 17 years of Making A Mark which were well received at the time and have not aged.

Golden Oldie #1: Your favourite watercolour painters

Unsurprisingly, my first choice is a look back at favourite watercolour painters and dates back to dates summer 2011. 

• It started with the Watercolour exhibition at Tate Britain (shame on Tate Britain for not keeping links to info about old exhibitions alive!)
• which resulted in this post Watercolour - Who's your favourite painter? which generated a lot of comments at the time
• then this post Your favourite watercolour painters - which in turn generated yet more discussion on the same topic.

Overall, you favoured contemporary artists more than artists from the past - however those you picked from the past are classics. Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent are certainly two of my favourites - and I have my John Singer Sargent calendar on my wall in from of where I'm sitting!

I posted a link to this on my Facebook Page and the discussion has started up AGAIN!  

If you have a Facebook Account, you can join it on this link