Material Process
I discovered Gamblin’s Galkyd In about 2003. It is a form of resin, honey like in color and consistency. I like to think of it similar to what Dutch painters used to get layering, glazing, of transparent color and details in their work.
I use Galkyd to make a ground covering over a gessoed surface. I mix it-mostly with a transparent oil color-then thinly spread it over the canvas. It drys for several days. The background color I select depends on what I intend to paint. Red browns activate greens of a landscape or still life, dark brown can remain in final paintings for the under bellies of piers, deep ultramarine can glow like stained glass, a moonlit evening sky.
When I actually get into a painting I use Gamblin's Galkyd gel as a medium which allows me to build up from thin transparent darks to thicker opaque light colors. Traces of my training when a teen as a watercolorist are evident in how I layer my oils so there is almost always places of the base Galkyd layer popping up and visually weaving together the whole artwork.
The range from transparent to opaque provides a broadened visual experience so to mimic the visual intensity of the observed.
